Guest asking for cancellation and then decides to stay

[Jarno1]

Hello all! I've been hosting for a few years in various locations and am currently a super host with nearly 90% 5 star reviews. Time to time I run into this very specific situation and haven't been able to figure how to best handle—I'm curious to hear your experiences and ideas.

For example recently I received my first 2 star review from a guest (has solid 5 star reviews from several trips) arriving with a group of 4 who wanted to cancel an overnight stay a couple days before her trip saying that she didn't need the stay anymore and sneakingly asking about the exact timeline as to when she could get a full refund. I replied that we have a moderate cancellation policy and what it means so she decided to keep her stay instead of canceling.

At this point I already had a slight bad feeling that the guest might mean trouble as she didn't really want to stay here. Unfortunately I was right! Right from the beginning, against our house rules, the guests arrived with another family who came to visit for dinner. I let it slide as they were already there in front of the house, it was weekend, and I wanted to be nice, but this caused inconvenience as there were people coming in and out and ringing my doorbell as they didn't know how to get in. I also needed to remind about noise as our quiet time starts at 10PM as well as open windows when the AC was on. Other than that the guests seemed pretty nice and tidy and the check-out went well so I left a decent review for the guest.

On the other hand—by the way I even left a bottle of wine in the guest apartment as a compliment for keeping the stay—the guest left me a 2 star review completely trashing the space, implying  that I was hawking them complaining about everything and that the space was not clean (2 stars) just because the carpet had a slight odor from me wet washing it before their visit (I even explained this)—by the way, I am a frequent Airbnb guest and I can say my space is pretty much up there regarding cleanliness, impeccable. That is why this felt quite abusive, kind of surprising, and overly exaggerated because clearly the review came out of frustration and possibly bad personality. I did notice before that the guest was making a few passive aggressive questions and comments such as with the cancellation request, but again, she was otherwise nice and agreeable. Fortunately overall this rogue 2 star review didn't affect my rating or status, but perhaps there could have been a way to somehow turn this into a better win-win situation for the guest and me.

How would you treat this kind of situation? I know it would've been perhaps easier to let her cancel and refund, but I would have then most likely lost the night and the income. Also, now this same guest with shining reviews is out there possibly doing the exact same thing for other unsuspecting hosts (although mine was 4 stars and warning about possibly ignoring house rules).

Thank you!

[Lisa723]

@Jarno1 I would have told her that if she canceled and I rebooked I'd refund completely. That gives her an incentive to go through with canceling, and is fair to both parties. Of course, she still might have stayed anyway, but it's less likely.

[Jarno1]

@Lisa723 Thank you that sounds like an awesome idea! Didn't think of this option and will definitely apply this approach next time—truly appreciated.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Jarno1 

At this point I already had a slight bad feeling that the guest might mean trouble as she didn't really want to stay here. Unfortunately I was right! Right from the beginning, against our house rules, the guests arrived with another family who came to visit for dinner. I let it slide as they were already there in front of the house, it was weekend, and I wanted to be nice,

I agree - you should always trust your 'sense'.

And it's very hard, but house rules are there for a purpose: You previously thought them all out without any pressure and the guest, after reading and agreeing to them, booked. All hosts want to be nice and are. Both you and the guest have agreed rules but your guest has chosen not to adhere to them so In this situation you should not have been nice, you should have referred back to your house rules and told them that they cannot accept additional guests. If they kicked off, ask them to leave.

(Easy to state. Hard to do).

It seems like a common trait. Host is accommodating of difficult guest > Guest takes advantage > Host holds their tongue > stay over > Guest gives bad review and often lies.

[Sarah977]

@Jarno1   I can never quite understand why hosts are willing to put up with awful guests because they don't want to lose the $ from the booking. It really doesn't seem worth hosting the type of guests who are entitled, break your rules, show zero appreciation, and leave bad reviews for a night or two's earnings. I realize that many hosts are quite dependent on booking $ to pay their bills, but every guest who stresses you out, takes advantage of your accomodating nature, and leaves a bad review full of lies takes a toll on your physical, emotional, and mental health. It just doesn't seem worth it to me.

And from one host to another- thank you for leaving an honest review for this "5*" (not) guest.