Excessive construction disruptions next door to guests

[Sunshine12]

Hello,
i have done a search on the forums but I have not been able to find an exact solution.

I have a guest who is staying with me explicitly to help her dying mother.  She’s been very kind and not difficult.  7 days ago she contacted me stating there was excessive noise beginning at 7am. They started framing construction on the house next door. 

for 4 months this next door project has been very quiet with either no construction or very little noise.  I mention potential for noise and construction in my listing but stated that it was light thus far.

the construction is now 5 feet from her bathroom window and the workers are right there talking etc all day. It’s very loud even with all doors closed

She’s having a rough time currently so her capacity for dealing with this is minimal understandably. She’s there for 9 more days.  

If I change her stay will she be charged all the additional fees? She’s going to try to go to a friends for the last bit of time.

also I have a strict cancellation policy but I’m worried about future guests as well. How can I alert them and give them the option to cancel penalty free?

I’ve contacted Airbnb on it but they are just giving me cookie cutter answers. I’ve started a general help request as well.

[Emiel1]

@Sunshine12 

You can shorten the reservation ("change" option in the reservation) , the guest will be refunded for the unused nights (+ Airbnb service fees). You can also amend the price in the change-form if you want to give some more refund then what is automatically calculated.

[Sunshine12]

Ok thanks how about the next reservations?

[Mark116]

@Sunshine12  Why not just message all the future reservations individually and let them know about the potential for construction noise?  If anyone writes back that they would be unhappy with any noise,  you can give them a refund.

You might also try to talk to the construction crew to get a sense of the timing of the project to help determine what the anticipated noise level will be and for how long.

[Sunshine12]

thanks again. Good idea, I’m out of town but my co host can. It’s a perfect storm 😂 

Ok it’s also completely blocked the ocean views in the listing ( not my house ) so the big draw of ocean views is now not there at all.

Sigh…I’ll offer 25% discount

I can give them a refund but they will still be charged Airbnb fees. I’m not able to refund them out of pocket for those. 

I wish there was an option for agreed upon cancellation where neither person was out of pocket. I could handle a refund but not with all of the fees still charged to the guest.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sunshine12 If a guest wishes to cancel due to the noise which in neither the fault of the guest or host then I suggest you get them to message you asking for a cancellation. Then call Airbnb and ask them to do a mutually agreed no penalty cancellation. There is every chance they will agree to this. If they don't then just terminate the call and try at a different time with a different call centre.

[Sunshine12]

Ahh that’s the answer I was looking for!