Refund request from guest who didn’t read listing properly

[Kirsty21]

Hi,

The guest showed up last night a few days late for his reservation.

He complained that the cabin was not heated and that there was no cell service and that it was a long remote road to get to it.

All of these things were listed in my posting.

He showed up at 9pm and left at 9:30pm and said he wants a full refund because of all this.

But my listing stated all these and he said he was misled, which I believe he just booked it without reading.

What are my options on this? 

I have never had any issues with guests. 

He booked a whole month for his employees and said I don’t expect my employees to have a cabin without heaters and only a wood burning fireplace. Which is all on the listing.

He was very rude.

[Lisa723]

@Kirsty21 I would tell him to cancel his reservation and you will refund whatever amount you can recoup from rebooking.

[Lisa723 · Accepted solution]

@Kirsty21 however I just looked at your listing, and if I were you I would add "no heat" and "no cell service" to your amenities limitations (under house rules), which guests must acknowledge before booking.

[Sarah977]

@Kirsty21  Nowhere in your listing description do I read anything about there being no heat. Just not checking Heat in the amenities list isn't good enough. I honestly can't understand how you can rent out a place with no heat in the winter in Canada. Yeah, it has a wood burning fireplace (also didn't see this mentioned), but that requires effort to light and keep going and I can't imagine it burns all night. Sorry, but if I were a guest I'd leave immediately and ask for a refund as well.

[Kirsty21]

Well I’ve had guests all winter long at -25 with no issues. And the amenities say wood burning stove in a farm cabin which we run off grid and solar. Not even I have heat in my cabin and I live here. He came and it’s +10 and said he didn’t want to light the fire. Which then why book a cabin with wood burning stove. Doesn’t make sense to me. 

[Dave333]

@Sarah326 just gave you feedback from an experienced host and you argued with her. I don't think anyone is attacking you, just trying to provide feedback so you can improve your listing and make sure that guests get what they are expecting and you maximize your profit.

From my own perspective if I saw an amenity of wood burning stove I would think that was an awesome SUPPLEMENT to, not the primary source of heat.

[Sarah977]

@Kirsty21  Oh well, a wood burning stove is different- you said it was a fireplace in your post. I also heated with wood when I lived in Canada. 

That would be fine for people who are used to heating with a wood stove. But most people aren't used to that. So when we have something out-of.the-ordinary (i.e. it's not just an automatic apartment) about our listings, it's not enough to just list it under the amenities, because lots of guests don't read through the entire listing info, including not clicking on "See all XX# of Amenities". 

Do you fire up the stove when a guest is on their way so they come in to a toasty cabin?  A guest walking into a freezing cold cabin and having to make a fire first thing and then sit there shivering until the place heats up isn't a great way to start a stay. Whether we're okay with a set-up like this in our own homes is immaterial.

My place is in the countryside and is a 20 minute walk to town and the beach. Most guests fly in and take the bus to my town, so they don't have a car here. So I made sure to not only mention the walk in my listing description, but also when someone sends a Booking Request (I don't use IB), in my reply-  I always reiterate the walk, making sure they are aware of that. And anything else I think they might have missed that could lead to "Oh, I didn't know that....".

Of course guests should read through the whole listing description, but many don't. Welcome to the "device" age, where people's reading attention span is limited to a one line text or tweet 🙂 When we set up our listings, it's impossible to anticipate all the guest issues that could come up ahead of time. It's a constant tweaking process to add things to our descriptions to make sure all is clear.

I'm sorry you had this happen and that he was rude to you.  Either give him a refund and put it behind you, or stick to your cancellation policy if you're confident that you were clear about the heat in your listing. If he wants to complain to airbnb for a refund, which he might, they might give it to him anyway. But you don't have to offer.

I did find your info on the limited Wifi to be clear and prominent, but not the heating situation.