My last guest decided to cancel after his first night and wants a refund for his last two nights.
The reason: He said my cats were being too noisy. What he actually heard was me making more than one trip to the restroom. I am very quiet, but in an old house, floor boards do creak.
In my "potential for noise" I do mention my cats. I also mention you will hear normal household noises. These are also mentioned in my house rules under "Things you must acknowledge".
At first, he tried to contact me off the platform, by texting my phone directly saying there was a problem with his stay. I responded to him on the platform...
"What was the problem? AirBNB requires we communicate through the platform."
He messaged back, "OK, not a problem. I was kept up for much of the night because of the cats running around above the bedroom. I hate to complain, especially because your place is lovely and you've been very friendly, but I'd like to cancel the rest of my stay and be refunded for the last two days. I'm happy not to give a negative rating if you'd like, since I read your materials and know that's important to you."
I responded with, "I'm very sorry they disturbed you. But I am a bit confused. Honestly, with the exception of when I got up around 1 am and they followed me around, they were sleeping with me (and my knee kept me awake most of the night) so I'm not sure when they were making noise? What time was this?"
His response: "Between 10:30 and midnight, and then again at 1am"
My reply: "I am very sorry I disturbed you."
His response: "No worries, these things happen. I'm going to take off. I'd appreciate it if you can please fully refund me the remaining two nights of my stay. I'm happy to resolve this between us without complaining or leaving a negative rating, since I saw that Airbnb unfairly downranks you for that!
On one hand, I apparently did disturb him when I got up during the night.
On the other hand, he booked a home share with disclosed potentials for noise and he wants a refund for what was disclosed.
He's mentioned not leaving a negative rating in the same context as receiving a full refund for the remaining two days.
Thoughts?