Guest did not follow instructions, did not reply to airbnb messages and then turned at the house...

[Al29]

I was away for the wedding weekend, the guest was sent messages telling them to contact my mother with her mobile, the day before their arrival and all through the day of their arrival. The key was also left in a secret spot for them and they were messaged about how to find it. They did not respond, they turned up out of the blue at 4pm.

Whatsapped me but did not ring, they did not ring my mother, they waited for about an hour. They then got a hotel room. Now they are complaining about my conduct, if you can see the airbnb message history, there are no replies to any of my messages. One message at 4.58 on whatsapp which i missed due to being busy. They are now complaining about my conduct and will try to request a refund i assume. What to do? 

[Paul154]

The easiest course of action is to rely on Airbnb - They are a 3rd party and make these situations easy to decide.

They will probably request  a 100% refund.

Although incompetent, the guests did act in good faith: They intended to stay at your place. They came and tried to stay at your place, but were unable to (no blame to you). They paid money for a hotel.

This has happened to me before and I had refunded them.

Although annoying, this is the price of doing business. 

To protect yourself from this in the future, consider making your Mother a co-host. Backup is always good.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Al29

I usually send my guests instructions a month or so in advance, or as soon as at all possible if the reservation is short notice. This way they have a chance to actually receive and read the messages and take note of the necessary info.  With just a day notice they could have been on a long haul flight with no reception. If you can supply your mother's mobile as a back-up contact, that is always useful.

It is also an idea to duplicate short notice messages to their whatsapp, their mobile and their private e-mail, whatever contact methods you have available.

[Linda108]

@Al29  Both @Marit-Anne0 and @Paul154 have offered good information what you can do on a go forward basis.  Are your guests planning to come to your place for the remainder of their booking or did they only book one day?  Have you ever been a traveler on Air BNB?  Having been a guest, it has helped be understand the process from that perspective.  I agree you need to nail down the check-in process at least a week if possible.  

As stated, the guest acted in good faith and your process was flawed as it assumed the guest got your messages.  You didn't get their message, right?  You can sit tight and see what the guest will do, or you can be proactive and offer a refund.  Either way, if the guest did not actually stay at your place, there will be no opportunity for either of you to write a review.

[Susie5]

@Al29, I'm confused - I wouldn't think that Whatsapp "counts" as going through the Airbnb portal, which I think is always advisable, so that AB can see the clear attempts to provide check in details etc.  Am I missing something?