PLEASE HELP! I have a guest who is spuriously claiming money back on her stay. I have proof that she is lying and photographic proof that her claims are unsubstantiated, but I'm so worried Airbnb will uphold their claim for £200 as I've heard Airbnb ALWAYS side with the guest, despite it being the hosts properties that make them money
I should say I've never had one complaint ever in 2 1/2 years of having this listing, nor in the 12 years I previously ran a villa business in the South of France. My cottage (https://airbnb.com/h/sawyerscottagesouthwold) is immaculate and my cleaner superb. They are claiming the kitchen wasn't clean enough, I immediately offered to send the cleaner in to thorough clean the cottage again, they refused and said it wasn't much and they'd do it themselves. Then they said one bedroom was cold, and wouldn't heat up despite it being summer! So we overrode the central heating remotely so they could turn it on when they wanted instead of it being on morning and evening. We have proof the cottage was at a constant 22c, 19c at night the whole week they were there, so how can they claim it's cold? They said they had wet towels all week, but I have clothes airers and a washing line outside, plus a Tumble Dryer. They said there was no hot water in the shower of one of the 3 bathrooms, again we checked it and it was normal, plus there are 2 other full bathrooms! It might have been that they had all used up the hot water, which is quite some feat since we have a huge tank in the cupboard to heat water. Other guests have said the water was exceptionally hot. By the way this is a mid summer booking when the area was experiencing good weather at a steady 20-22c, sunny, partly cloudy with a light breeze, so not cold and not midwinter. I dealt with each and every complaint immediately, despite being on holiday myself and checking in that it was all OK (they never even mentioned it was a problem during their holiday or said they wanted some money back). I sent my plumber around within hours of them saying there was no hot water in one shower, but they only informed me about this cold water on the day before they left, so how could I get anything fixed? Despite that my plumber went around but they had deliberately locked the front gate so he couldn't get in (he has a key to the house only as the front gate is always unlocked for gardeners etc. He did a remote check with his hive system and everything in the cottage was working perfectly.
Please help, it's making me ill worrying about this as a) the claim is outrageously high, totally unfounded and unsubstantiated and clearly they were out to get money back from the start of their holiday and b) I've heard Airbnb always side with the guest despite me making them £000s with my listing and despite me never having had a single complaint in over two years. I've told Airbnb that they need to look at my 5* reviews and the many, many compliments and lovely comments about me as a host and my cottage being perfect, warm, comfortable etc. I've also told them I have evidence and proof that their claims are false and spurious, but I still think they'll allow the claim because they apparently always do!
They are trying to claim £200 for this ruining their holiday and also claim there was mould on the some windows, which was so tiny that my cleaner got it out with a mild solution of washing up liquid, so again unfounded. I clearly put in my details that this is a Victorian cottage and subject to the quirks and idiosyncrasies of houses of that era, but the cottage has been fully renovated and is virtually brand new inside apart from the windows which are double glazed but wooden, but are still in an excellent condition. The cottage is virtually immaculate.
Does anyone have any advice they can offer me, have they experienced something like this, how did Airbnb deal with it and will they support me?
Thanks so much, really appreciate any help you can offer as it's making me ill
Heather, Southwold
