Regarding charging for 30 days after guest cancelled

[Nancy817]

Hi everyone... 

I need some advice/feedback on my situation please.

I had a young woman, 28, show up on a Friday for a long term 3 month booking. Everything was fine. I treated her to dinner when she arrived on the first night.

I left her two breakfast bars in the bathroom for the morning because she hadn't had a chance to buy food yet. She thanked me. That night, I left her a cinnamon bun for her on another morning. I brought home flowers from a birthday party and put them in her room. She stayed for 5 nights. On that 5th night, I had a friend pick me up to drive together to a birthday party. When he arrived, he said hello, and then she said that she was going to run to the store. My friend came upstairs for a little bit before we left and I grabbed my bag. When we went downstairs, we crossed paths in the kitchen on the way out the door. I told her we were going to a birthday party. (around 9pm)  I got home at 11:15, and she was GONE! I was in shock. I then looked and saw a message I received from her, "Refund my airbnb. I am willing to pay for the 5 days that I stayed, but expect for you to refund the cleaning fee, and other extra fees (Airbnb's service fee)

I messaged her back and asked why she left. No answer to my question. She only wanted to discuss her refund. I explained to her that when a long term guest cancels, I charge for the 30 days after they officially cancel with Airbnb because by me having my calendar blocked, I may have otherwise booked my place. When people are looking to book a long term stay, they tend to book out at least a month in advance.  She, of course, didn't like this. I asked her again, "why did you leave?" The strangest answer: She said,  "You know and understand why. Are you or are you not going to refund my request."  It was driving me crazy to not get an answer from her.  I then replied by saying that when she answered me, I would answer her. (Meaning that we could then continue on with the refund conversation.) She then said, I will contact customer support, which she did, and subsequently cancelled. I hadn't refunded her anything.  

She's obviously unhappy because I kept her money. I would've worked to compromise with her had she told me her reason for leaving. It was upsetting to me, and I was a little pissed, so that's another contributing factor as to why I wouldn't refund her money.

NOW: The HARD PART..... I have QUESTIONS about the upcoming reviews.

THE REVIEWS!   Eeeek!!!  

QUESTIONS:

1. Can her review be published if I don't write and submit a review on her?

2. Do YOU keep the funds for the 30 days after a LONG TERM cancellation?

3. I'm feeling like that is going to get me in some trouble...

         If she says that I wouldn't refund her money back to her, that could very well lose me a potential future booking. 

I'm trying to justify keeping the full amount by telling myself that somebody may have passed right over my listing because my calender was blocked for 3 months for her. There's no way to know, but that's why it's 30 days. 

4. How would you have handled this same situation?

5. Should I refund her some part of her money IF she didn't write the bad review yet? 

If it's already published, then damage is already done... 

THANKS FOR HANGING IN THERE WITH ME!

Nancy ;/     

WHAT TO DO NOW!????

[Nathalie-Et-Gilles0]

Bonjour @Nancy817 

Is she new on Airbnb. Does she have reviews?

What was the purpose to rent your place for 3 months?

4. How would you have handled this same situation?

When there is an issue, all what matters to me are :

- the laws and city rules,

- what is promised in the listing,

- my cancellation policy or long term stay cancellation policy,

- my house rules.

All the rest is blablabla.

I don't care why a guest leave because he has the right to leave. He is not our prisoner BUT he must respect the cancellation policy of the listing.

I would have simply replied :

"I do regret you have to leave early.
I was so happy to have you at home.
Do you plan to come back? if not, think about cancelling the reservation to stop the paiements.
About your request to be repaid, i could refund at the pro rata  only if i have a new reservation on what i earned, it  means that Airbnb fees are not concerned.

I keep you informed if it happens."

I keep my word and reimburse on a pro rata basis.

1. Can her review be published if I don't write and submit a review on her?

Yes, she can.
And i strongly suggest to prepare your review to alert futur hosts and give your version of the facts to disarm her review.
If she does not plublish any review, wait for the 13th day to publish yours.

2. Do YOU keep the funds for the 30 days after a LONG TERM cancellation?

Yes, i do because she blocked my home and empeach me to have a serious reservation.
However, i repay at the pro rata if a have a new reservation of what i earn (cleaning and Airbnb fees are not concerned).

3. I'm feeling like that is going to get me in some trouble...

         If she says that I wouldn't refund her money back to her, that could very well lose me a potential future booking. 

If you are afraid of comment, you wont last a long time on Airbnb.
You are afraid of a bad comment but she is too.

5. Should I refund her some part of her money IF she didn't write the bad review yet? 

Are you kidding?
It's blackmail to review and it is forbiden on Airbnb.

Suggestions to last :

Never apoligize for what you are not responsible.
Never accept blackmail.

Don't be afraid of reviews. Keep writing objective reviews for futur hosts.
Would you have accepted her request for a long stay if you had read ?

"X booked for 3 months and she left 5 days later asking for a refund including Airbnb fees!

There was no issue during the time she was in but communication was poor. 
She left the place clean (or dirty).

House rules were respected (or not).

I recommand X for hosts with a flexible cancellation policy and for short term stays".

Prepare a objective review. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Nancy817 Do write an honest review. I am afraid it is highly likely that the guest might accuse you of something so that Airbnb give her a full refund. Make sure everything that happened is repeated on Airbnb messages so you have some comeback.

As and when things happen I suggest you come back for more advice.

[Nathalie-Et-Gilles0]

@Nancy817 

I can see that your setting is 31 days minimum.
Is it a city rule?
I add this house rule in my listing to make things clear :

"For long term rentals (30 days or more), a contract will be signed. French law requires the tenant to rent for a minimum of one month in Paris. If the guest books for 1 month or longer and then wants to stay for less time, the approval of the Landlord must have been obtained. The landlord may refuse to shorten the rental period because the rental would become illegal. Therefore, the tenant would be obliged to cancel the reservation on his behalf." 

And you can add "cancel the reservation on his behalf"...with no reimbursment. 

It is important because Airbnb can hardly repay a guest who does not respect the law.

Or Airbnb could have some trouble to explain why to a judge. Fines are high here.

In Paris, for 2nd home, it is 1 month mimimum for students and workers only AND it is 1 month notice to be paid when the rental is shortened.

So the Airbnb long term cancellation policy meets the law.

Have protective house rules. 

[Kia272]

@Nancy817  From your narrative above, it sounds like maybe you're not social distancing? Could that have made her uncomfortable? I'm not trying to judge without knowing all of the facts, but in your story you make no mention of social distancing or precautions. You mention treating her to dinner (?)as well as having a visitor in your home. If I came to stay and you were not social distancing, I'd be gone in a minute. But of course I would have established your practices before I came to stay. In a way it is established because both host and guest agree to AirBnB guidelines by hosting and booking. Kia 

[Anonymous]

@Nancy817   Really nice listing you have there! It sounds like you really go the extra mile to please your guests. 

You got correct answers to your specific questions from @Nathalie-Et-Gilles0  above, but one thing I got a bit stuck on is:

" I brought home flowers from a birthday party and put them in her room."

I'm only presuming that the birthday parties you went out to were allowable under your current Coronavirus restrictions , but if you're following the Cleaning Protocol that you signed up to, entering the guestroom during the stay (even just to deliver some nice flowers) might have been a transgression. Under the current policy, if a guest reports that they want to terminate a booking because the host failed to follow all the Covid safety protocol, they're entitled to a full refund.

I don't know if this is what your guest is actually trying to do - and there's definitely an element of extortion involved - but if you have it on the record that you've been out to parties and entered the guest's private space, I'm afraid you might not have leverage against a safety complaint.

This is one case where I'd suggest waiting until closer to the end of the review period to see how it plays out. I'd want to have more information about why the guest cut the stay short first, get a clearer picture of she objected to.

[Helen3]

The only thing I can think is that she felt uncomfortable with you having a guest in the shared accommodation because of Covid @Nancy817 

But I presume where you live your Covid regulations allow you to do so.

In your situation I would have said to the guest that you are sorry that you had to leave and that she would need to cancel her booking through Airbnb who would process her cancellation in line with the long term cancellation policy she booked under.

I wouldn't have pressed her for a reason and I would have called Airbnb to flag the issue with them letting them know the guest left without explanation after being complimentary about your listing and hosting. And that they would not provide a reason for having done so. I would have confirmed with them that you will be upholding the cancellation policy the guest booked under.

Do have a look at Airbnb's review policy to remind yourself of how they work. If you don't leave a review, she can still review you, and it will be made public after two weeks. As would yours, if the guest didn't leave one.

Please leave her an honest review both for the sake of other hosts and to put any review she leaves in context.

[Sarah977]

@Nancy817  Hard to know what the guest was upset about, as she won't tell you.

But I will say that although you were only trying to make a nice gesture with the flowers, entering the guest's private space they have rented without their permission, for anything other than an emergency or a prearranged cleaning, linen change, etc, is an invasion of the guest's privacy.

[Nancy817]

Thank you so much for your support. My guest was in the room when I brought her the flowers. I did have a friend come pick me up that night and we went to a birthday party around nine and I was back by 11:15 PM she packed up and left in that time.

[Anonymous]

@Nancy817  I'm confused. If I were to diagram the timeline from your original story, it sounded like you left the flowers in her room on the second night - between the cinnamon bun and the unceremonious departure. I don't quite understand how your guest could have simultaneously been in the room when you walked in to bring her flowers, and also mysteriously absent from it. 

But you're not on trial here - the details are none of my business, and I don't actually recommend commenting in too much detail on a forum that's externally visible to the web. It's just - knowing what you know about the timeline of events, is there any possibility that the guest might have felt that you weren't following the Covid safety restrictions?

If there is, your story actually works against you here. But if it's maybe something else, that would be good for you to know to figure out how to proceed. 

[Kia272]

@Nancy817  I believe that 3 people have mentioned Covid protocols (or lack thereof) in response to your post, and your response has completely ignored that. You mention a birthday party, entering a guest's room, and having another person in your home, aside from the guest. I find this fairly troubling. 

Whether it was invading her privacy, or risking her health, I think you put the guest in a difficult situation.

If she were to report either of those violations to AirBnB, your listing could be shut down. 

As @Anonymous mentioned, with either of these violations she would be entitled to a full refund. I think you should refund all of her money and consider yourself lucky if that's all that you have to do. 

A "bad" review might be truthful from her point of view, based on those issues alone, with no real reflection on your actual amenities. 

[John5097]

Reading this seems strange you would mention leaving breakfast bars in a bathroom then mention passing by guest in a kitchen and this man also upstairs. Red flags popping up everywhere. It’s the host responsibility to communicate and maintain very clear boundaries.