Refund

[Jessie--Katie-And-Lindsay0]

 Hello, we had severe flooding and massive power outages yesterday, affecting over 40,000 people.   Our Airbnb has a generator that is able to provide power for half the house, heat and water.  Our guests had been in the area all day, we let them park their cars at the house in the morning, so they were aware of the weather and the power outages.  We stopped in to check on them and answer any questions, they understood the situation, we recommended going to the general store for food and Wi-Fi needs. They ultimately left  around 7 PM I texted them at 8 PM letting them know that the power had come back on but they never responded.  They would like a full refund. The place still had to be cleaned.  We are willing to offer them a free night stay in the future but are thinking of not giving them their refund. what are your thoughts?

[Susan151]

@Jessie--Katie-And-Lindsay0  Oh, I doubt that this decision will be left up to you. AirBNB will side with the guests since you didn't have all the amenities listed on your listing. You will be lucky if you only have to refund 50%.

[Jessie--Katie-And-Lindsay0]

Oh wow! I reached out to Airbnb to ask for advice and they said it was up to me unless the guest takes it up with them...?

[Susan151]

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@Jessie--Katie-And-Lindsay0 wrote:

they said it was up to me unless the guest takes it up with them...?

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Exactly. But, guests do seem to call AirBNB regularly and then they get to decide what a refund looks like.

[Yadira22]

@Jessie--Katie-And-Lindsay0 

Hope you are well.

As @Susan151 mentions above, if guests contact Airbnb they will most probably side with them as it could be regarded as an exceptional circumstance. 

Maybe first try to negotiate with the guest and explain your side- as they did stay the nights they did, so it seems unreasonable to me, that those nights are not valid in their eyes. It’s not as if from the first night they had no water or electricity, which you still provided and your limitations were clearly explained after the incident.

I think guests often do not see how any refund can affect hosts as they have no insight on Airbnb’s business model so maybe educate them on this- as they probably only see this massive cooperation losing out and not the service provider (you). Kindness and education goes a long way especially in such tricky situations. 

If they do contact Airbnb later, then you can refer to that exchange and say that this was agreed upon with the guest as mentioned (whenever) and therefore a full refund would not be possible as an agreed refund has already been approved by both parties, stand your ground- though but fair.

If they communicate with Airbnb prior to coming to any agreement, then point out how you’re were very open from the beginning of the incident and solutions were provided, even though they stayed those other night without any associated or mentioned problems (from their end). For me only a partial refund for the unused nights should be acceptable (as an act of goodwill) but honestly it is not my business- best advice I have given is do you and be though but fair. 

As a host you did incredibly well to accommodate them based on the solutions you provided! 

Good luck to you! 
Yadira 

ps, if you need to tag anyone @ (Name) otherwise the person prior will probably not see it. X

[Dimitar27]

It's clear, that you can't provide normal accommodation, because of a natural disaster. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do. Try to negotiate with the guest.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jessie--Katie-And-Lindsay0 @Dimitar27 @Yadira22 @Susan151 

so what we have learned from this? If anything happens and you can't provide 100% then the best is to call Aibnb ASAP and let them cancel current or upcoming reservations. Otherwise, it is possible you will host the guests and not be paid.

[Emilia42]

@Jessie--Katie-And-Lindsay0 

I was affected by the same storm. My house only lost power for 1.5 hours but the other side of the street lost it for about 20 hours. Honestly, the only thing you can do is hope (pray even) for easy going guests who are appreciative for all you can do given the situation. Like others have said, if these guests bring it up with Airbnb they will likely be refunded. 

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Jessie--Katie-And-Lindsay0 @Emilia42 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Dimitar27 @Yadira22 it seems shortsighted to me that airbnb would side with guests here because as a host if this happened to me I'd be inclined to have airbnb cancel for extenuating circumstances and then the guest would have nowhere to stay at all.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Well @Mike-And-Helen0  guests from this post deserved to stay on the street 🙂

The other solution to protect yourself would be to make them confirm through the ABB message thread that they are aware of the extenuating circumstances, were offered cancelation with a full refund before check-in, they declined and they agree to stay at the unit with limited amenities and will not ask any refund from you during their stay or after. 

(if someone with fluent English could write such text so I can copy-paste it to my saved responses I would be gratefull 🙂

[Emilia42]

@Mike-And-Helen0 That is basically what is happening here   . . .  . So the guest can claim extenuating circumstances as "We cannot live without electricity even though the hosts have a generator and the power came back on one hour after we left." Because of the circumstances they were be refunded. It doesn't matter who cancels in this situation the hosts aren't getting paid.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 your English is fabulous and the guests did indeed deserve the street.

" Just to let you know that...insert extenuating circumstance here...has happened at our place.

If you choose to cancel as a result we will refund you our payment in full.

If you choose to stay in the knowledge of this unavoidable loss of amenities, you agree not to seek a refund after your stay since you have made the choice to continue with your booking."

First attempt.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Thank you @Mike-And-Helen0  , I'll copy-paste it in saved responses for future use 🙂

We had a similar situation when our boiler starts leaking during the guest's stay.

I've found another unit in my neighborhood and I offered relocation and a refund to my guests for the day not spent and they agreed.

Then I called Airbnb, it took about 45 minutes and 2 phone calls (!!) until Airbnb altered the reservation from 2 nights to 1 night and set the refund for that 1 night!  I don't have to say it was frustrating 45 min for me (the cost of international call and closet full of stuff soaked in the water waiting for me to wipe all the things and the laminate floor + to find a repairman the same day). It was also frustrating for my guests having to wait 45 minutes for Airbnb to finish this simple task and then to pack and move to another unit.

The next time I will just use a similar message, pay the neighbor from my own pocket and relocate my guests without even contact Airbnb.