Guest checked in but didn't stay

[Elona7]

Hey everyone! This is my first conversation as a host- my husband and I are fairly new to the hosting side and so far we've had pretty great guests. Most recently, we had a guest message us at around 4pm the day of their reservation letting us know their flight was delayed and they likely wouldn't be able to check in until VERY late, if it at all. We have keyless entry to the space, so that was no problem. They didn't ask for a refund, but mentioned that they knew they wouldn't get one (based on our cancellation policy)

We considered what rotten luck it is to have a flight delay, and were about to offer a 50% discount, but before we could send them a response, at 5:25 we heard the door to the space open (we live on the property) and we could see from our lock app that the guest had used their personalized code to enter the space. They walked around and were there for about 5 minutes, then left at 5:30pm (and left the door unlocked). I waited a few hours and then sent the guest an email just to check in and verify that their travel went smoothly and to offer myself up for any questions they might have. She responded and confirmed they had checked in and everything was great. However, they never actually came back after their departure at 5:30pm and didn't stay in the space at all.

I'm confused with this behaviour, and wondered how I should proceed with reviewing this guest, since they didn't actually stay over. Anyone have anything similar happen to them?

[Linda108]

@Elona7   You might hear from the guest via Air BNB if they seek a refund for some reason that they did not like your place.  Or, you might not hear anything as the guest just changed their mind but are willing to accept the cost.  If you receive a prompt to review, wait until toward the end of the 14 days to allow for the guest to review if they do, and then review honestly.  Include guest did not stay or communicate with you regarding that and that they left the home open and unlocked.

[Elona7]

Hi Linda!

Thanks for the feedback, thats really good advice. The guest was perfectly lovely, they just didn't stay over so I feel unqualified to give a real review for future hosts but you're right- honesty feels like the best course of action. I appreciate your insight 🙂

-Elona

[David3911]

Elona,

This just happened to me any my wife as well; the guest arrived, I showed him around, he seemed very impressed and grateful, said he was going to get some dinner with his family (who were waiting in the car), then he showed his family the suite (we have exterior cameras, which is how we learned this), then they left and never came back.

How did you end up dealing with this situation? Did you write a review? Did your no-return guest ever reach out and explain why they didn't return?

There's so many thought going through out heads, like "what if something happened to them?", "was there something wrong with out suite?", "did I scare them off?". It's such a weird experience, and this is the first time this has happened in the 50+ guests that we've hosted.

Thanks for sharing this to the community,

David