Guest cancelled after one night of 11 day booking and wants a full refund.

[Christina666]

Had a guest stay one night of and 11 day booking, and call me the next day saying she couldn't sleep because the guest unit was too hot. I have a guest unit on the lower level of a house so it stays very cool, so much so that AC is not necessary in the unit. Many guests and former tenants have commented how remarkably cool it is.  That said, this guest came to stay during the fires in Los Angeles, and had to keep the windows closed to not let the bad air in.  She states she was sweating all night and couldn't function at work the next day due to lack of sleep.  This is strange to me because I sleep one level above the guest unit, and also had my windows shut and did not turn on my AC nor my fan that night because it wasn't that hot.  But hey we're all different and this guest obviously runs very hot and admits she sleeps with AC blasting every night.  I asked what she wanted to do, and she wanted to leave, and had already looked into hotel options.  I told her to go through airbnb to figure out the cancellation rules, and that I would try and be as fair as possible.  Well, due to my minimum 5 day stay, and moderate cancellation policy, my payout was 400 less than expected, but she also had to still pay for several nights stay.  She is now requesting I personally refund her the entire amount minus her 1 night stay, and cleaning fees.   I called airbnb, and they said they would call her and explain my cancellation policy, but I'm afraid she won't be happy without full refund. Not sure what to do here. I'm a super host with stellar reviews, so I obviously don't want a bad review, yet it doesn't seem fair for me to take such a hit when she clearly didn't observe in my details that I didn't have AC.  What would you do?

[Helen3]

When she raised the issue with her did you offer to provide a fan or mobile air con tower? @Christina666 

If you offered a solution and she still insisted on leaving I wouldn’t offer an additional refund outside of your Airbnb policy. 

You can leave an honest review pointing out guest booked accommodation without AC and then left because they said this an essential amenity for them.

Don’t feel blackmailed into refunding them for fear of a bad review. 

[Christina666]

@Helen3 Actually I did not.  The reason being though was that when she called me she was so extremely distraught at not having a good nights sleep, and claimed it affected her at her job and that her boss told her she needs to do whatever she can to be 100%.  It was a bit of an emotional dump on me in the middle of my own work day.  So really I was just trying to calm her down, and see how I could solve this and she  said her boss was going to help her get a hotel with AC, and she'd already found a place.  So no, I didn't fight to keep her because it didn't feel like an option...and she was a little scary  in that conversation as well.  She was extremely stressed about not doing well on her job that day, and I kinda felt a bit of a relief to have her leave.  

[Anonymous]

@Christina666 The review won't be good, but giving more money to the guest won't buy you a better one. You're well within your rights to uphold your cancellation policy. You don't have to make any concessions when guests can't do without an amenity you hadn't offered in the first place. 

[Christina666]

Thanks @Anonymous .  I'm thinking about circling back with meeting her half way on the refund, just to try and put in more effort, but it also feels like she is a person that feels entitled to certain things so that may just be money unnecessarily out of my pocket.  She admitted that she didn't realize how bad the fires were here in LA, and granted they are very bad.  We've had smoke filled skies for the entire week, and she wasn't prepared for that. 

[Anonymous]

@Christina666 The fire situation is extremely bad, no doubt about that. But you as the host are not responsible for the environmental conditions of your city. Don't let guests treat you like you are their insurance policy - sometimes people have to take responsibility for their own decisions.

[Christina666]

@Anonymous Thank you so much, you are so right!  I'm so glad I posted on this forum, because I also posed this question in an airbnb facebook group, and everyone said to give her back her money in full for fear of bad reviews.  I was surprised at such an overwhelming response, I think there were about 8 or so people that replied that's the right thing to do.  So I'm glad I brought the issue here to this community, because that felt wrong to me. 

[Heidi588]

I'm not a host but a guest with many long term stays, and 25-year work history in customer service at a variety of levels. 

I think she did the emotional dump to try to convince you to take responsibility for her problem. She could have read the news about how the fires have impacted LA, read about there not being AC in the listing, and read the cancellation policy. I think perhaps in considering meeting her halfway you're lowering your self-protective boundaries out of unwarranted pity and fear of the power of the review. You don't need to water her yard if it's dry, it's her yard. She doesn't care about your yard. Maybe her employer will cover the expense, but it's not your responsibility. I'd say trust your gut about her sense of entitlement and not feed it. 

If she leaves a bad review, you can be honest and sincere in your response and that will shine through. You also can leave her an honest review toward the end of the two weeks that says she didn't want to honor the cancellation policy when her leaving had nothing to do with you, didn't even ask if you had a fan.

People are allowed to ask for something and try to convince you to agree, and you are allowed to say no.  

[Christina666]

@Heidi588 Thank you for this thoughtful response.  Very insightful.  I got airbnb involved, and then she turned into even more of a piece of work, citing that she also thought there were bed bugs, and there was also a cricket that was in the place which kept her awake all night.  So she disclosed new things to them, which if they were real, wouldn't you tell your host?  In the end she said she inspected the mattress and realized there weren't bed bugs, but she had some sort of bite on her ankles when she sat on the bed.   I told airbnb, there are mosquitos in the area, and I leave mosquito repellent in the unit for guests in case of that. Also,  I can't control nature.   Airbnb worked with her and I gave back an additional $150 in effort to keep the peace.   This was all before I saw your feedback.  But no regrets, at least now I know I did everything in my power to compromise without this turning into a bigger loss than necessary for me.  It's a loss financially, but I'm so relieved to not have her on my property for 11 days.  Who knows what would've come next!