Do I need to refund my guest in this weird situation?

[Crystal404]

Good afternoon, 

I have got a very weird situation at the moment. I have got a guest who has booked for 4 nights since last weekend. My cancellation policy is moderate which means she can only get full refund if she cancels 5 days before she arrives. She contacted me 2 days before her checkin dates and explained she has got sick and not able to make it. She asked me if she can switch her booking to next year which I said no because I will not have any rooms available for next year. Instead, I offered her to switch the dates to be sometime next week which I think it was a stupid decision and she said that would be fine. I have tried to make a change to her booking to next week however the app doesn't allow me to do that so it was just left as it was on the app. Then yesterday she told me she may not be able to come again because her situation is getting worse although her covid test result is negative. Then today she said she will be able to come again as she gets the travel approval from her doctor and she has got atypical pneumonia which she said she would recover before she came next week. So I have asked her a few more questions about her conditions including if she can get the confirmation from her doctor before she travels next week as there are 4 people including myself in my house and I need to be responsible. Then she seems to become angry at me just because I want to make sure she has a good health condition before she comes. I am not comfortable to have her to stay anymore as she has been mucking me around since last weekend. I told her I will refund her $100 out of kindness which the initial booking was $270. Am I doing the right thing? What if she complained to airbnb?

[Brian2036]

@Crystal404 

Don’t worry about it. 

If she wants to cancel it is up to her to deal with Airbnb. They will probably issue her a full refund, but maybe not.

You made a reasonable offer. Just don’t agree to something else or it will be on you.

Airbnb will do whatever they want but you don’t have to agree to it.

 The guest could have purchased trip insurance but chose not to. It’s not your fault.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Brian2036 

Agreed!

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Crystal404 Wow, this is unfortunate. I am also a home share host. In my opinion there is no amount of money that can compensate for putting my health and that  of my family in danger. Also this guest seems to be counting on a miracle with her own situation. There is a good chance she will have to cancel and recuperate at home where she has resources, and in her own familiar comfortable surroundings. I've read on the news that NZ has a challenging Covid situation right now. Similarly, our region is in the "purple" with cases, and the hospitals are overloaded. I would ask the guest to cancel, and to contact you in the future sometime for a new reservation request when she is fully recovered. I'd definitely ignore my cancellation policy in this case. 

[Colleen253]

@Crystal404 If you read both the standard and the Covid EC policies, you’ll see that illness (unless it’s proven to be covid) does not entitle them to a refund outside of the cancellation policy they booked under and agreed to. You are not required to be the stand in insurance policy for this guest

I would have instructed the guest to cancel ASAP to open up the dates, and offered to refund them for whatever portion of their abandoned dates get rebooked. 

Because she now seems to have backtracked and is determined to stay after all, it’s probably best just to offer to refund in full IF she cancels immediately. Whatever it takes to get her to go away.

Do not manually refund her, authorize Airbnb to do it, upon cancellation.

Be aware that the guest can review you if the booking is still active 24 hours or less before check in.

[Laura2592]

@Crystal404 We had a guest who also used illness to try and cancel beyond the limits of our cancellation. We allowed them to switch dates. They then canceled  and got a full refund 2 weeks before the dates they were scheduled to arrive the second time with no explanation. Call me cynical but I think that some guests will use any excuse to get money back. I would not even have gone into the conversation about her doctor, or notes or symptoms. I would have just said "I wish you could stay with us!  Unfortunately its too late for me to rebook. I am happy to offer you a 10% discount off another stay when you are feeling better. Rest up and thanks for letting me know."

[Inna22]

@Crystal404  from what I understand, her original reservation has come and gone. You owe her nothing. If You have also had several sets of dates blocked on your calendar- the original dates and the new dates and were not able to book anyone else. I would offer her a partial discount towards her next stay that she can book with you officially using the Airbnb app.