Guest requesting refund from wasp nest

[David-Henry0]

I just hosted a guest that was supposed to check in on Friday. They message me upon check in and say there's a huge wasp nest on the exterior of my home and they don't think they can stay there. I offer to come spray, sweep up the dead wasps, and remove the nest. She says please come and do that but we don't know if we will stay or not. I'm trying to do the right thing and I remove the wasps and everything is fine. She then says that the house is unsafe and they could be in the attic. I feel at this point this person is either scamming me or a high strung individual. She asked for a refund late that night and I responded with the article about airbnb hosts having 24 hours to fix issues or offer a refund. I had addressed the issue and the wasps were gone. She now has airbnb support involved. They say they're making a decision by this evening. Any tips? I feel I've done the right thing. It's unfair that they can just get a refund. There wasn't a chance to book another group. It's like they're taking money from me unfairly depending on what they decide.

[Pat271]

Definitely sounds scammy. As a general rule, don’t agree to refunds. At most, offer a certificate, gift card, or discount  card to a local restaurant or activity. That is what hotels do unless a room is completely uninhabitable, or if there is a serious amenity omission. We hosts need to band together to eradicate these scammy guests. Even if a guest involves Airbnb, the more difficult and inconvenient we make it for the guest to attempt this type of unacceptable behavior, the better.

[Laura2592]

@David-Henry0 oh the old "I am scared of bugs!" issue. We have it A LOT. Wasps are a little different as they could cause a bad reaction in an allergic person. My husband and his entire family are desperately afraid of any bees, wasps, yellow jackets etc and I generally have to do stingy insect removal (and I am actually mildly allergic to bee stings and typically wearing perfume/cosmetics....)

The only way to counter this is to list something in your house rules that tells your guest what they are or are not entitled to upon seeing a bug. We flat out say our space is not good for insect phobic guests and do not offer refunds if a guest encounters an insect. Airbnb has thus far upheld this with any attempts at free nights because of the errant spider, but I have heard from other hosts that they will provide refunds if you can't point to where you mention this in your listing. 

[Brian2036]

@David-Henry0 

I have had similar guests and I have a warning on my listing.

Our log house is impossible to seal and at this time of year wasps are looking for a place to hide for the winter. They crawl into the cracks between the logs and sometimes they end up inside.

 I have a can of wasp spray next to the door and I point it out to people when they arrive.

If that makes them feel “unsafe” they are welcome to leave immediately.

[Anonymous]

@David-Henry0  It's possible that the guests might be trying to scam a free stay, or maybe they're just being super dramatic. Either way, there's no good reason to let them complete the booking. I would just offer them an earlier checkout date and refund the unused nights. 

Absolutely no refund for the time they already stayed or the cleaning fee.

[Scott1460]

This is true, I think people have found a loophole in the cancelation policy, "an easy way to get their money back"  "stay for free" --how…..by complaining about insects. This just happened to me in my Mexico City rental.   My guest booked for a month and after three days decided she didn't like the place , so she used the mosquito or flea bite excuse , she  filed a complaint and sent some photoshopped pictures to air bnb and asked for a refund and permission to cancel.  Airbnb , without any professional expertise in the matter, Airbnb gave her a full refund and also stopped my add until I got the place fumigated professionally and sent proof of , a certificate, to them. this has cost me a lot of money because not only did she get a full refund, but I haven't been able to rent it since after fumigation people have to stay out for a few days. In addition to t

his , AIr bnb still lets this person leave a bad review on her stay !! Does anybody think this is right?

[Allie228]

amen brother.  Just had this happen on a 30 day stay. I can't re-rent now because I can only rent 30 days and so unit sits empty for 29 days. Airbnb always side with guests. I have to convert to regular 1 year lease because this has happen twice and I can't aford to lose 1/6th of my revenue on their whim. 

[Brian2036]

@Scott1460 

You have my sincere sympathies.

This can be done to any host or used as an extortion threat and it appears that Airbnb likes it that way.

 I believe it will become more common until all such claims are automatically rejected or all hosts are out of business.

There are already websites that advise unscrupulous guests that there are ways to stay at Airbnb rentals for free. There are also wealthy lobbying groups who are more than capable of sending out shills to sabotage competitive listings.

One thing we can do is flag every guest who tries anything like this. It has to be done carefully to avoid being censored.

I haven’t worked out exactly how to say it, but “Cost far exceeded income for this stay” should fly and “WOULD NOT HOST AGAIN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES” should definitely be included.

[Elaine701]

On our 14th day at your place, my kids found a spider. Nobody ever told us the place was crawling with dangerous insects. My children could have been killed!

Following the advice of Airbnb legal expert website "getfreeairbnbholidays.com", I want a full refund. 

[Huma0]

@David-Henry0 

I wouldn't automatically assume that this is a scam. If the guests stayed several days and then tried to get a full refund because there was a spider in the corner or a couple of ants, that is different, but this was a wasp's nest, it was there. That has been established.

People have different phobias. Even though the nest is gone, the guests feel too uncomfortable to stay and want to leave asap. What is the benefit of them in doing so if they didn't feel they needed to? It's incredibly annoying to lose the rest of the booking, especially as you have dealt with the problem, but I'm inclined to agree with @Anonymous and just let this one go.

In my travels, I've shared rooms with tarantulas, scorpions (including one running up my leg and another INSIDE my tucked in mosquito net) and been swarmed by hornets. I also discovered a wasps nest in my chimney breast when I bought my first home, and was cool as a cucumber about it. However, after a bad experience a few years ago, I've become very wary of wasps (or even bees) and have to immediately leave a room if one flies in. A wasps nest where I am staying would now completely freak me out.

I am always amazed by how people freak out about even a smallish spider, but so many people are arachnophobic, I mean a LOT of people. I'm able to deal with the odd rogue spider because I'm a live in host and luckily none of my guests have wanted to leave because of one, but when you see the fear in the guests' eyes, you know that phobia is very real.

[Elaine701]

@Huma0 

I was only being facetious, yet considering that the wasp nest was removed and nobody was actually harmed, it does seem a bit like a tempest in a teacup. 

This type of guest would be entirely unhappy in our place, in the countryside, where we have all kinds of common insects and other wildlife, almost all of it completely harmless.

But there's a reward... A refund. Which is awfully convenient. There are a few websites out there that do indeed offer instructions on receiving "free" stays in Airbnb listings. And as we all know, on Airbnb, the guest often wins these disputes without any evidence or basis of truth. So, yes, you can get a free holiday if you play it right. 

Having said that, I can understand their fears. I'm no fan of wasps. But if the nest was removed, then what's the difference between this place (now without a wasp nest) and another place, presumably without one, but as nature is nature, there's no guarantee of that either. 

It all just seems a bit OTT. 

And yes, I've had guests that freaked out because they saw a gecko. Outdoors. Probably the most harmless creatures on the planet. My husband had to go and "remove" it (it was actually never found, as they are rather timid and hide from just about everything). 

But these people live in northern cities where they never encounter things like that, and (somewhat) understandably, might fear it. Nonetheless, if you can't tolerate things like that, then don't go to places that have those things. Which, actually, probably includes almost anywhere. 

[Huma0]

@Elaine701 

Oh, I believe you. I am sure there are absolutely guests out there that use 'bugs' as an excuse to get a free stay.

I was just saying that this particular scenario didn't sound like that.

1. Guests message the host on check in to inform him about the wasp's nest.

2. Guests inform the host the same day that they would like to cancel the reservation.

What do they exactly have to gain from this if it was a scam? They are not getting a free stay out of it, not even a few nights. The only thing I can think of is that they got there and changed their minds about the place for other reasons and used the wasps' nest as an excuse, but how likely is that really? Isn't it more likely that they were freaked out by the wasp's nest and that's what made them want to leave. 

An overreaction? Maybe (probably depends on one's attitude towards wasps - long before I developed my mild phobia, I had a boyfriend who was attacked by a swarm of bees as a child and therefore a single wasp or bee was enough to terrify him). But a scam? Sound pretty unlikely to me.

I'm just saying that we shouldn't automatically assume in these sorts of situations that the guest is a scammer. There doesn't seem much to gain and I imagine it was probably a big inconvenience to them having to relocate.

[Clara116]

@David-Henry0  and others.....since we are in Florida and have bugs, humid weather and a very hot climate where insects often seek inside coolness I decided after reading all the posts about guests getting refunded to make sure and post on my listing to help in the event this was tried as a scam or a guest working to get refunded because they saw or got a mosquito bite.  We do always check for nest, and places where critters might wanna live....You wanna know about the bugs before your guests, otherwise it can get ugly.

Here's what I have on my listing about the space and things to know :

_____________________________________________________
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Florida is a humid, wet natural environment with lots of nature....many bugs are important to our gardens and ecosystem - we use gentle bug/pest control....but we all do different things to keep praying mantis and other important pollinators in the garden however, rain forces them to seek shelter.
We DO NOT offer refunds for a bug, mosquito, lizard or spider inside. We've not had this occur but just incase. Best advice is keep doors and windows closed, wear long sleeves especially at sunrise and sunset as mosquitoes love to bite at this time.
We have gentle bug spray in the basket in the bathroom and some natural patches for keeping mosquitoes away and patches for itching bites...thanks for understanding and knowing bugs are an important part of growing food and having an ecosystem that works to stay balanced. 

Maybe this gives other hosts ideas for their listing and protecting against scammers that work the system. You must have something in your listing to help yourself.

[Sarah977]

There is no way I would refund a guest because of their fears or phobias. Sure, if they wanted to leave, I'm not going to stop them, but I have no patience with people freaking out about things that haven't harmed them.

I had one guest who told me there was a spider on the ceiling over her bed and that she has a spider phobia, but she wasn't having some meltdown, she just asked me to remove it, which I did. No big deal, no drama, no cancelling or refunds. And I certainly didn't berate her for her phobia, just assured her that those types of spiders are actually quite shy and not poisonous and don't just fall off the wall or ceiling, in case she saw another one.