Guests requesting full night refund for 2 hr inconvenience

[Nikhil107]

Hi,

Hope all community members are doing great. I am relatively a new host, and in my last booking my smart lock malfunctioned and guests were not able to get inside the home for 2 hours. Locksmith repaired it and they were able to come inside. Total there were 6 guests, and they stayed for 2 nights. Now they are requesting refund of one full night but not just the nightly price of home but almost 50% of total booking amount. I am about to become superhost in 2 more bookings and am concerned about my rating but at the same time i find this request totally unreasonable. Have you guys faced this situation in the past and what would you advice me. Certainly my inclination is not to entertain the request because all of them stayed in my 3bed 3bath townhome. At max i was okay with around 50% discount of nightly price which will be 70$ (nightly price $135 ) but they are requesting back 250$. There booking was for 600$ including cleaning fee, taxes, airbnb fee etc.

[Zheng49]

@Nikhil107 I think their request is reasonable tbh. 2 hours is a long time.

I'd understand if it was 20 minutes, but even still I'd give a little bit of refund in that case. 

[Elisa]

Hi @Nikhil107 😊, 

Thank you for bringing up this topic in the community.

Our Host shared his opinion with you. What do you think about it?

I’d like to mention other Hosts to see what they think about this situation:

@Dave-and-Deb0, @Robin4, @Karen4131 and @Marie8425.

Thank you in advance everyone!

Warm regards 🌻,

[Nikhil107]

Thanks Elisa for bringing this up, but this has been taken care, how can I delete or disable more messaging on this thread.

[Elisa]

Hi @Nikhil107 😊, 

thank you for letting me know! 

I think it would be great if you could share what solution you found.

Instead of deleting your post, which could be useful for other Hosts, how about we mark your answer as a top answer? This way, everyone will know that your issue has been resolved.

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Warm regards 🌻,

[Marie8425]

@Nikhil107 

@2hr is a significant time for 6 people but also are we talking afternoon dinner time midnight?  I would decide based on the Guests actual experience.  6 people in a driveway at midnight for 2 hours, I would be kissing butt because if me I would be a very irate Guest.

Dinner time so 6 people had to eat out.  As a Guest that would be irritating because your broken lock meant dinner for 6 (not cheap) so I would use the standard 30% refund on the room price and depending on my market at least a decent dinner  for 6 price.

If the middle of the afternoon probably frustrating.  I would do the 30% refund and something for snacks for 6.

Doesn't guarantee a good review but you can write an honest response so future Guests  are aware if something goes wrong and your fault you own your responsibility, which also tells future Guests the expectation is for you to behave the same way.