Guest wants to leave early with refund

[Jade18]

Guests booked 30 nights and checked in ok. And now they want to stay only 3 nights and ask me to refund 27 nights. ( nothing wrong with my property. For other reason) My policy is Moderate. However I understand 28 nights and more reservation is automatically Long Term with 30 days notice required from the Guest. Is that correct? Where do I stand? I worry that if I refuse they may damage the property or something.

[Helen3 · Accepted solution]

I would just advise them that they need to cancel with Airbnb.

I would suggest you tel them that if you can relet the prorperty you will consider a partial refund. I would also tell them they will need to pay a day rate rather than any discounted monthly rate propotionally for the time they have stayed.

It is then in their interest to leave as soon as possible and leave your place in a good state.

Alternatively just let them know they need to cancel through BNB and then BNB can deal with it within the terms of your cancellation policy. However I would suggest if you do relet it would be nice to give something back if they have been good guests.

[Jade18]

Thanks a lot.

[Rhonda21]

I would ring AIr BNB and discuss with them in case there are any problems.  Once they leave you can inform Air BNB of what you would like to do with regards to refund. Air BNB will still take their commission for the whole time. You don't want to lose money and you have had the caledar block which has prevented you having other prospective hosts stay. If they are in a hurry to leave, let them, tell them you will work it out with AIR BNB.

[Polly17]

I just have a guest who asks for a date alternation instead of cancellation. She booked my place for 5 nights. She sms me a message to my mobile that her intention to cancel her booking for full refund because she could stay with her aunt. I declined her request. They checked in about 8pm last night. I showed her around my place but 45 minutes later, she sms me for a complaint about my place is not what she has expected and asks for leaving early for a refund of remaining nights. I declined her request. She sms me again at 5:34 am early morning and made a lot of complaints. For examples, she could not sleep because she found a cochroack in the toilet, not clean tidy as per the ad (remark: I have many good reviews in the past, none of them complainted this), bathroom has no ventiliation which is not ok as toilet in the same room (remark: my pictures show very clearly toilet, shower and washer are all in the spacious bathroom), beds are not comfortable and dust behind beds...finally she complains everthing is not depicted on the advertisement. She did not complain to airbnb and just sent me a date alternation request to leave earliy. 

I can see she has made a lot of complaints that she wants to check out early for a refund of remaining nights. She would leave me a bad review if I declined her date alternation request. Guests know how to get full refund for remaining nights when they change their mind.

[Helen3]

Call BNB now tell them that your guest wants to go and stay with an an aunt and is threatening to leave you a bad review if you don't accept an alteration for a shortened stay.

[TammyandSean0]

I called airbnb US but there was no answer , can someone suggest alternate tel in Canada ?

[Ireland0]

What was the final outcome?

[Polly17]

I was too kind to let the guest leave early with the refund of her remaining nights but she left me a bad review with 1-star rating. I was shock by receiving her 1-star rating so it had impacted my all good ratings between 4.5 and 5 stars, I also got the airbnb warning! I have never receiving 1-star rating. I have paid a lessson - NEVER be kind to fussy guests.

[Andrea9]

@Polly17

So sorry to hear, yet you should still be able to get recourse for it.

I assume after you got the first tips here on this thread, you went and re-capped the conversation you had per email on the online message page? That then counts as a paper trail that she was trying to ditch the reservation from the start.

With that call Airbnb and try to get the review removed because she didn't stay there, and as your messages prove she tried to get out of the reservation which didn't work and is now slamming you with a revenge review.

This has worked for numerous hosts.

[Krista62]

I have not had any luck getting bad reviews removed because they didn't breach AirBnB's policy.  There was nothing racist or personally insulting, but there were a bunch of outright lies about "cheap cutlery" (it's high quality silverware!) and a bunch of other stuff like the "kitchen isn't what we expected"!!!   From the pictures that you saw before you booked???  It's the same kitchen that is in the pictures, that we have had many reviews about that mentioned how big, functional, and equipped it was... I really dislike throwing away hundreds of dollars in profit to picky, unreasonable guests for fear of a bad review.  We are Superhosts who do our utmost to keep a pristine, spacious and comfortable space (as dozens of 5-star reviews can confirm) and yet when a guest is caught with too many people or a pet that is strictly forbidden (numerous reminders in house rules and pre-check-in messages to guests), they lash out at us with a completely inaccurate and unfair review that threatens our Superhost status.  Is there a hack for this???  How can we stick to our strict rental agreement and still avoid totally bogus bad reviews?

[Krista62]

BTW, we have had 2 bad reviews in 6 years that were results of guests being caught breaking house rules and being held accountable.

[Polly17]

Thanks for your response, Rhonda. Airbnb would like to listen to my guest for investigation when I called them. I also told airbnb I concern the bad review she might give me if I declined her date alternation request. Airbnb said they cannot do something about the bad review she gave me. The only thing to do with a bad review is to respond it. My guest texted me that she stayed only one night but paid me 2 nights if I accepted her date alternation request and she would leave me a good review. 

I reckon guests who want to leave early with refund instead of cancellation...

[Polly17]

Sorry for my mistake on your name, Helen. 

[Andrea9]

@Polly17

"My guest texted me that she stayed only one night but paid me 2 nights if I accepted her date alternation request and she would leave me a good review."

Do you see now why it is a good idea to leave communication on the booking page? Or at least to repeat it there - "Hi Guest, I got your phone text but in order to keep it all on one platform I'd like to reiterate it here and also to make sure I understood you correctly:

you say that you would like to change your 2-night booking to a single night? And that if I accept your date alternation you would leave me a good review. 

For good measure you could have flagged the guest for extortion, and Airbnb also takes a look at the prior conversation before making a decision.