Last week I had an instant booking for three people, one night. The guest had very good reviews, five stars. He messages that it will be himself, his partner and two friends. I asked him to confirm the number of guests, as he had booked for three, but mentioned four. He confirmed that it was four.
Then he asks me to confirm that there will be two off street parking spots available for their "expensive vehicles." There is only one spot in the driveway. Two small cars can fit without blocking the sidewalk, but he says he has a full sized pickup truck as one of his vehicles. That's just not going to work. Nowhere in my listing does it state that I have off street parking for two vehicles, because I can't guarantee that. I explain to him that this is not a good fit for his needs, and offer to authorize a full refund if he were to cancel. "Are you telling me to cancel?" No, I'm not, but I'm not feeling comfortable about not being able to fulfil his parking needs, which are obviously very important to him. He tells me that if I think both vehicles can fit, he will be fine. I know they won't, and he will be dissatisfied. I do not want to risk a less than five star review, because as we all know, five is passing, and four is failing.
I decided to contact customer service. I asked if the rep could ask the guest to cancel, and I would be more than happy to authorize a refund, as my listing does not fit the guest's needs. I also asked if I would be penalized for initiating this. The rep assured me that I would not be penalized, and promised to reach out to the guest on my behalf. A few minutes later, I get a notification that the guest had cancelled. The guest also sends me a message saying, "Thanks for wasting my time." I apologized for being unable to accommodate his needs, and advised him that he should read listing details more carefully in the future.
A few days later, I was thinking about this, and checked hi profile again out of curiosity. There was a review from a host in my state who stated that the guest cancelled after check out because her place was not a stand alone house, and there were other people living in a seperate but attached apartment in the house. She stated that the guest did not read the listing details and was upset, and that this could have been avoided if he had read the listing description. It was a relief to read her review and confirm that my experience with the guest was not due to a lack of communication on my part, but a failure on the guest's part.
Customer service was polite, empathetic, and quick in assisting me with this issue, and I was quite impressed. Just wanted to share.
