Guest Cancelled on Arrival

[Daniel38]

Here is the context:

I have been hosting in this particular location for about a year. I am a Superhost. I almost never get bad reviews. 

My place is an old townhouse. Charming, if you will. I mention in the description that the floors are 140 years old. It is nice and clean and well-located, but if you are expecting all the lines to be square then it may not be the place for you.

Guests arrived last night. They had booked the place for 8 nights and they booked it months ago. They arrived and I suppose it wasn't their taste. They wanted a full refund. They came up with a lot of BS reasons. They took like ten pictures. One was a place where the floors were patched and the new board did not match the width of the old board. I'm not sure what they were trying to show with this. They complained that the attic was too hot, and that outside was 62. My listing says that the attic is not on the central heat/air and that there are Windows. In another they showed a picture of a corner where the paint was coming off with a caption "mouse?" There were no mouse droppings or hole or anything. It was just BS. Obviously, it wasn't what they expected and they kind of bullied their way out. 

I didn't want a bad review, so, I bargained with them and they paid a little over a night's stay. I didn't want Airbnb to adjudicate this because I don't know who they would side with in this instance. The cancellation policy would have made them pay half.  I won't make up the rest of the money ... I mean the next weekend I can fill, but it is doubtful this week will fill.

This morning I feel like a sucker. Has anyone else faced a similar situation and allowed Airbnb to resolve it. Who would they tend to side with in this kind of case?

[Helen3]

I can't see why you would have refunded the guest in this situation 

1. according to what you said there's no reason to refund anything- I would have just suggested they cancel and it would be processed under the cancellation policy they booked under 

2. they can leave you a bad review however much you refund . 

[Daniel38]

I'll try that next time. Without having been through it before, I panicked a bit 

[Richard531]

Exactly what @Helen3 said.  

I've had overwhelmingly good experience with CS in situations of this nature.  If the guest is being awful, don't let them redirect their awfulness (is that a word?) on you.  

Subject them to your cancelation policy in place.  Hold firm.  Apologize for what is possibly shortcomings on your part (which there appeared to be almost none) and let them vacate and pay what they already agreed to pay if there were a cancelation.  

Guests know when they are acting entitled.  And people that are entitled will take as much as they can take and they will never stop taking unless you stop them.  

Maybe tone down your listing expectations a smidge to hopefully dissuade bad guests like these next time? 

Regarding the interaction and allowing these people to cancel and giving them more money back than they deserve. . .  It's a learning curve and you'll hopefully do a little better next time and hold your ground.  

[Daniel38]

Yes. I was a bit taken aback and acted quickly to get them out of the house. I'll play it the other way next time and see how it goes 

Thanks for the advice 

[Brian345]

@Daniel38 

You chose the best option. 

Act fast, get rid of them, give them no valid reason for complaint. 

You will get zero support or backing from Airbnb and nothing in a timely manner unless hosts in USA are getting substantially different support to the rest of us.

[Daniel38]

This is what I was afraid of.

[Mark116]

@Richard531  We started hosting in 2015, in all that time we had 1 set of guests about 2 years ago who came to the house and immediately wanted a refund.  They had already contacted Airbnb sending them photos of 3 chairs, 2 chairs, admitted to by Airbnb had not a single tear, stain or anything wrong with them, 1 chair had a dime size black mark on the top [the kind of thing Airbnb would call wear and tear].

They had only reserved 2 nights and we gave them the refund.  It was against my better judgment but after their behavior I did not want them back in the house and Airbnb could still have given them a refund.  So, we gambled they were jerks but not evil, and that if we gave them the refund they would not give a review, and they didn't. 

I am still honestly on the fence about having given the refund.  It was clear to us they wanted out of the reservation because they had not realized/paid attention to the multiple places in the listing and the messages where we say we live in the same house, and were shocked to find out we lived upstairs.  We believe they intended to have a child's party at the house.

But, they got their undeserved refund and they didn't leave a review, so it was money well spent.  Of course they could still have left a review and then we would have been doubly abused, giving them their money back and still taking the review hit.  It's always a difficult position.

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Mark116 @Richard531 @Daniel38 

My firmly held opinion is that I don't want anyone here who doesn't want to be. I've only had one set of guests who did not realize we live here, as home share hosts. They got over it immediately, they were wonderful, and told us it was an amazing stay.  We've had a few guests who fell in love with the photos and did not appear to have read the listing. It turned out fine for them and for us, they were great guests; we are hospitable and accommodating. My best efforts aside, if someone shows up and clearly communicates that we're not a good match for their goals/expectations - let them go. A refund is a small price to pay to avoid the stress. If they were to make up excuses as to why it was a less than ideal match, like I keep reading about - spare me. I appreciate honesty. If someone is unhappy, let's get it fixed right away, don't anyone stew on it until the last moment. That doesn't do anyone any good.

Let's keep in mind...

One bad apple doesn't ruin the entire barrel. Learn from it, put it in the compost and move on to the next.

[Kristina46]

That happened to me once. Gave refund and got spanked in the review anyway. Fortunately, my review of them was even worse! Terrible guests. 

[Daniel38]

Yes. It seems like giving the refund always comes with mixed emotions. But, it could pay off in the long run. 

[Kelly149]

It’s all true.

They could roast you in a review or the returned $ could mean they won’t. You can choose to roast them in a review or not. 

ABB could have 100% sided with you or the guest. Absolutely no way to know. 

you made a decision & what’s done is done. 

the only thing you can change now is forward looking: guest vetting, listing tweaking, what if hypothesizing. You can’t tell if you made the right call until 14 days later. 

[Helen744]

@Daniel38 I also have an 'old house' and sometimes one person will book and the other simply cannot cope with 'old houses' so it depends who eventually wins. Stuff them I say . Give them a review to say they were not a good fit , and that your place is old and  it is always better if the guests look at all the pics before deciding on staying especially such a long one. you do not need this but it is a predjudice against old houses some people have . some others love and appreciate them . We play the 'old up' with historic photographs and elements with of course modern additions.   I always ask people to not arrive without contacting me first . Sometimes they will and  its easy to see when they get out of the car reluctantly ,that they had decided to have 'a look ' before I had arrived.  Maybe update to say 'a mix of the old and new ' I think I will too because people do not understand about paint and wood in old houses  or windows and doors but once you have experienced the extra space especially with a family and high ceilings or the warmth of floor boards on bare feet or the views from lovely old windows then modern homes just don,t make the grade anymore. All the best .  They should have looked at the pictures . Their loss . You were very gracious . They were insufferable and petty and selfish and tried to con you because of their own poor decision making H

[Daniel38]

I can tell you stand by your friends. Lol!

[Gillian166]

Whilst I sort of agree with most that you didn't have to offer such a generous refund, I also prefer just to have these type of people - bold liars! - out of my property and moving on with their life, far away from me. For all you know they could have dug in, spread more lies, said you had bed bugs or inside cameras, and had your listing shut down for a month. Having had a very bad experience with a narcissist, who won't go away (4 years now) I am of the opinion it's cheaper in the long run to do whatever it takes to get them out of your life quickly and cleanly. Your mental health is priceless.