Guests issue

[Deborah745]

Hi, this is the first time I am experiencing this so I want to consult with someone to make sure I do things correctly. I have a couple as guests right now. A few hours after they checked in yesterday they asked me to call them.
I did and they told me that something happened in their travel plans and they have to cancel 2 nights. They did not specifiy what it was. They asked for a refund. I have a strict policy but offered to put the 2 nights available and if someone books I refund them the money. They insisted on getting the refund but I explained that i have a 7 day strict policy and they had just checked in so this was very last minute. They said that when they cancelled like this before they always got their money back (which made me think...do they cancel last minute all the time?)This morning I found a message saying that the place is too humid and dusty. I never had this complaint before. They complained about the road works outside. They are right. The local council stopped the works last month but re-started this mornig and we were not informed. I always inform guests of these things. I am afraid of getting a bad review about petty things when in fact I take good care of my guests and have always been given 5 star reviews and people are returning too because they love the place so much. I feel they are finding issues to complain about because I refused to refund the 2 nights they wanted to cancel last minute. I know I have no control over the review that they might write but I would appreciate feedback from you if what I did was fair or if I could have tackled it better so I learn for next time. I know you must get a million messages so thank you for finding time for this one. Thank you so much!

[Cormac0]

@Deborah745 

Of course, there finding problems because you would not acquiesce to their selfish demands, keep all you correspondence professional and within the Airbnb eco system.

Remember you’re not helpless when it comes to the review process, you can in all justification give them a thump down and an appropriate review for their dishonourable behaviour.

Please refer to the Airbnb’s Terms and conditions with regards to guest trying to extort money from Hosts with menaces.

The people on here, that will be advising you are not Airbnb employees, but hosts with thousands of hours of hosting experience who for reasons best known to ourselves give out advice for free.

[Deborah745]

Thank you so much. Your answer gives me comfort. I am still getting requests online from them to accept their cancellation...from your experience if they had to take it further to air bnb administration...maybe demand a refund via the system, where does that leave me?  what should my position be? I know there is a policy that protects the guest allowing them to apply for a refund if they had a bad experience...

[Deborah745]

Thank you so much. Your answer gives me comfort. I am still getting requests online from them to accept their cancellation...from your experience if they had to take it further to air bnb administration...maybe demand a refund via the system, where does that leave me?  what should my position be? I know there is a policy that protects the guest allowing them to apply for a refund if they had a bad experience...

[Cormac0]

@Deborah745 

Let your guest do the running, and stay out of it until of course Airbnb contacts you or not as the case may be.

[Lisa723]

@Deborah745 If they are right about the road noise I would just give them the refund they want. Airbnb is likely to refund them 100% if they complain— in which case you end up with no money and a bad review. This is not about right or wrong, it’s a business decision where none of your options are great.

[Linda108]

@Deborah745   Do not accept the guest cancellation as it will become a host cancellation with all the penalties.  Confusing but this is what happens.  Guest cancels then you place is open and perhaps you can book another guest.  If you do, you could offer to provide a partial refund.

Now if the guest escalates to Air BNB that your place is unsuitable due to the noise, it would be best that you have already summarized your conversations with them in the Air BNB message system.  The rep can see what was the guest initial request and then subsequent changes when you refused.