unpleasant smell in the bathroom - guest asks for refund

[Bob297]

We have a villa in a resort. There was an unpleasant smell in the bathroom.
The bathroom is next to a bedroom.

The villa is occupied by a couple and their daughter and has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a living kitchen and a large porch

The resort is on a small island (Curacao) with a limited amount of professionals. As a result, it took 3 days to fix the problem. The plumber was called immediately but unfortunately, he had other jobs he could not reschedule. Other plumbers did not have time either.

After investigating, it was found that there was apparently a blockage in the resort's sewer which caused the smell of gases from urine to return. As our villa was located high up, we were most affected by this.

The guest has rented for 100 days and is asking for over 2 days rent as compensation. Is that a reasonable request?

[Anonymous]

@Bob297  This is the kind of situation that it's really best to get out in front of with an offer before the guest has a chance to ask for compensation. A reasonable offer from your end might have been the choice between ending the booking early for a full refund of unused nights, or a token discount (say, 25-30% off the affected days). If the guests makes the first move in this game, you're not in a good bargaining position.

If the entire booking were only 2 nights, I don't think a bad smell merits a free stay. But if the request amounts to only a  2% discount off a 100 night rental, it's hardly worth a dispute. Just take care to set the right tone - you don't want to start a pattern where the guests use more complaints to chip away at the rent. If they are still unsatisfied with the home after the plumbing problem is resolved, it will be time to table the option of moving out instead of getting more free nights. 

[Bob297]

@Anonymous 

You have made a valuable point with this:

"just take care to set the right tone - you don't want to start a pattern where the guests use more complaints to chip away at the rent."
I did not think about it.

[Debra586]

Had a Brooklyn Airbnb with horrible sewage smell from bathroom sink, shower and toilet. When I told she said if I didn’t like it to get a hotel. They wouldn’t give me a refund   Won’t book with Airbnb again