Guest wanting to shorten stay 1 day into their stay

[Yolande96]

Hi all!
I am new to Air BnB and just currently have my second guest staying at my Air BnB. Today, 1 day after arriving, she requested to leave early citing changes in her work situation. At first she attempted to request a change via the app but after researching I learned this will lead to a full refund of her remaining days which doesn't seem fair for me to carry the loss for her change so I instead guided her to call Air BnB to cancel, as I read this enacts the cancelation policy. When she did she told them she didn't feel safe staying alone as a female, despite the fact the place is located in a safe family suburb and is requesting a refund. I received this information from one of Air BnB's support team and ending with, "I'll wait until I hear back from you, before I take any action."

What should I do in this situation? There are 2 of the 4 days remaining. If I don't refund her I worry I will receive a negative review which this early on could be quite damning but refunding her doesn't feel fair either. Would love your insights and guidance! 

[Inna22]

@Yolande96 yes, this is a tough situation and I am afraid your only option to (almost) assure a good review is to refund in full.

Since she has reached out to Airbnb with this lie, she is obviously expecting a full refund and is willing to get it at any cost. She’s already unhappy.

My personal policy is to never buy a review but I’m also fortunate enough to have many so one bad one can’t hurt me. 

As I see it, you have two options:

fully refund her and expressed to her that you’re new to this, this will be a huge financial loss for you but you just want her to be happy. Basically just shower her with pleasantries. Even that won’t guarantee you a positive review or any review for that matter but will make one more likely. 

Your other alternative is to stick to your guns, tell the representative that it is not true and that she simply wants to shorten her stay due to work circumstances and send a picture of your exchange with her where she states that. She then may or may not give you a negative review. Not all people leave reviews. Even if she does,  he will have a chance for rebuttal or perhaps getting it removed if she breaks a review policy.

I know this is not really and advice but rather food for thought, but I’m hoping it’s helpful.

[Rhys59]

Hey! 
I’m afraid I’ve had a very similar experience. 
my places are usually 4 night stay minimums and I’ve had people book them with no intention of staying the 4 nights and requesting money back. 
Sadly we are over a barrel and have to let them leave to avoid bad reviews. I stood my ground on the first occasion when he stated he wasn’t going to be there at all due to a change in circumstances when it turned out he definitely had stayed at least two nights and air b n b kindly removed their fake review. 
I think sometimes you just got to bite the bullet. We are in a service industry, people change, their plans change and you’d expect some form of flexibility with hotels and other services alike. 

[Anonymous]

@Yolande96   This guest has already shown you that she intends to play nasty, since she tried lying to customer service to get a refund. So at this point, there's no action you can take that will get you a positive review. Fortunately for you, it's not considered a refundable "travel issue" if guests don't feel safe in the neighborhood. As long as it's not the home itself that's a safety hazard, you are still entitled to the full payout.

There are times when refunding those days would be the better course of action. For example, if it's a valuable returning guest who you want to keep a good business relationship with. Or it's the flip side of that: a guest who is so bad that you have to force them to leave to prevent damage and disruption. This guest is probably neither, but beware of the monsters that entitled people unleash when they don't get their way.