Guest asking for a full refund?

[Chris2003]

Hi guys. So basically I had a guest book a one night stay at very short notice (red flag I know!). However it was only 2 people and the guest had brief but positive reviews. I communicated with the guest explaining the check-in process and the guest communicated back very quickly. The guest asked for an earlier check-in, so I accepted at no extra charge (they offered to pay extra). I heard nothing further from the guest - which usually means everything is fine.

The next afternoon, I got a message from the guest which was basically a list saying everything was awful.. She complained that she couldn't swim in the pool because it was cold and dirty (That was why she said she booked - to go swimming).  She said the house was dirty, the fireplace didn't turn on, the bedrooms smelt bad, the hoover was blocked.. The most positive part of her message was when she told me she broke two glasses.. and offered to pay for them!

It really sounded like an awful experience - but why not contact me at the time? Why message me after check-out time? Why stay in the property for an extra 2 hours after check-out time before messaging me? And WHY DID YOU LEAVE ALL THE TAPS RUNNING?!?

The guest is now demanding a full refund due to this 'terrible experience'. I asked her why she didn't message me at the time.. I explained I would've been at the property within 10 minutes, and issued a full refund if I saw anything like what she claims to have seen. The guest then claimed that her van was stolen 2 days before.. she didn't message me because she was still too 'shocked' to be dealing with these issues.

Basically what she was saying was becoming more and more ridiculous. I just found the excuses completely implausible.. but how can I prove it? When the guest left, the heaters were on 25C and the place felt like a sauna, but how can I prove the heaters were working during their stay? 

So this is what I think has happened: Guest has seen the big blue pool and pressed the book button before they've read the listing and the house rules. The listing and the house rules clearly state: "Due to weather/demand, the swimming pool is normally unavailable between October 31st and April 1st. If you would like to use the swimming pool in this period, please check with us BEFORE booking".

In the winter, we don't offer the pool because we don't get high enough occupancy to cover the costs of heating, cleaning, water circulation etc.

Upon arriving at the property, the guest is bitterly disappointed - I can completely understand this. The guest then decides she must now find enough issues to get a full refund. Unfortunately I cannot prove or disprove her comments about cleaning, smells. However, I can confirm that everything she said that didn't work, was working fine. The electric fireplace - it has one button, so it's pretty easy to confirm if it's working! So I have basically come to the conclusion that this guest has gone as far as lying in order to get a full refund.

The guest initially claimed to have taken photos of the issues (to scare me?). I have invited her to upload them to AirBnB messenger.. twice, but I still haven't received anything.

So where do I go from here? I am genuinely quite annoyed at the false claims, I think she deserves absolutely nothing considering she nearly flooded the place and lied about things.. but we're all concerned about reviews and losing superhost etc aren't we? Shall I get AirBnB involved?

Thanks for any advice guys 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Chris2003  The guest has no grounds for a refund if they chose to complete the stay. By all means, you should refuse it and end the conversation. If they try to influence your decision with the threat of a bad review, you can refer to the anti-extortion policy to have the review removed. (It's important to keep all communication in Airbnb messenger for your paper trail).

This one incident with exceptionally awful guests shouldn't have too much impact on your well-established and reputable listings. But if you're really invested in keeping that Superhost badge, it helps to set parameters and expectations which ensure that normal people also don't experience disappointing stays. You recognize last-minute bookings as a red flag, but one-night stays in Entire Home listings also seem like far more trouble than they're worth. Why not set a higher minimum length of stay?

And also, if you're accepting bookings for the winter, why are you foregrounding the homes' summer amenities in your lead photos?  When you're offering a charming bungalow in Wales in February; your happiest guests are not going to be the people who click on a picture of a swimming pool on a perfectly sunny day. You might want to hold those pictures at the back of the queue until the end of March, and until then focus on the home features that can be enjoyed in likelier conditions.

I don't know whether the guests' complaints are worth investigating, especially considering their bizarre behavior. They thought they could have a Welsh pool party in January and couldn't even keep track of a van, so they're clearly not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier.

[Chris2003]

Yeah, I have been concerned for a while that some people booking in winter are getting false expectations based on the summer photos. The problem is - we fill most of the summer by people booking in the winter.. and you get higher prices when people book early! 

Personally I would love AirBnB to show different pictures to guests based on the dates they want to book and allow hosts to manage this.

I am also really concerned about AirBnBs location system. The amount of times someone in Devon (40 miles by boat) has booked a last minute stay.. then realised it's a 200 mile road journey!

[Sarah977]

@Chris2003  There's a way you can deal with the pool closed/ photos/ booking in winter for summer issues.

You can have 2 listings, essentially the same, but for different seasons, with bookable dates on each calendar that correspond to the pool open months. And no  pool photo on the winter listing.

[Anonymous]

@Chris2003  Last-minute stays really don't seem ideal for your location in general; you can avoid them by adjusting the notice period in your calendar settings. Or, if you turn off Instant Book, you at least have a chance to talk with the guest before confirming a booking to make sure it's the right fit.

Another thing you can do is keep those established, well-reviewed listings active for those lucrative summer bookings, but block the calendars for the off-season. Then, create separate listings for the winter months with a differently targeted set of photos and descriptions, and no mention of the pool as an amenity. If you time it right, the off-season listings can take advantage of the new-listing search bump, and you get to target your guests more precisely for two very different conditions.

[Sarah977]

@Anonymous  We posted the same idea at the same time 🙂

[Chris2003]

Sounds expensive if you're using a PMS and paying for each listing. Unless I exclusively list on AirBnB for winter and then changing prices manually.. The property in question gets literally no action on Booking, a little bit on VRBO, but almost exclusively AirBnB in winter.. so a PMS is quite pointless in winter.

We do also extend the pool season earlier and later sometimes depending on the weather forecast and how busy it is. Some people pay extra for the pool out of season if conditions allow. Would need to very careful not to double book!

I have considered stopping one nighters for a while. I think I will probably switch this property back to 2 nighters. What I've found though, is a lot of guests are really appreciative of one nighters, because not too many properties take them - so you can really pad out your ratings with good reviews by accepting one nighters. Obviously in the off season it's harder to get longer bookings as well. I think the overwhelming majority of guests are perfect, but I agree you are leaving yourself open to bad ones with one nighters!

[Anonymous]

@Chris2003   It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into the pros and cons of different strategies, and you've got a bunch of different irons in the fire with the various STR platforms. I'm guessing you mean something different than I'm picturing when you say "PMS."

Anyway, I certainly wouldn't argue with your expertise on the dynamics of your market. But one thing I definitely wouldn't worry about is the Superhost badge, or this one petty guest who wanted a free stay to go swimming in the middle of winter. Annoying customers like these seem to have become more common, but whatever your strategy is, it should make sure that they don't take up more of your time and energy than they're worth in revenue.

[Chris2003]

So I have received this. The guest says it's a urine stain.. but it's been there as long as I can remember and the same area gets scrubbed everytime we have guests, I believe some chemicals have stained the plastic. The seat is a bit loose, very old.. so I will just replace it.

Not really convinced that's enough to warrant a full refund?

I also have concern about the potential for bias here. It turns out this person is local and cleans AirBnBs. She has also admitted to bringing extra guests.. without telling me which is against the house rules.

[Anonymous]

@Chris2003   Miss January Pool Party is trolling you. There's no reason to offer one cent.

[Joan2523]

Looking for some guidance from experienced hosts.   I had a guest book a 4 night stay.  She and I corresponded prior to her arrival and she seemed very pleasant and I was familiar with the area she was coming to for work so it was positive exchange.  She was my first Airbnb guest after I had had a short term lease with another person who had his own bedding, curtains, towels etc.  My point is that I had to clean the entire apartment, freshly wash the bedclothes etc prior to making up the space again.  The day she arrived my husband had our dog in the bldg. working on another small apartment space and walked through this apt to get to a storage area for tools, but the dog was not in the apt.  That evening I get a call w/ a lengthy list of deficiencies.  It was embarrassing.  I asked if she wanted me to come down and inspect her grievances to correct them if possible.  She refused and began to sound like she was on the verge of tears.  I know she just completed a 10 hour drive to get to our area and it was getting late (after 7 pm) so I agreed to a cancellation w/ a full refund.  Customer service was helpful telling me she had to request the cancellation or I would be penalized (which I was ...grrr).  I took the complaints personally since I had been the one who cleaned and was pleased with the results when I left...made me feel like I was dirty w/ low concepts of cleanliness haha.

I truly think this was a combination of things that collided and won't be an issue in the future. ... My concern now is the review process.  I did not expect her to give a review and I did not plan on giving one. 

I don't know how to respond b/c when I stopped the next day it was nothing like I had pictured in my head based on what she was relaying to me.  The day she arrived was the evening before trash collection so the other apartments had their cans out and the upstairs apt was leased w/ a pet cat prior to my purchasing the building so a box of cat litter was part of the trash (much of her complaint centered around severe allergy to cat hair as well as not liking the smell).  The pick up area is near the stairs to the apartment so this box may have influenced her reaction.  The apartment does not smell of cats nor does it smell bad.  It smells like a concrete building that was built in the 1930s and had been neglected for several years prior to my purchasing it.  Everything in the apt is new.  The only item that I found to be a legitimate concern is the drain under the kitchen sink was leaking; it's now repaired b/c of this inspection.  This leak may have created a damp smell or dripped in cookware making marks like poor cleaning after use, but all else was in order.  Current guest was very pleased w/ the space.

How do I respond to this review?  Thank you.