Guest broke finger. Wants to cancel and refund

Lina53
Level 9
New York, NY

Guest broke finger. Wants to cancel and refund

Hi all, 

The reservation starts tomorrow, he contacted me at 2am today. Room was booked weeks ago and I will not be able to get another booking! 

 

Guest has a severe finger fracture and had to get 3 screws put in. Obviously I feel bad and get that it would not be a pleasant vacation... But I hardly think he is unable to fly. 

 

He wants to see if he can get a doctors note staying her cannot fly/travel due to the surgery and because he is groggy from anesthesia and nerve blockers.  Says that currently he cannot really move his hand because of nerve blockers and that he feels very groggy.

 

What should I do?  I was really counting on that reservation!!

 

11 Replies 11
Marzena4
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

Hello @Lina53. Your guest may ask for applying extenuating circumstances and getting a full refund through airbnb. So there is not much you can do. 

// "The only person you can trust is yourself"

Hi @Marzena4

Yes talked about that. 

 

But does a broken finger count as an extenuating circumstance?  

@Lina53 Only Airbnb can answer that. Doesn’t seem so to me. 

Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

Sorry, the only thing you can do is ask him to cancel as soon as possible.

That way, you can discount and get a possibility for a new reservation.

He'll probably get his money back.

Do not talk to guest about $$.  That is what Airbnb is for. They make the decision.

Kelly149
Level 10
Austin, TX

@Lina53 unfortunately thru ABB you can NEVER count on a reservation being completed. Regardless of your cancellation policy ABB has full discretion to refund the guest. This could happen before arrival: extenuating circumstances, or after arrival: complaint about the space (bogus or real), or even post-stay: again complaint (bogus or real). No host should ever assume that a reservation is a guarantee of income.

@Lina53 The policy reads: "Serious injury that directly restricts a guest’s ability to travel or a host’s ability to host"

 

Can a guest travel with a fractured finger? Is it safe for them? Would you do it yourself?

Plus add to it that Airbnb is generally pro-guest in their decisions as @Kelly149 said.

// "The only person you can trust is yourself"

@Kelly149 Yup, Airbnb approved it and just refunded guest.  

@Lina53 not unexpected, but sorry to hear. The next surprising thing is that both you and the guest will now have an opportunity to review each other. Good luck with that.

@Kelly149  What would the host's review be?  Guest broke his finger, AirBnB gave it to me!  ???

@Mark26 @Lina53 right, I'm not saying it's a good system, but stays cancelled within 24 hours of checkin are allowed to review (this was done to allow people to call out bad actors who had places that were so awful that they did not want to stay after arrival). Same as when CS allows a host to cancel a guest for rules violations but then both get the opportunity to review.

So, Lina's review could say "xxx booked our place xx days/weeks/months ago but because of a broken finger chose to cancel their stay xx hours before arrival. We were disappointed with the last minute change but wish them well with recovery and future travel."

There is no good answer for how that review will go, but it is an option for both the host and the guest. And at least if you have a guest that repeatedly has extenuating circumstances cancellations then hosts can get a heads up that this is a system they are possibly abusing.

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

Never ever count on a reservation you just never know.

David