I had a guest who is apparently a first time airbnb user (member since Aug. 2016). I offer a private room, with some extras: a private bath, microwave, and a large open space room for eating and relaxing, in my home. The guest facilities are essentially separate from the living quarters I use when guests are here. The guest arrived (40 minutes after he said he would, around quarter of 8 p.m.), and I showed him the space. He said they wouldn't leave their things just then, but would come back later. He had a Friday night booking on a fairly high demand weekend. He said they would be leaving early to continue their journey.
Perhaps an hour after his stop with me, he wrote to say he would not be staying after all. No reason given. This is mildly annoying, but he was far too late for the hassle of a refund, so I wrote him back expressing regret, and politely noting it was too late for me to request a change or cancellation. I wished him well and thought that was the end of it.
The following day, I received another note asking for the cleaning fee to be refunded, since they didn't stay. (He also said that the reason was that his friends in town had made space for them to stay, not anything had to do with the listing.) The cleaning fee is $20 and as most hosts know, it doesn't cover actual time cleaning and preparing; it's a one-time nominal fee for prep and clean-up. But in the interest of good will, I told him I'd look into the procedure for doing so and get back to him. I found the info on the resolution center and sent him the data so he can make the request and presumably, airbnb will contact me for authorization.
My questions are twofold: first, and most important, if he goes to the resolution center and tries to get a full refund because he didn't stay, does airbnb consult me regarding the claim?
And second, my inclination on the review is to be honest about not accepting another booking from this guy. He seems unclear on the concept of home sharing in contrast to hotels and similar commercial establishments. He may be a perfectly fine guest, and as a first-timer, it's kind of too bad to give him a bad review, but flaking on me after the fact without ever having indicated that was a possibility, and then asking for a refund of the cleaning fee doesn't speak awfully well for him.... Does anyone have any experience with this sort of issue?
