Is this Extortion or Someone Being Nice?

[Stephanie365]

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?

[Stephanie365]

I'm not OK with a guest threatening me.  And I'm not going to let my rating suffer because he didn't read my listing even though he told me in his booking message that he did. I ask that guests include "Ready Freddy" in their booking message as a House Rule to let me know they actually read my house rules. He did so there's no way he can say he didn't know.

If I was a high volume AirBNB in a destination location, I might care less. But I am off the beaten path. I'm not close to town or any destinations so I'm competing with like 80 other AirBNBs that are much more convenient to amenities and touristy things. Except for during the summer, I get weekend bookings 95% of the time. Most of the time it's people passing through from Florida to New England and I'm a half-way point stop over.

I've been doing this for 4 years and have had maybe 135 guests, taking into consideration the guests who didn't leave reviews. So for lower volume AirBNBs, review really do make a difference. I just got hit with a 4* review from a discount scammer who was dissatisfied that I didn't give him a big enough discount for a broken dryer (even though he wasn't even entitled to use it and wasn't physcially here long enough to use it). I can't afford another bad review.

[Sarah977]

@Stephanie365  I concur with Summer's advice to get out ahead of this and report his extortion attempts to Airbnb.

Do this by message, not phone call, so you have documentation of the report. If he leaves some scathing lie-filled review, this may aid you in having it removed.

[Laura2592]

@Stephanie365  I have 3 cats and live in a house built in 1908. The only way my cats would "disturb" anyone was if they were in the room with them and hungry.  Unless your cats weigh 30lbs each I call BS.  

I would add to @Summer64 excellent advice and just say "please go ahead and cancel the rest of your stay so that I can return the funds for unused nights to you.  I'm sorry my space wasn't a fit for you! I do my best to disclose the potential for noise in my listing...sorry if you missed that part. Though reviews are important to any host, (or any guest) it's always best for both to leave what they feel is an honest description of the stay.  I would hate to think that you felt as though you couldn't leave whatever review you thought was fair out of concern for my feelings.  I really appreciate your thoughtfulness! I'll approve your cancelation as soon as it comes through. Thanks so much and hope you find a place that's a better fit!"

Note that there's no debate, no apologies and two can play at the subtle threat game. 

[Stephanie365]

I did contact AirBNB about the extortion before I went anywhere with a refund. I screen-shotted both instances where he mentioned not leaving a review in the same breath as asking for a refund.  I also mentioned he tried to contact me off-platform several times and screen-shotted where I redirected the conversation back to the platform. "Can you tell me again what the problem was? AirBNB requires all communication go through this app."

They agreed that it was a violation of their extortion policy and would remove any review he leaves.

I then contacted the guest and sent a partial refund. I explained he never gave me the opportunity to rectify the situation and that he did acknowledge when he booked that there was the potential for noise, but that in the interest of being an equitable host we would split the loss 50/50. I also mentioned that in a home-share environment where the accommodation was part of or attached to someone's personal home, sound proofing is not going to be to the same standards as what you have in a hotel room and that normal household noises, such as someone walking across the floor to use the bathroom or sounds from a host's disclosed pets, are to be expected.

Now the real question is, will AirBNB stick to their word and remove it if he does leave a bad review.

I also should point out I never directly mentioned reviews to this guest (or any other) or in any of my written literature/notes in my guest suite. I don't have any of those "5 Star Review" hints on napkins, pens or my Wi-Fi password that some hosts bombard guests with. The only reference to reviews that I have is an article I printed out, published by Forbes magazine that discusses the review process so that guests understand that a 4* review is considered bad. I have it in my Welcome Manual for guests to read if they choose.  If you google "Forbes AirBNB Burnout" you will find the article.  In no way does it attempt to sway a guest's honest review. It simply states how the AirBNB review system can be confusing (Star rating for luxury vs star rating for performance) and how authoritarian AirBNB is with their hosts when you receive reviews that are less than 5*.

[Laura2592]

@Stephanie365 I am going to look for that article!

[Susan990]

This entire narrative of the manipulation and hijacking of  the review system, which is so patently open to abuse by the savy user- all of this captured in the inbox thread is priceless.  Priceless!!! You must call ABB, open a complaint with  filed number of record, image the text from this savy guest, paste it in your communication thread with ABB and force the acknowledgement that this user is holding you hostage to the ABB "unfairly review" system.  Save everything in this experience and hold it as evidence to substantiate the claim by many Hosts globally that the ABB review system is Not Right.  It has earned its reputation as a tool for this kind of user and the word is out and the genie cannot be put back into the bottle. ABB needs a new bottle.  How about the Internationally used review/rating system which Home Away and VRBO and everyone else in this industry uses--except ABB.

[Anonymous]

@Susan990  are you OK?

[Stephanie365]

@Susan990  yes, he's definitely trying to pull a stunt.  While I've had some less than ideal guests, it seems this past summer, they're really coming out of the wood work. 3 of my past 4 guests have been majorly problematic. Between the guy who destroyed my rug and never thought to mention it and then wondered why he should pay for it, to the guy scamming a discount for a dryer to this guy extorting me for a refund, I'm getting a bit fed up with the hassle. 

I had been considering purchasing a stand alone property in town to AirBNB, but after the sh*tshow guests from the past few months, I'm strongly reconsidering this idea.

[Laura2592]

@Stephanie365 I am in your basic region but on the Maryland side (my sis lives in Fauquier County and we go to Fredericksburg fairly often.) I have had a similar experience with guests this summer. We had several in a row who were simply awful. Messy, difficult, picky etc. I had to cancel a stay for a woman from Falls Church with a mass of positive reviews when she admitted she was planning on bringing more people than my house capacity and not planning to pay the extra guest fee for the number I allow. I had a bachelorette party thrown by a guest who was caught on camera unloading case after case of Whiteclaw and tons of pink genital shaped decorations (our max is 4 guests with extra fees over 2, and no parties of any kind, ever. She paid for 2 people and at least 8 were caught on camera.) Its been a headache from beginning to end this past few months. 

We have been lucky enough (knock wood) to have some decent and pleasant guests going into fall. I hope people will calm down. I notice we have our worst guests in summer and late winter/early spring. The summer guests used to be families with kids on a school break. Now its any entitled yahoo who can't go to Europe and has to be content with the local area due to travel restrictions. Late winter has traditionally been groups who are tired of being cooped up, not happy its not summer yet, ready to party like it is. Wishing you a calm autumn and I feel your pain. 

[Stephanie365]

Well, in the interest of being a gracious host, I offered to split the difference with the guest and refund him one night instead of the two he requested. 

I pointed out he was not eligible for any refund based on the Contract he agreed to upon booking (AirBNB Terms of service section 2.2 Booking) and also that, "It is your responsibility to investigate a Host Service to determine whether it is suitable for you.” (Per AirBNB Terms of Service section 4.2). "Assumed Risk".  But in the name of compromise, I would refund half of the money he requested.

His response was: "I didn't want to mention this before because I was trying to be cordial, but there were a number of other significant problems with my stay: namely, the smell."  

Uh huh. He's pulling every trick in the book. The ever subjective and impossible to prove "smell". I use Febreeze prior to all guests arriving. There is no "smell".

Funny how he didn't mention this "smell" or any other "significant problem" prior to being denied a full refund. You would think as hard as he's pitching to get this refund, he would have mentioned these issues right away! [\sarcasm]

I am in the midst of composing my review. My work in progress thus far...

"Unfortunately Matt did not comply with my House Rules or read the listing disclosures even though he specifically acknowledged them when he booked and he chose to end his stay early.  The reasons for his leaving were clearly disclosed in the listing and therefore disqualified him from receiving a refund. This did not dissuade him from trying to extort one.

In exchange for a full refund, Matt generously offered not leave a negative review,  which is in direct violation of AirBNB’s Extortion Policy. He even made this offer twice!  Leaving my home unlocked upon departure was the icing on this cake.

I strongly do not recommend Matt to other hosts."

[Kelly149]

@Stephanie365 Pretty sure that review would get pulled. Go read the content policy to double check what will stick

[Sarah977]

@Stephanie365  "I didn't want to mention this before, because I was trying to be cordial, but there are a number of other significant problems with you as a guest."

[Laura2592]

@Sarah977  and @Stephanie365  "I didn't want to mention this as it might disturb you, but the noises you heard were not from cats....I don't have any cats...."

(cue Twilight Zone music.)

[Christine615]

Any chance you have squirrels on the roof? That's what they would sound like.

[Brian2036]

@Christine615 @Stephanie365 @Laura2592 

She had a squirrel in the guest room.

Actually a squirrel is just a RAT with a fuzzy tail.