Guest demanded full refund after a month long stay

[Wilson154]

Hi Everyone,

I have a guest that initially booked my place from December 1st to January 15th.  He had asked me before booking that if he needs to shorten his stay, would I allow him to get his refund for those days that he no longer needed the place. I kindly told him yes I would do that for him as it only fair that he gets charge for the amount of days he stayed. 

so he stayed for the whole month of December with his wife, 2 kids, and 3 dogs.  I constantly checked in with him throughout December to make sure his family was doing ok.  It is a carriage house so the thermostat is in the main house and I told him this in the welcome letter, and said to him that he can contact me anytime. Do not hesitate as I understand the that shortcoming factor of my Airbnb.  

He communicated very well, and seemed to be very understanding.  Fast forward til today, January 2nd (I would like to insert here that I have already let him shorten stay til the 10th) ... so today he reached out saying that stove doesn’t work.  I went over to the unit to figure out what could be the issue. Seemed like the stove is shot.  As you know, with COVID-19, getting a new one delivered instantly is not easy these days.  Well he mentioned that it would be ok since his new place is almost done and that he might be leaving even earlier than the 10th (this coming Tuesday) so he can go without a stove.  Also I would like to insert here that after the stove went out for whatever reason, he asked for $30 compensation for his ruined food which I complied and sent him the money right away.

well that’s not enough for this family.  They contacted Airbnb resolution center and demanded 50% refund of their entire stay!!! How is this even fair??? He then finds all sorts of reasons like my electrical is not up to code. I don’t have fire escape (which I do have and also egress windows) ... after I kindly explained that to him, he said the escape is to a backyard with fence that his kids can’t climb over.  Which is not true either.  He also complained that my ceiling is falling down!!!

Ok like if it was so unbearable to stay there, why wait a whole month and especially I have been super responsive not like I was MIA.  It seems sketchy to me.  

have anyone been in this situation? What do you do? And what experience do you have with Airbnb taking care of such absurd guest? 

honestly, I’m just like most of everyone here.  I rent out my place to earn extra cash to help with mortgage payments.  I’m not running a frilly hotel and it’s not like we are banking with Airbnb rental to deal with such circumstances.  

I hope no one ever have to host this horrific guest and his family.  

[Emiel1]

@Wilson154 

The "long term stay"cancellation policy normally would not refund anything, even if reservation is shortended. So guest should be happy you are willing to refund the unused nights.

The complaints (if true) should be made at beginning of stay, not after one month.

So now aftwerwards claiming 50% refund is rediculous.

BTW Maybe the guest is not going to pay the second installment (first installment covers 30 nights).

[Wilson154]

@Emiel1 Can you Please direct me to that long term policy? Thank you.

It’s ridiculous.  He “offered” me to give him 50% and he will not post a review.

[Colleen253]

@Wilson154  you can find every Airbnb policy you need to be familiar with in the help pages on Airbnb. Read through them before you deal with Airbnb on this, and bookmark/highlight the relevant sections. Many (most) CS reps are bizarrely unfamiliar with policy, so you really need to have it all at hand. 

[Ann72]

@Wilson154   What a nightmare for you, I’m so sorry.  Have not had this but just wanted to offer sympathy.  Too bad hosting can turn our kind impulses against us.

Did he make that “offer” in the Airbnb message thread?  If so, you can show Airbnb that he is using extortion, and that’s against policy.

[Ann72]

@Wilson154 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/548/airbnbs-dispute-moderation-for-reviews#:~:text=Extortion%20o....

Extortion or incentivization

Any attempt to use reviews or review responses to force a person to do something they aren’t obligated to do is a misuse of reviews, and we don’t allow it.

This policy prohibits:

• Guests threatening to use reviews or ratings in an attempt to force a host to provide refunds, additional compensation, or a reciprocal positive review.

[Wilson154]

@Ann72  Thank you so much for this!!! Yes he did made that offer to me on Airbnb messaging so I just reported him with a screen shot to the CS.  Hopefully they will agree to block his future review and see his ulterior motive of just wanting to rob me 50% of what a monthly payout should be.  

also thank you for the long term cancellation clause. I have read through it but it sounded like as long as the guests take some **bleep**ty photos to pretend that our place is not cleaned or unsafe, Airbnb still can override our cancellation policy.  Which totally sucks if that happened since he stayed a whole month totally safe and sound.  

[Mark116]

@Wilson154  In the future you or your cleaners should do a quick phone video walk through before each guest.   

It isn't full proof, for example, our most recent guests broke an electric space heater by cracking off one of the wheels, but since I don't film the closets I could not technically prove they did it, if I wanted reimbursement.  It will protect you to some degree in terms of guests making false claims of what the status of the unit was when they arrived, claiming the place was dirty or lacked amenities or XX was broken. 

[Wilson154]

@Mark116 do you do this before or at the time the guest check in? Because due to covid, we have automated our check in, so we would have limited interaction as much as possible.

[Mark116]

@Wilson154 We do it before the guests check in, usually the day before or whenever the cleaning is finished.  Then we delete after the review period is over, or if we had a bad feeling about the guests trying to get a refund after they leave, we might onto it for a month or so and then delete.

[Ann72]

@Wilson154 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/475/how-do-i-choose-a-cancellation-policy-for-my-listing

Long term stays

Our Long Term cancellation policy applies to all stays of 28 days or longer and overrides your standard cancellation policy for those stays. The Long Term cancellation policy allows guests to cancel for a full refund only during the 48 hours after booking, and only if they cancel at least 28 days before check-in. If a guest cancels after that, you’ll get 100% for all nights spent, plus 30 additional nights. If fewer than 30 days remain on the reservation at the time the guest cancels, you’ll get paid 100% for all remaining nights.

[Debra300]

@Wilson154,

You have already received good advice from other hosts.  I want to add some comments about having backups available in case of a large appliance/power outage.  We keep space heaters, a floor fan, two burner hotplate, toaster oven, and a small mini-fridge/freezer on hand to give to guests if appliances were to stop working.  Most of these items are just some of our old stuff, but they can be inexpensively purchased through Craigslist, Mercari, Amazon Warehouse Deals, or local discount outlet stores.  Where we are in Atlanta, the power goes out frequently enough during storm season so we keep a generator on site, also.  We have written in the house rules that these substitute appliances will be provided until the regular ones/power can be restored.

[Wilson154]

@Debra300great idea! Thank you so much. Why didn’t I think of Craigslist and fb marketplace 🙂 

[Wilson154]

Hello everyone. So it has been 24 hrs since that guest made a complain to Airbnb CS.  Airbnb CS stopped reaching out or provide me any answers/resolution... does that mean after 24 hrs they Don’t respond meaning this issue has been handled?  I reported his threat that if I give him 50%, he would forgo negative reviews and heard nothing either.  Or will I still hear from him?

[Wilson154]

Hello everyone. Thank you for your support. I would like to give you guys an update and also kinda restore your faith with Airbnb CS.  Maybe this has done more often than it should so Airbnb CS are catching up and don’t let guests easily get away with it.

 So the guest not only wanted 50% off his entire stay. After he moved out of my place, he actually contacted Airbnb for 100% refund!!! After 2 days of waiting, Airbnb finally called me and agree with me to NO REFUND but only issue him back the 8 nights he did not spend in my place.  Which I think is fair, honestly I would do this for him anyways had he been a regular nice guest and communicated with me.  

as for the review, CS told me as soon as he leave a review, I can escalate it to the next level of CS to have it review.  

also even the CS rep also felt that it’s unfair and weird that the guest wanted 100% refund.