I've just had one of my oddest guest experiences and possibly my shortest ever stay

[Huma0]

Not 100% sure how to interpret this one. I don't want to seem paranoid, but after the unexpected 3* review I recently received, which will cost me my Superhost status, I'm starting to worry if I'm getting something really wrong.

A young local lady booked one of my rooms quite last minute for the Xmas/New Year period while she was waiting for her new apartment to be available (turns out it was last minute because the Airbnb host she was previously booked with nearby contracted COVID and had to cancel). She was supposed to stay for 2.5 weeks. 

This was the kind of guest I hope to receive. She had no reviews, but her communication was great, she seemed absolutely lovely, checked in early evening yesterday and said the house was beautiful. She went to work early the following day. As I hadn't seen her, I messaged later in the evening to ask if everything was okay or if she needed anything. She told me all was fine, she was visiting friends and would probably stay with them that evening, come back the following evening (today), leave again to visit family for Xmas and then be back.

Shortly after she returned this evening, she told me her plans had changed and that she might be away longer than she originally thought. A few minutes after that, she came back downstairs and told me she would be checking out now and not coming back and that she was sorry and hoped that was okay with me.

I told her that of course, if her plans had changed, that is fine, but I was worried that she was leaving because something was wrong. She assured me that everything was fine, she thought it was the prettiest, coolest house she had ever been in, I was super lovely etc. etc. and then a few minutes later, off she went.

She didn't ask for a refund, but I brought it up because I wasn't sure if she was assuming she would get one. I told her if she wanted to cancel the stay, I would open up the dates for a 10 day stay (don't normally do that as I host long term and 2.5 weeks was already lower than my usual 28 day minimum) and refund her any rebooked nights, although can't guarantee that at this short notice. She was interested, but seemed a bit uncomfortable even talking about that and kid of told me not to worry. I am waiting to see if she cancels or not.

Really not sure what to make of this. Should I be worried?

[Huma0]

@Helen744 

No, it didn't cross my mind, but that is a possibility. All she mentioned in relation to COVID was that the reason she booked so last minute was that her previous booking (nearby) was cancelled before she checked in because the host tested positive.

In the end, she left me a lovely review and 5* for everything, so I have stopped speculating that there was anything about me or my listing that drove her away. Her reasons for going (invitation from her cousins in Cornwall) were not odd at all, it was the sudden rush of her departure that was weird.

[Anonymous]

@Huma0  it's happened to me about once or twice a year that a guest changed plans early in the stay and decided to move to a friend or relative's house. None have ever asked for a refund, and as a general rule I never let the R word pass my lips with a customer unless I intend 100% to issue one.

I think some portion of bookings are meant as a Plan B, rather than a primary destination. I've done that plenty of times myself - booked an affordable room to make sure it was there if I needed it, but  spent the night elsewhere. It's like a little insurance plan. It's perfectly OK if you choose to treat this low-effort paycheck as a well-deserved early Christmas gift. 

[Huma0]

Thanks @Anonymous 

Yes, I regretted bringing up the whole refund thing almost as soon as I mentioned it. The guest didn't seem to expect it and now she kind of does. I shouldn't have done it but I panicked thinking something was wrong as she was maybe going to leave me a 3* review, only because of a recent experience.

In future, I will remember not to bring up the refund question and just wait to see if the guest does...

[Sandra126]

@Huma0 refund if rebooked,  otherwise not. 

[Huma0]

Does anyone know when you can review a cancelled guest? I assumed it was as soon as the stay ended, i.e. when it's cancelled, but I'm not seeing the option to review yet, so perhaps it's only after the stay was originally supposed to end...

[Huma0]

In answer to my own question, I just got the reminder to review a little while ago, so basically about 24 hours after the guest cancelled. No idea if that is standard or not...

[Ann72]

@Huma0  My daughter came home yesterday and we had an evening in together so I missed all this!  I think the girl was making a strong bid to be independent and not impose on her family, but when they all heard her plans they rallied round and insisted she come stay with them.  She probably decided it would be okay to save the money.  I think she genuinely loved your place (but what sane person would not?).  The only surprise here is that her family is so functional that she's actually going to stay with them...

[Huma0]

@Ann72 

Thank you! It does sound like she loved the place from the things she said. She was certainly very nice in all of her communications and had already told me she was very comfortable when I checked in to see if there was anything she needed.

The invitation from her cousins sounded very last minute and she said she really wanted to spend time with them and needed a holiday, so that all makes sense. The only thing that was weird was  why she needed to rush off immediately when she had to work nearby the following day. That's the bit that still doesn't make any sense to me and made me think something else was going on and she was too polite to tell me.

Perhaps there's a logical explanation for it though. Maybe she assumed she could not leave her bags here the following day and didn't want to lug her stuff to work on the tube the next morning. I would have let her leave them here for the day, but I do state in my house rules that I don't do this (to put off the guests that seem unreliable from asking me) so it wold have been a natural assumption for her to make.

[Ann72]

Ah yes, I think it was the lugging @Huma0!  It seems inefficient but bringing luggage on public transport is stressful.

[Helen744]

Helen @744 I now have also realised the answer to early leavers is a covid positive and a need to isolate . I am going to ask up front if this happens again . My 3 star lady left the previous evening and complained about cleaning and left me a three star. nothing more likely to make someone think a house is dirty than a covid positive test. so glad I wear a mask and air the housefor a few hours and bag and remove the linen which I do the next day . Stay safe people H

[Huma0]

Oh dear, I really wish now that I hadn't said asked the guess to make the cancellation, told her I would try to rebook the nights and reduced the minimum stay to 10 days, because now I am getting enquiries from guests I really don't want to host. 

In the past hour, I've had one who had lacklustre ratings and a few not so great reviews, but it was his responses to those that put me off the most. In one case he responded with sarcasm and in another, where the host had said he didn't wash the dishes, that he did wash them, not after every meal, but actually washed them twice (in a ten day stay). He said at least he was considerate enough to leave them in the sink!

A few minutes later, I get another one, this time with just the message 'Can you confirm?' That's it. No hello, no introduction, none of the information I ask for on the listing.

This is one of the reasons I don't do shorter stays anymore. I have also found in the past that I get a disproportionate number of weird or awful guests over the holiday season. I don't know why that is...

[Huma0]

I responded to the second one:

"Hi X, thank you for your enquiry, but you haven't told me anything about yourself nor provided any of the information that is requested on my listing. I am afraid I cannot accept any bookings until this is provided.

Best wishes,

Huma"

And so, instead of responding to that, he instant books and sends this message: "Hello Huma! I look forward to staying in your home!"

That's it.

I think I am going to have to turn off IB. I just can't cope with this anymore.

[John5097]

@Huma0 I turned mine off and really like it. Thats typical amount of commuication from guest in my experience. Sorry this is a challenging cancelation and short notice rebooking. I happened to turn off IB just for a short while to screen last minute cancelation but ended up getting a lot of bookings with it off and some improvement with communication. I did like having guest have to send a message and reply to questions with IB, though. Its very challenging! 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

Sorry, responded to your post above before reading this one, so ignore my question there!

So, I called Airbnb who agreed to do a penalty free guest cancellation. However, when I told the guest they would contact him to get his confirmation, he said they didn't need to and that our communication should be enough. I had to repeat over and over that he needs to confirm with them or he would not get a full refund. Eventually he did and the booking was cancelled.

Now he is asking if he can check in. I assume he means he wants to rebook it (I turned off IB in the meantime, so he can't use that) and has finally told me some brief information, i.e. just that he is a 19-year-old student. It will take hours and hours and hours to prise the information I need from this guest and I just know in my gut it's going to be a nightmare if he stays here. 

I know you have experienced this as a typical amount of communication, but I found that this was rare in the past for me. After all, we are talking about long term stays in a homeshare.

The Airbnb rep (who was very nice and efficient) told me that it's because it's the holiday season and people are panic booking.

[Huma0]

Should I just block him?

I always feel bad blocking a guest because you can only do it if you choose the 'they're being offensive' option and it seems a bit unfair to claim that about a guest who is being clueless rather than offensive!

The other thing I don't think I mentioned is that he has three positive reviews on his profile, but they are not for him. The are for a woman with a different name. He could be the husband that is referred to in some of them, but none of them refer to him by name and he's only 19 and appears to be travelling alone (unless he is planning to bring his wife and has forgotten to tell me - I already changed the max occupancy to 1 guest).