Should I ask for a discount

[Brian855]

We have rented a villa in Europe for a week. On our second day of holiday we had the unfortunate surprise of a rat come up a drain around our pool area and frightened the whole family. I filmed it and reported it to owners. It really has had a impact of enjoyment staying at this villa and although the owner has said this is very unusual they seem not too phased by it.

Should I ask for some kind of discount for this frightening experience?

[Sarah977]

@Brian855 While I'm sure it was disturbing to see that, if guests were to receive discounts every time they saw an insect or animal that freaked them out, hosts would go broke. Where I live in the tropics, there are all kinds of insects, some that could freak out guests, I'm sure. But they are endemic to the area, and not much anyone can do about it, except keep the inside of the house as clean as possible. Even then, there's no way to keep the occasional cockroach or ant from finding its way into the house.

If there were rats inside the house, that would be a different story, but people can't do much about rats in the area, and of course rats are drawn to water. I had year-long lease renters in my home in Canada who complained about rats in the house (I of course offered to send out the fumigators), but in fact, there was a widespread rat problem in the whole town, it wasn't limited to my house or the renters being dirty.

It doesn't seem to be the fault of the home owner- it was an outside drain. 

Getting a discount isn't going to erase the fright you had. I'm sure that guests would appreciate hosts not complaining about every little thing the guest may have done that the host didn't like. For home stays to work, I think guests and hosts need to cut each other a bit of slack, especially when it doesn't have anything to do with the people involved being inattentive or uncaring. Just because the host was somewhat nonchalant about it doesn't mean he doesn't care that his guests are comfortable. It just means he's not as freaked out about seeing a rat somewhere outside as you are.

You could ask the host if he could please get or make some kind of cover for that drain ASAP so that water can still flow, but no critters can emerge, letting him know you're concerned about it happening again.

My cat deposited a dead rat on my outside terrace the other night. It definitely gave me a fright, as it was dark and I almost stepped on it. But I'm glad she's doing her job.

If my guests got upset about something beyond my control, I'd probably buy them a bottle of wine or box of chocolates or something, but all hosts may not think to do that.

[Sean433]

So the host is responsible for animals outside the home? How is one to control the fact that a mouse or rat came from the street into the backyard? A reasonable person would move on and not fish for discounts.

[Vanessa830]

How was the villa itself? Clean, as described, were you provided with everything that was advertised? Those are things the host can control. Both comments here already are right, the host can't control nature, maybe focus on what is good about the booking and what the host has provided inside the villa which was in the host's control. A discount isn't fair. It's not the host's fault that you saw a rat unless there is a rat infestation or the rats are inside the villa.