Refund Dilemma

[Jenny801]

Hi I wonder if anyone has come across something similar to the Situation I find myself in.

The situation I find myself in Is a guest has requested a partial refund due to an outside influence.  In my case some builders  adjacent  starting work early. I feel like I’m being held over a barrel as I know if I don’t they will give me a negative review even tho I clearly state in the blurb that there is building work going on with the complex. 

I have contacted Airbnb (Saturday. However other than the  acknowledging my message I have heard nothing . 

 So the question is should I pay out and if so how much my property is £61 a night . Thank you in advance for any help you may give. Jen X

[Emiel1]

@Jenny801 

It depends on the inconvenience the guests experience. I would not be pleased to wake up early in the morning by construction work. And is it going on whole day ? These are the kind of "risks" a host can not control. Even if you provide a partial refund, it is not a guerantee not to get a less then stellar review.

So i would discuss the issue with the guests and listen to how they think it should be resolved. If you can not make some kind of agreement, then Airbnb must be involved. But if the nuisance of the construction work is not excessive IMO a maximum(!) of 20% refund should be reasonable.

Best regards,

Emiel

[Ann72]

@Emilia42 can answer this one!  She recently had the same situation, @Jenny801.

[Lisa1307]

I recently had to have the dishwasher repair person in to fix our brand new dishwasher while a guest was using our condo.  I quickly refunded a portion of 1 night's stay as I wanted a good review from her.  I think in this case while it's out of your control, if you were in her shoes what would you want to have happen?  I think that when we do the right thing or go beyond the expected, good things come back to us.   Lisa

[Marie82]

@Jenny801 for me he just depends if u were aware of the construction and was on ur description in this case the guest should not have a discount, but if another way around it u should give a little discount.  

But if it was noted and guests were aware of it u don't need to give a discount. I had a major construction work in front of 1 of my building for over a year, and the location was excellent for many business travellers, i noted on my listing 5 days building work from 8 am till 5 pm he never stopped any business traveller booking and price were 200 euro per night at the time. 

Some guest will use any excuse to get a discount, unfortunately. I found far too many hosts are fast to give a discount to avoid a bad review/rating. I stopped long ago to worry about guests blackmail review/discount issue. 

[Emilia42 · Accepted solution]

@Jenny801, This just happened to me. An unexpected construction project on the street out front which started about a week before the guests stay. In my check in instructions message I told him there was some construction happening but he still claims he didn't know. No one else to date has had problems with this expect for him. He wanted a refund. 

The fact that your guest is asking for a refund means he is not going to be happy until he gets one. Even if he does get one he likely won't rate you 5 stars so don't count on a perfect review. In my case, I refunded him one night, which like you I felt VERY pressured to do. I gave him a bad review on the last available day of the review period for demanding a refund when the "problem" was completely out of my control and other things that made him a not very good guests. You can't really win with these people. Hotels have much more control over these situations and Airbnb hosts have none. This is one of the risks a guests takes when booking an Airbnb for half the price of a hotel. 

Luckily, I've had over 25 other guests during the construction who have had no issues at all. 

[Jenny801]

Thank you so much for everyone’s advise and guidance. I did clearly say about the construction work however I had a gut feeling the guests were going to be awkward (hosts intuition) as they changed dates/didn’t reply to messages and than got lost after very clear Insteon ions and pictures. 

I have offered a refund however not heard anything back as yet. 

I find it really frustrating that Airbnb don’t  allow an appeal/removal of negative feedback in these cases where guests can manipulate hosts.

Thank you once again for everyone’s support and time. Jen x  

[Charmaine84]

Well our host canceled on us. The same day se cancelled we received a receipt from Airbnb that the full amount will be refunded back to us. The very same day another deduction of R1470 went off my account. This amount was only payable once we have checked in with our host. Now tis is confusing. Our reservation was canceled, so we never checked in BUT still they deducted the money from my account. Now sice the 3rd of October, we have sent numerous of emails, messages etc to Airbnb without success. They just ignore us like a stop street. I have made contact with the host directly, according to her rhere ia nothing she can do as she do not deal with the payment side of thing. Now this is so unfair. When she disputed the price airbnb charged us she immediately had it sorted ou with Airbnb as it is her pocket being effected. But now after she has cancelled on us, she can not go an extra mile to make sure we get all our money back. The other thing is one can not phone Airbnb direct as all the numbers are either just peeping or tell you the number does not exist. I  regret listening to friends we have met around the word who suggest we must use Airbnb. This is a nightmare. Surely we will give feedback of our horrific experience. Any suggestions  welcome, please 

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Jenny801 I have only had one request for a refund, from someone claiming a health issue AFTER check in and wanting a refund for a part used night.

Airbnb did not accept her extenuating circumstances claim and so I refunded £5 as a gesture of goodwill - but only when she had accepted my offer.

This way if I got a bad review I could say I'd refunded her.