Ontario, Canada.
I had a 2-month booking. On day 2 the guest (she says she’s a co-founder of a gate company and is also a host) claimed my stairs were “unsafe” and demanded I install a permanent baby gate from her business. My listing never promised a baby gate. The layout is shown in photos (open basement opening in the kitchen), but I didn’t have a close-up photo of the stairs.
My landlord refused permanent installation, so I offered a pressure-mounted gate that could arrive in 2 days. She refused and pushed for same-day install from her company. I said no. She then wanted to cancel, but instead of cancelling normally she sent a payout request for about $5k without changing the dates.
Later that night she filed a “safety report” around 1am (no baby gate), and Airbnb flipped the reservation into a 3-day stay, bypassed my cancellation policy, applied an extra 30% discount, and now says I owe them about $5k to $5.5k.
I’ve sent Airbnb proof that she was soliciting her own business and that the stairs are code-compliant, but support keeps repeating the same decision and won’t review the solicitation/conflict of interest.
Has anyone successfully fought something like this?
What’s the best escalation path that actually works (beyond regular support)?
Is small claims realistic here (Airbnb debt/chargebacks), or does the ToS/arbitration block it?
Any tips on how to package the evidence so a senior case manager actually looks at it?
Photo for context: https://imgur.com/a/n8HcVxI
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