Guest request refund after check-in due to family emergency

[Alice595]

Dear Hosts,

Yesterday I helped a guest couple check in at 3:20 pm. They came to visit their families nearby.

In midnight, they sent a message and said that there is a family emergency and they could not stay for 4 nights as booked. They asked for a refund. They did not disclose what kind of family emergency is.

I have strict cancellation policy. My thought is to direct the guests to contact Airbnb for cancellation with extenuating circumstance if they do qualify. If not, I can provide refund for unused nights if the nights are booked. For now I don't know how reasonable the guest is. I may have to deal with a bad review in this case again.

What are your suggestions?

[Jeff158]

@Alice595 

Your first thought is the right one

My thought is to direct the guests to contact Airbnb for cancellation with extenuating circumstance if they do qualify

[Alice595]

@Jeff158 Thanks for your suggestion.

[Linda108 · Accepted solution]

@Alice595  I agree your instincts are on target!  If there is a verifiable extenuating circumstance then there is a total refund for unused nights.  If the guest has no way to verify for whatever reason, then your calendar is opened and you have a chance to rebook.   As for the review, you do not have control except for the response to the review should there be a negative one.  According to most posts about giving refunds just because a guest demands it, it does not usually have the desired effect.

[Alice595]

@Linda108 Thanks for your inputs. The following quote from you is very helpful to know.

According to most posts about giving refunds just because a guest demands it, it does not usually have the desired effect.

I am just afraid that Airbnb may ask me to refund the guest for unused nights even though the guest cannot provide document for extenuating circumstances. My previous bad experience with a guest complaining room temperature and requested for cancellation.

Airbnb CS asked me how much refund I could give him even the CS knew that his refund request was not reasonable because the temperature was at 71 F and there was another guest staying in the house as well. The other guest had no complain.

The worse is that CS told the guest that I only agreed to refund him the unused night instead of a full refund. The guest was furious against me. According to the cancellation policy, there should be no refund to him even though I refunded him unused night but got a 1 star retaliatory review with all lies.

Hopefully Airbnb CS could do a good job in coordination between a host and a guest. They should  stick with their policy and speak for the hosts as they do for the guests.

[Linda108]

You know, Alice, sometimes you do the right thing and if the guest wants to give a 1 rating, then so be it. 

January 2018 at the height of the flu epidemic, I had to cancel a reservation because I woke up sick and later found I had that horrible flu that was actually causing death in young people.  Remember?  Anyway, understandably the guest was upset about her plans but she was scheduled to stay at my place for a week with her 10 year old son.  Did not want him to get sick.  Anyway, got a 1 star review.

[Sarah977]

@Linda108  No good deed goes unpunished  🙂

[Anonymous]

@Alice595  Even if you are agreeable to refunding the remaining 3 nights, the guests should at least pay for the day that they've occupied the house (as well as the Cleaning Fee, if you have one).

If you have a plan for how you'd most like to resolve the rest of the booking, I'd suggest discussing it with your guests; if you come to an agreement, you can just use the Change Booking protocol and be done with it. If you get a sense that they actually want a 100% refund - which is unreasonable - it's best to end the conversation quickly and pass them over to Airbnb, so that your final communications aren't mired in conflict.

[Alice595]

@Anonymous  The guest did not say anything about how much refund they asked for. If I contact them directly asking about how much refund they like to have, do you think that it may irritate them? If they do have a very bad incidence in their family, would they think that it is not appropriate for me to ask that? They may well think that they should get 100% refund because they suffer the bad family emergency and would not want to lose part of their money (one night stay and cleaning fee). I do have a $30 clean fee.

[Sarah977]

@Alice595  Call me suspicious, but I'd bet the "family emergency" was one of the relatives saying to them "Why are you paying for an Airbnb? You're totally welcome to stay with us." That is, if they request a refund above and beyond what they are due according to your cancellation policy.

I'd never ask a guest how much of a refund they'd like. It's like asking a child how many cookies they'd like. If you want to offer a refund, offer what you feel is fair.

[Anonymous]

@Alice595  I never recommend asking how much refund the other party wants or expects. Instead, I suggest getting in front of that conversation by making an offer. Here is an example:

"I'm very sorry to hear about your family emergency. In light of your circumstances, I would like to offer you a refund of the remaining nights of your booking. I'd be delighted to offer a discounted rate if you decide to visit us again in the future."

If they respond positively, you can send them a Booking Change request. But if they expect to be refunded for the time that they've occupied your home and prevented it from being rentable to another party, they are not reasonable people, and probably a dead end to communicate with.

[Dimitar27]

Airbnb has to make the decision. If they cancel the reservation, all  dates will be free for new one.

[Alice595]

@Jeff158 @Linda108 @Anonymous @Sarah977 @Dimitar27 

I took suggestions from you all. And I sent the help article link of extenuating circumstance from Airbnb to the guests two hours ago. And I told her to follow Airbnb instruction to cancel and get refund with extenuating circumstance. Get back to me with anymore questions.

I only got a simple response "Okey thank you". But so far guests have not canceled and I have not received any calls from Airbnb support either.

[Sarah977]

If someone were to compile statistics on such things, I bet they'd find that Airbnb guests have an inexplicably higher percentage of family emergencies than the general population 🙂

[Mike-And-Helen0]

If the guests aren't cancelling then it seems they are using the reservation?

You can't open it to anyone else now.