Guest has concern over their safety - thats out of our control !

Ryan-From-Suiteplace0
Level 1
England, United Kingdom

Guest has concern over their safety - thats out of our control !

We recently had a guest check into to our apartment and then immediately check out!

 

She checked out because the main door to the apartment block didn't lock (and wasn't secure) and because the apartment is on the ground floor she felt unsafe. She is a solo traveller so I slightly understand. However this is a safe neighbourhood, our past reviews are excellent and safety has never been questioned by our previous guests - many of whom have been solo travellers. The guest is requesting a refund! So this puts us in difficult position as this really is out of our control. Given the current situation we can't just hand out refunds especially when we've not had a chance to rectify.

 

Has anyone faced anything similar? What was the outcome?

7 Replies 7

@Ryan-From-Suiteplace0   I'm just trying to get a feel for what's going on here based on what I can see in your listing, because your description has a lot more to say about your toaster than it does about the actual property you're on. The listing does not make any mention of the fact that it's in an "apartment block."  The one external photo shows what looks like it could be either a single-family house or a duplex, but there's no caption to clarify what it represents. To quote your listing directly, you say:

 

"It’s all yours. The entire apartment."

 

With this in mind, I can see how someone would get the impression that they were renting the entire building shown in the photo, and be unpleasantly surprised to discover that it was actually an unsecured apartment block. You say it's a "safe neighbourhood," but to me that sounds like a dog whistle. I've felt comfortable on the streets of some of the most statistically dangerous cities in the world, and had some of the most harrowing experiences of my life in affluent suburbs - your personal feeling of how "safe" the neighbourhood is will not be a comfort to someone who doesn't derive a sense of security from being in a 96% white suburban neighborhood that happens to look very much like the places our most tabloid-famous serial killers came from. If your guest was a single woman, you might especially want to consider that the mainstream concept of what makes a neighborhood "safe" doesn't tend to account for the intimidating behaviors women have to deal with in every class of neighborhood - next time you visit the building, try to put yourself in the position of someone who was being followed on the street by someone with unsavory designs on your precious orifices, and ask yourself if you'd feel safe walking into a ground-floor flat of an unsecured building.

 

If you're not in a position to install an external lock, I would strongly recommend explaining in your listing description that the apartment is in a shared building, just so nobody is unpleasantly surprised that they're sharing an entrance. This guest could have asked more questions before booking to make sure she understood the setup, but I think it would be fair to recognize that you've somewhat oversold the listing and papered over the cracks a bit. One mantra that you hear a lot in hospitality is: "undersell and over-deliver." That's how you get a satisfied guest. Maybe your strategy is a bit off.

 

I suggest granting the full refund and considering it the cost of a learning experience. You could try to fight it, but I don't think you have a winnable case against someone who claimed to feel unsafe and misled by your ad.

 

 

Gary-And-Rose0
Level 7
Chemainus, Canada

It’s pretty rare here to have a locked area to enter to get to an apartment building. It’s a bonus but not a deal breaker. 

if your door has a good dead bolt lock system I’m unclear what the issue was. 

everyone has their own tolerance. Consider it cost of doing business give her refund it’s unfortunate but will be plenty more down the road. 

maybe consider a bar lock on the door or something more secure in future for stays such as this. Cheap insurance of a happy customer. 

 

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Ryan-From-Suiteplace0  I have to agree with Andrew that you need to make the entrance arrangement clear. You don't mention how many other apartments are in the building or whether a key is needed to enter the building. 

 

If I were a guest, this would be much more useful information than you suggesting to me that I can prepare coffee and retire to the living room to watch Netflix. I think I can figure out what want to do without condescending  instruction. I was surprised you stopped short of suggesting I could read in bed, have sex, or just go to sleep.

Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

@Ryan-From-Suiteplace0 

Stand your ground! Your silly guest is making a fuss about nothing, just trying to scam a refund!

 

You said the place was an APARTMENT, you've desribed it adequately. Apartment means a self-contained flat within a building. You have a photo of the building - NO ONE should be daft enough to think they are getting the entire building when it's 3 storeys high & that wide!

 

You have a 4.9 rating for 'Accuracy', so that's pretty good! Most past guests did not feel misled.

 

And it's little Chelmsford, England, not the Bronx or Johannesburg (no offense intended to the folks from there!)

 

I guess it wouldn't hurt to put in your listing "The outer door  of the building does not lock, but the door to your private apartment does lock."  (Which is probably common in the UK?)  - Just to idiot proof things! 

@Helen350  It's not your place nor mine to say where someone "should" feel safe with an unlocked building just because of our prejudices about the location.  There's no such thing as an objectively safe neighborhood, and everyone is going to perceive a different set of risks and comforts based on their own experiences and fears.  Where I grew up, the cops made people who look like you feel "safe" by terrorizing people who looked like me. So if you called somewhere a safe neighborhood, I'd instinctively avoid it like the plague.

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Ryan-From-Suiteplace0 when I look at the front door it has locks and an intercom system. If this doesn't work then I think you should definitely add a note to the listing saying the building front door is open access. I suspect a refund may be reasonable in this case....

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello @Ryan-From-Suiteplace0 

 

Why does the main door to the apartment block not lock.? That would be highly unusual for an apartment block in the UK. In most, including one I own , you have an electronic lock or manual lock to go into the main building and then individual locks for each flat. 

 

As a leaseholder have you spoken to the management running the freehold about this.

 

I think as you haven't made this clear in your listing you should refund. And update your listing to make this clear.