Guest cancellation: How should I handle to not impact my algorithm

[Lisa753]

I had a guest show up yesterday and then cancel in the middle of the night.  He said it was because the house wasn't up to his standards.  I really believe this is not true.  He and his friends were in their early 20's and I think they were disappointed to be in the suburbs rather than in SF and then decided to get a hotel in the city after their night out.  I was very clear that we are 22 miles from the city in my listing AND I sent a private message to him to make sure he realized that. 

By my moderate policy he would get some of his money refunded, but not all.  I really don't want to give him all of it back as I spent the day getting the house ready for him and I lost booking the weekend with someone else.  But I also know that ~$600 is a lot to both lose and gain when he has a city hotel to pay for and I have my house.  So, I don't want to refund the whole amount but I also don't want to get a back review.  What would you do?

Thanks in advance.  

[Kath9]

@Lisa753 It's not really your problem that they didn't read the listing properly. I would maybe refund the cleaning fee (if you have one) but that's it. If not, refund a proportion of the fee that reflects the water and power that weren't used. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Lisa753 

The guest will rate/review you they way he wants to, regardless of whether you refund or not. I think the worst would be if you refunded more than what they deserve to get AND they still give you a low rating/negative review. 

You may want to wait to see if they leave you a review before you leave one for them. And based on the review they leave you, you can decide after reading their review if you really want to issue an additional refund or not. This is what I'd do if I were in your shoes. 

[Susan837]

How do you read a review before you leave your own review? I'm reading your note because someone left in the middle of their booking and I was wondering if I should offer a refund. But what if they leave a bad review?

[Susie111]

@Lisa753 

I agree with @Kath9 it's really not your problem if these guys ignored the information on your listing location and you took time to also send them a private message to make sure that they undersand it's in the suburbs they have a booked their stay.

Young people need to learn to take some responsibility, trust me next time they will be more careful with their money they spend.

Hounor your cancellation policy and if they write a bad review just reply with "the location is clearly stated in my listing description"

Future guests will understand it's on them and not you.

[Lisa753]

Thanks for the response.  The concern is that they are positioning it as the house wasn't up to their standards. 

[Sandra856]

Hi @Lisa753 🙂

When a guest choose to cancel they will automatically get their money back according to the cancellation policy. I would stick to that if it were me and not pay extra and also tell the guests (if they ask for more money) that airbnb takes care of everything that has to do with cancellations and that you are sorry but you can't do more from your side and that it is all handled automatically.

Best, Sandra 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Lisa753 

I wouldn't be worried by being penalised by your location as you can't move your house (which looks lovely btw) and I think ABB have removed location ratings from their review analysis.

I guess your suspicions will be right about location as it would be unlikely that your group would instantly decide to not stay and then inform you straight away. They probably decided to risk their chances booking elsewhere but had your place to fall back on.

My opinion would be to diffuse whatever review you might get by being a host with great communication skills and mitigating any 'cleanliness' aspect of their review - which will all probably be made up anyway! Give the guest only the refund they are entitled to under your refund policy.

I would suggest contacting the guest to express how sorry you are to hear that your place was not up to their standards, but you do work very hard in providing your guests the best experience during their stay. I would also state that because of his cancellation he should be expecting a refund from ABB. Finish off by hoping his stay in SFF was up to his expectations and that they all had a great weekend...

You have nothing to fight at this stage but you are in a corner just awaiting your guests review. which you fear will be negative.

[Lisa753]

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@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 wrote:

@Lisa753 

I would suggest contacting the guest to express how sorry you are to hear that your place was not up to their standards, but you do work very hard in providing your guests the best experience during their stay. I would also state that because of his cancellation he should be expecting a refund from ABB. Finish off by hoping his stay in SFF was up to his expectations and that they all had a great weekend...

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@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

This is an amazing response.  Thank you for taking the time to write it and offer support in this way.  I consider myself to be a pretty good communicator but sometimes when I'm too close to a situation it's more difficult.  You clearly have a gift.  Thank you for sharing it.  

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

Thanks @Lisa753 ,

Happy to help out.

[Linda108]

@Lisa753   I agree with @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 .  I find there many great "word smiths" on this forum so getting input when you are close to a situation is a wise move.  As to contacting Air BNB often that is a good strategy, but not so sure in this case, especially if you use the recommended message from Ian and Anne-Marie.  Use similar response to any negative review you might have as it demonstrates professional caring hosting.

[Sandra856]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 @That is a great suggestion with contacting the guest that way. 

[Sammi7]

My recommedation is to contact Airbnb and document the situation, they normally tell you based on your cancellation policy, whether or not you need to issue refund, so whatever that is, stick to the refund amount they say. I have this situation happened to me couple times and I always do above, and plus below: first, express your concern to Airbnb about the guests will leave you bad rating, trust me, if you have CLEARLY messaged your guests that the location is 22 miles away, Airbnb normally will be able to block them leaving you review, or they can take it off after the guest posted it. So make sure you CALL Airbnb and open a case about this issue and your rating concern. Secondly, if Airbnb said they won’t block it but if is really bad then they mostly will take it off after. So now is waiting period and see what the guest say. Third, if Airbnb neither block or take it off, don’t forget you have an option to reply to the guest review, say the truth but don’t show you’re angry/upset about the situation. Tell them you still appreciated they once consider your place but sorry it didn’t work out, and ENSURE you lay out you had clearly communicate to them on the location etc. Mostly, I use reply function to thank my good guests, and clarify any misunderstanding in between problematic guests but the goal is for the future guests to see, so do it as diplomatic as possible. If you don’t know how to do it, Trip Advisory is a great learning tool where you can look up hotels responses to guest review (especially those in between 4-5 stars). See how they reply and apply to yours! Now I wrote to much...hope this help 🙂

[Gordon0]

I've just looked at your listing, @Lisa753. If it's not up to their 'standards', I'd love to know how they live any other day of the week. Don't buckle due to their mistake.  

[Lisa753]

Thank you!  Yes, you got it, right.  🙂