Airbnb guest asking a refund because her friends invited her to stay, and her tone changed.

[Clara541]

My guest checked in last night. She messaged me earlier today that her classmates that she met invited her to stay with her, asking if she could move out.

I answered that due to the airbnb policy (my cancellation is moderate) and since i reserved the days for her, there would be a no refund. I mentioned multiple times, and she said "sure" and told me she would let me know later today. Then again, i mentioned again that there would be a no refund and she said "well noted." she didnt bring up any problems at all.

Then her tone changed. later today, she messaged me saying "my friends advised me to move out of your place. Its very uncomfortable and different from the listing. I moved out, left the keys where you put last night. Good bye"

Then she requested money for the rest of her stays (she booked for 2 weeks) And she posted a picture of the livingroom area saying it is unclean and unacceptable (which is not rented out, only the bedroom was rented out, but i just let her stay in the entire apartment without any additional charges), as if she was trying to make excuses to move out.

I rejected her request saying that if she brought up this earlier, then we could have done something for her (clean or whatever she wanted) but since we already confirmed with her there would be a no refund, and she understood, but decided to move out, there would be a no refund.

Any advice for this case? 

[Alexandra316]

@Clara541I would consider telling her that you will refund her if you're able to get a booking for some or all of the days she had booked. Otherwise, I would stick to you cancellation policy.

I would also take this experience as a learning tool, though. Your listing is really short on information, and pictures, and I would consider being a lot more explicit about what's being offered. You have no pictures of the bathroom or kitchen. You don't mention that this is a one-bedroom apartment and that you sleep in the living room, which may be a turnoff for some. You also have a confusing caption on one of your pictures where you say the entire space is for the guest in an area that looks like a living room (maybe a seating area in the bedroom?). Your listing could use some refinement and it might cut down on the confusion for future guests. 

[Clara541]

thank you for your advice!

[Kath9]

@Clara541, I agree with @Alexandra316. First, under a moderate cancellation policy, if a guest checks out early, the nights not spent 24 hours after the cancellation will automatically be 50% refunded. So, as long as the guest has actually cancelled, she will receive 50% of her money back for the nights not stayed. I would also offer to refund her the rest for any nights that are rebooked.

Second, your listings are quite confusing. The first listing for private room states 3 adults and 1 single bed. How is this possible? It also says they have the entire apartment to themselves (even though it listed as a private room) but that they don't have access to the living room. It's very contradictory. There is no mention that you sleep in the living room. You need to be very clear about the exact arrangements and have photos of other parts of the apartment they have access to. 

[Clara541]

Okay i will try to make it more clear. Im only renting out the bedroom space, but the livingroom area is usually being rented out as well. But currently im not renting out the livingroom place unless there's 3 guests requesting to stay. But ive never had any guests more than 2, so when only one or two guests book,  the guests stay in the bedroom, but they still have the entire place for themselves (including the livingroom space). I bring that up to my guests that the livingroom area is empty currently (its usually being rented out for other guests), but for that reason Im renting out very cheap (the price only includes the bedroom space)

So it was odd to me that she was complaining that the listing was not what she expected - she is still having the bedroom space and she was paying only for the bedroom place, but she got way more space than she paid including the livingroom space. And she "complained" about the bed that was actually not where she's supposed to use.

But i realize that i need to work on my listing and make it more clear. Thank you for your advice!

[Helen350]

@Clara541 If you mention they have the 'entire place' they will think YOU are not resident.. in Airbnb speak 'entire place' means no strangers present = no other guests & no host! For what I  think you mean, you have to say they can USE the WHOLE place except the living room,which is your private space... That's what I do....

[Clara541]

Oh to be clear, i do not stay in the livingroom space anymore!

I did a year ago, but not anymore. Thats why i advertised this place that the entire place will be to the guest

[Clara541]

but i will still work on making the listing more clear. thanks for your advice !

[Sarah977]

@Clara541  If you are open to taking bookings for the living room as well as the bedroom, from separate guests, then you need 2 separate listings, one for the bedroom and one for the living room, you can't list them both on the same listing. Then you have to figure out how to list the bedroom- you can't list it as having living room access if that won't be available should the living room have guests, nor can you list it as entire house. And if you ever stay there yourself when you have guests, you can't list it as an entire house, nor can you list it as an entire house if you have guests in the bedroom and guests in the living room at the same time. Entire house means only one group of guests has access to the entire house.