Guest demanding we pay for a hotel room for one night and also that we comp her first night in the home

[Julie1516]

Our guests just arrived in town and the power was out in our neighborhood due to a blown transformer.   

We were immediately in contact with the town electric, which they advised the power would be restored in 2-2 1/2 hours.   Our property manager was there on site upon arrival and had left a note on door advising the guests.  In addition, she had pulled out the candles and flashlights and remained on the property in another unit.    the power was restored at 8:10pm .   They arrived at 630pm .   Our property manager advised them if they wanted to use the upstairs unit- which has a gas stove, they could come upstairs and utilize to cook dinner.   

The guests were very upset and angry with my property manager over the circumstances and claimed that there was something wrong with the house- as they could see the neighbours down the road had a light one.   All street lights and our entire side of street were dark and off, and there we were in direct contact with the electric company immediately. 

The guests demanded the power be turned back on immediately.  They then said that they were getting a hotel room and that we were to comp them hotel costs as well as the first nights stay at our home.  The mother and daughter were going to the hotel, and the father was staying at the home as the hotel would not take dogs.       

My question is, what is the policy on this one?   Must we pay for their hotel and reimburse their first nights stay?  In addition, they are in the home now for a week, and I am worried about the bad review they are for sure going to give.   

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you in advance! 

[Kath9]

@Julie1516, wow, some people are unbelievably precious. If they can't live without electricity for 2 hours, god help them.  As far as I am aware, there is no Airbnb policy stating that you must reimburse them. I would tell them that these were circumstances way out of your control. It was their choice to book a hotel room and the father ended up staying in the house anyway, so why would you reimburse their first night? You might have to brace yourself for a bad review, but please don't hold back in your review of them. You could also call Airbnb and get some advice on this one.

[Julie1516]

Thank you Kath.  

I am also bracing myself for the scouring of the house to find anything and everything they can at this point.    The power was off from 530pm and restored at 815pm.  I get that this is not the warm welcome that we would have liked for them.  But I had my property manager there, and staying on site to help out with this.  She said they were immediately hostile.     I have sent a message to Airbnb requesting help/guidance, but it being Sunday night, there hasn't been any response yet.       In addition, this will be my first negative review of a guest.  I know that this was an inconvenience- and we tried to do everything we could to help alleviate the disruption.     I typically try to avoid any comment, but this seems like they are ready and looking at a way to get a significant discount on their stay.  I have found through reading forums and a few other guests, that this seems to be a tactic for some people. 

[Kath9]

@Julie1516, yes, unfortunately, there will always be the occasional demanding, entitled guest who will never be happy no matter what and will look for things to complain about. Unfortunately, it seems to be Murphy's law that these kinds of things happen to exactly that type of guest! Maybe they just attract it! The power goes out quite frequently in my town, especially in bad weather, and you just have to make the most of it. Yes, inconvenient, but hardly the end of the world! Besides, the house looks quite nice all lit up by candlelight! Stand your ground on this one - you couldn't have avoided it and it sounds like you did everything possible to mitigate the situation. I would just apologise to them sincerely for the inconvenience but tell them that it was out of your control. Please keep us posted on how it turns out and don't forget that you can leave a public response to their review of you if it turns out to be negative.

[Linda108]

I would imagine when the guests arrived, they, and your property manager, did not know how long the power outage would be, thus part of the party chose to go to a hotel.  That the outage was only 2 hours long was not information available at the time.  Since this circumstance, even out of your control, effectively ruined the first night of their reservation, paying for the hotel is the right thing to do.  However, since the space was used by the guest, I would agree you should not refund the first night.

Can you avoid a negative review?  Who knows.  Sometimes the circumstances of the travel creates cranky guests.  So don't respond to the refund request right away, perhaps deflect to Air BNB that they need to consider the request.  Try to establish a rapport with great hosting and help them overcome the initial experience.  If not successful, then brace for a negative review.  Not the end of the world because you will also have a negative review to post, right 😄

[Julie1516]

Good point Linda.  I agree with you.   

The electric company had advised us that it would be 2 - 2 1/2 hours to fix and repair when we called.   So we advised the guest of this.  Unfortunately, that was not a guarantee and the power outage timing was terrible.   We tried to do everything in our power via the property managers presence on site, and providing candles and flash lights.  But it just wasn't enough.  We get it.       

Yes, we can provide a negative review, but that doesn't impact the numbers under our listing nor negate the negative impact their review has on our score.     There isn't any course of action to recover from that. 

[Helen350]

@Julie1516 YOU SHOULD NOT PAY FOR A HOTEL! - Not your problem, not your fault! - I can't believe how selfish & entitled some people are........ Can't they see it's outside your control? - And you were given immediate assurance it would  be fixed in 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

If you put 'power outage' into the search box, top right, you will see other posts on this subject. I read one that said if Airbnb get involved, they will refund the guest in full, including their booking fee, but will NOT expect you to pay for an hotel alternative. After all, if the guests had contacted Airbnb, Airbnb would have rehoused them.

[Julie1516]

Thank you Helen.  I will look at the other postings.  I appreciate it. 

[Sarah977]

As soon as these guests arrived and immediately flopped out their bad attitude on your manager, I would have told them that you will contact Airbnb to cancel their entire stay and fully refund them. Some people just really aren't worth dealing with. 

[Julie1516]

I sent her a message to do this, and she said she didn't want to cancel.  Because her husband wants to stay in the house with the dog.  Only 2 people in the party were going to a hotel.  So they want to stay in the house and go to a hotel.   

[Sarah977]

@Julie1516  She didn't want to cancel, they "demanded" that the power be turned back on when it was totally out of your control, her husband wanted to stay for free with the dog, and  have you pay for a hotel room, and they abused your property manager, who was trying her best to mitigate the situation. 

Sometimes what the guest wants is immaterial. I said I would have contacted Airbnb, explained how rude and unreasonably demanding this guest was being and had them cancel the booking from my end, not leave it up to the guest to do what she "wants".

I ran out of water once when I had a guest, due to poor infrastructure in my town. My guest cheerfully offered to help me string hoses together to my neighbor's outside faucet, which is on an endless well, into my cistern, and cooperated in being conservative with the water for the rest of her stay. And left a 5* review.

I just don't see any reason to put up with obnoxious, demanding guests who refuse to adapt to a momentary situation beyond a host's control when these kinds of guests will likely leave lousy review even if you paid for the hotel room and refunded the first night.

[Helen350]

@Sarah977  My boiler broke down in December (the day after servicing!) & the repair comp. couldn't fix for 34 hrs due to parts. I went out & bought plug in portable electric heaters for my 1 male & 2 separate female guests, (only one of them, a woman was Airbnb, the other two were ex-Airbnb-ers, since morphed into lodgers.) Both the women said 'Oh you needn't have bothered, I'm menopausal! - Give & take.

[Sarah977]

@Helen350 That's cute. One of my friends, who'd be ripping off her shirt in middle of a conversation, opening the window and hanging her head out in the dead of winter, found it really unfair that I liked hot flashes, because I'm skinny and always colder than everyone else.

[Laura2592]

@Sarah977 totally agree. I would not continue to host a group with this attitude and would insist that they cancel the reservation. Can't have it both ways-stay in a place that they obviously are unhappy with and say is not habitable and ALSO get a hotel....

[Juan63]

Sucks to be in this predicament. If this situation happened to me, I would offer them two choices, cancel the entire reservation or offer them a small discount. Since the husband stayed, I would not refund them an entire night.