Help resolving a guest issue!

[Jenny78]

Hello--

I was hoping to get some feedback from the AirBnB community as I am in a bit of a pickle with my guest. Below is the situation, please let me know how to proceed.

I have a guest scheduled to stay at my house in LA for 5 days. It is unusually hot in LA (~97 degrees) and my guest arrived at my house and did not want to stay as she felt the heat was excessive. While I do have air conditioning, it is only 1 unit in the living room and we rely on fans in the bedroom. She immediately left and went to a $300/night hotel, even though I urged her to try to stay for the night given that the temperature tends to drop to the 70's and is muc more temperate.

She is demanding 3 nights reimbursement. I agreed to give her 2 nights reimbursement as per the weather report only 2 of the 5 nights she was supposed to stay is going ot be over 90 degrees, so I am hoping she can stay the remaining 3 nights when the weather is more moderate. She is threatening to report me to AirBnB if I do not give her 3 nights, but realistically I do not believe I have done anything wrong and in fact have been quite generous in giving her a 2 night reimbursement for something so out of my control. She refuses to try staying at my house for even one night, even when the weather cools down. Note that I have had multiple AirBnB guests stay at my house and this has never been an issue before - I have a 4.5 star rating.

Let me know if you think I am in the wrong here, and if not how an I contact AirBnB to give my side of the story?

Thank you!
Jenny

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

What an unreasonable guest!  Perhaps you should offer to purchase an air conditioner for the room?  If she then declines to stay, that is on her as her reason for not staying has been resolved. 

My cancellation policy is flexible because we don't 'need' the AirBnb income, instead we host for the experience and to share our property with visitors.  We do NOT want people here if they want to be somewhere else.  I can understand that other hosts may be depending on the income to pay their bills.

Could you have purchased an air conditioner when she first arrived, or was it too late in the day for stores to be open?

If this never happened before and is unlikely to happen again, you might just give a slightly more generous refund than your policy.

If you don't want to do that, then offer to purchase an air conditioner.  Use the AirBnb platform.  If she declines to return at that point, let AirBnb handle all further decisions about refunds.  Tell her to talk to them. 

Kerrin

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Is it clear from your description that there is no aircon in the bedroom? Or you do have a blanket statement saying there is aircon. If the latter, then the guest would expect something more than a fan in the bedroom.

If the former, then I think you are right in your approach.

[Christine1]

@Jenny78,  You do have a lovely home and it is fine for many of us. 

However, I  have checked your listing: it says the entire home is available and your amenities list airconditioning. The section for "other things to note says" n/a. 

I did not see any clarification about the aircon/fans situation.

The bedroom is an extremely important part of the guest experience and  think in this case your guests should have been forewarned about the limited airconditioning. Some people find it very uncomfortable sleeping in the extreme heat,  and if they are out all day, the lounge aircon won't benefit them nor will the fans give the respite they need after a tiring daty on the town in the heat. This may have been more than the guest felt she could cope with when she had come away to relax for 5 days. 

I would be gracious about this problem and refund this guest what they are requesting. Then go online and change the details on your listing to better reflect the actual facilities and conditions. Then you will be fine for future bookings. Include a picture of one of the bedroom ceiling fans with a caption on the photo to further explain.

Sorry about this pickle. Chalk it up to experience and keep your reputation in tact and it will be water under the bridge.

Sincere regards, Christine.

Regards, Christine.

[Deborah1]

Hi, Jenny: I see this a little differently than some. I looked at your listing and it says that there is air-con in the ammenities section. As a guest, I would assume that the bedroom has aircon. I would recommend considering taking aircon out of ammenties and in the description note that there is a window air conditioner in the living room and fans in the bedroom. As far as the refund, I would let airbnb decide it. It will go through the resolution center.

Hope this is helpful and wish you all the best in hosting.

Deborah

[Deborah1]

By the way, your listing looks lovely! I meant to say that first!

[Tim26]

@Jenny78, I don't want to flog a dead horse for the sake of it, but I wanted to echo the air conditioning point, from someone who comes from a country that's seen 100 degrees perhaps once in the past handful of years!  Might be important for you to see it from multiple points of view...

If I go away to anywhere that might be hot, the first thing on that shopping list is air con.  Especially LA; I've been there a number of times and once when it was 110 degrees which was pretty tough.

To echo another point - your place does look incredible! 

[Jenny78]

Thanks so much for all of your thoughts!

I will definitely update my listing to clarify that I do not have central A/C, I agree with you this is fair.

I was able to work with the guest to come to an agreement that we are both satisfied with so i think we should be good. Thanks!

[Christine1]

Glad to hear it and thanks for letting us know how things turned out. 

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