Refund for heat not working

[Thea-and--Keith0]

Hello fellow hosts,

Some advice/ recommendations please.  We had a couple with a pet booked for the weekend.  The heat in the unit was not working (unbeknownst to us) and the guest let us know after their arrival.  We offered to have the heat fixed at 9am in the next morning (this was a Friday night) and brought them 3 space heaters, a bottle of wine and flowers (it was about 55-63 that afternoon and dropped to 45 degree that night).  We were in constant contact that evening and advised we would have the heat fixed at 9am the next morning.  Initially, I offered them a 50% discount for Friday night and to comp them the weekend.  Saturday morning, I comped them entirely for Friday night, the rest of the weekend and their pet fee.  They decided to leave Saturday around noon.

It turns out the cuppling in the pump of the boiler pump was not working and an easy fix.

My question to you:  The guests used both beds, left dirty dishes and allowed their pet on the furniture (not allowed).  They have not written a review.  Thoughts on what you would do, write a review or wait and see what they do?  Also, thoughts on how we could have handled this differently?  We ended up paying for them to stay and do their dishes.

[M199]

@Thea-and--Keith0 

Sorry to hear🥺

I would apologize sincerely to the guest with a public review "that due to unforeseen mechanical issues" your stay was below our standards.....,".   In this situation, I would defer from any review/comment that could have a backlash.  Just my opinion.

[Sarah977]

@Thea-and--Keith0  The only thing that to me you did wrong was comp them the weekend. Why did you do that? Comping them the Friday night is all you should have offered in the first place, as they had no heat, especially since you brought over space heaters, wine and flowers.

There was zero need to offer to comp them the weekend, and even the pet fee, when the heat was an easy fix the next morning.

These people are users- they didn't appreciate you trying to make things right, instead taking advantage of the situation by not only getting fully refunded, but leaving you a dirty mess.

I'm not sure what you mean by should you wait to see what they will do? They got fully refunded, and left. What else would they do or feel the need to do?

I have to say I disagree with @M199  as to what to write. S**t happens. Sometimes things break or malfunction. There's no need to apologize to that extent when you bent over backwards to deal with the situation, and I certainly wouldn't say anything about your standards not being up to normal. This has nothing to do with standards. Appliances can go on the blink with no warning.

If they write a bad review, you can always respond to it. Maybe wait to see if they bother to leave a review at all. If not, you could wait until day 13 and a half to leave a review. 

My brain isn't up to a suggested review to leave for them at the moment. But it should both acknowledge the heating issue, which you are sorry for, and that you acted to remedy asap and also mention that they left a mess.

[Dale711]

Hi @Thea-and--Keith0 

I agree with @M199.

Thank you for pointing it out correctly.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Thea-and--Keith0 

My boiler broke once while I had guests. I have found them an alternative place to stay in my neighbors Airbnb, we shortened their reservation and I refunded them only for the nights not spent. I apologized and that's it.  No drama,, no flowers, no reviews...

[Angelica-Y-Jorge0]

@Thea-and--Keith0 I think what you did was above and beyond amazing from a customer experience perspective. Heat is an essential service and your urgency and empathy showed how much you care.

I personally would not leave a review on the guest as their stay was impacted by the heat. The dog could have been on the furniture to snuggle up to their owner if it was cool in the apartment and sometimes guests leave dirty dishes. If the guest leaves a review for you I hope it would be very positive after all you did for them. If the review is negative, I would respond publically at that point in agreement with @M199 

[Thea-and--Keith0]

Thank you everyone for your input.  Much appreciated.

[Clara116]

@Thea-and--Keith0 @Sarah977 I agree with Sarah - also, I think your response to the situation was rather tricky to understand. IMO you went  over board on what you did.  First offering 50% and then throwing in everything including the pet fee?? I don't get that -- 3 heaters/wine/flowers AND you gave a free stay.....I guess the saying stands true here...."If you don't pay for something it has NO value or little value to some people"  

My guess is offering the 50% off for that cold night was the start to what ended up being way over the top?? Even though you didn't mention - ? did the guests respond unfavorable immediately to the 50%?? Although you didn't express this - I would have wanted to leave if I had no heat and the host expected me to pay anything for a cold night - even with space heaters brought in. 

I would have comped the cold Friday night - brought heaters and extra blankets that's it and said at 9am the professional will come and take care and enjoy your stay. Nothing more - so you lost peace of mind, money, time, and now are worried about the review. 

This is a good learning for hosts for sure - our response is really critical on the outcome to any of these unexpected situations. I guess we should all sit and brainstorm about any possible situation in our space AND what would we do. 

Like loss of power

loss of heat

loss of A/C

loss of water

So that its part of a business plan and not just grabbing anything that comes to mind or something the guests dictates by their response.  Its emergency planning. This has caused me to think out these things and I think its a good thing. Sorry this happened but it can help other hosts with such events cause they WILL occur to many. 

peace and happy hosting, Clara

[Dave52]

@Thea-and--Keith0  Sounds like you did everything right.  When ship happens, all you can do is resolve the situation ASAP, if professional repair is needed it may take some time.  It's not like a hotel where you can move them to another room.  Good guests understand this but nevertheless may decide to check out depending on the issue.  If my guest had no heat and decided to check out early, I would also give them a refund as you did.  Hopefully they will be understanding and skip the review.   You've now fixed the heat and can move on to the next guest.  My two cents.

[Jillian115]

@Thea-and--Keith0  Regarding reviews; If I think there a chance the guest may not leave a positive review, I don't leave a review for them until I get the email that says; read the review "guest" left for you. Regarding refunds, we have planned outages in the fall, and then the power goes out. I usually give a 50% refund. But also provide them with the option to cancel. I think flowers and wine are already a lot. I don't think I would do more than that since the say has finished. It sounds like you handled it well maybe overly generous. Inconsiderate of them to leave the house in a poor state and break your rules.