Guests want full refund

Heidi47
Level 1
Norwich, United Kingdom

Guests want full refund

Hello,

I had three guests arrive last night ay 6pm. 

I was quickly infomred that they were not happy as there are some winter clothes in one wardrobe. However there is a full wardrobe and empty draws for guests use on the other side of the bedroom.

 

The kitchen has herbs and spices in the cupboards and some tinned food too. The fridge has some jars/ bottles of sauces and on my desciroption it states that these can be used by guests during their stay.  The guests who booked in yesterday were not happy with this. 

 

By 7pm I had sent three messages to my guests trying to sort out the issues they had raised. The first to say someone would be over in 5 minutes to sort out thier issues.  The second to say the person was in the property sorting out their issues and the third to say the issue has been sorted.  I did not receive any communications last night from the guests. In my welcome message I also let my guests know that if they have any problems please let me know so i can help out and sort anything out quickly.  I also leave a wlecome pack - in this pack I also say the same thing.  I think I resovled the matter very promtly.

 

This morning the guests informed me that they left and booked into a hotel. They are requesting a full refund. 

I have a moderate cancelleation policy. 

What should I do?

 

Kind regards

Heidi

 

 

3 Replies 3
Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

You stick with your policy.

Stick with your policy unless... Or regret it by making my mistake. As long as your photos and description match, (i.e. You didn't promise them you'd make breakfast and then leave only dried oregano) some people need to realize the hard way this is not a hotel, this is a home. If anything they at least may have given you feedback you can add to the description (i.e. "use the left side of the closet only.")

My most recent guest did the same thing, refusing to stay even the first night of 2 weeks because the neighbor's dogs were barking a lot all evening. I was not familiar with how my policy (moderate) worked if I needed to use it and had received a call from Airbnb first asking if I would approve a refund. This being right during a wedding so I was not fully focused. Long story short, she asked for a full refund, I thought I was approving to follow my policy and give her back a portion, (50% after first night stay- which is not actually the policy but what I thought it was). I assume my verbal approval gave her the full refund instead because I didn't get anything. Painful part is, I find out later she was provoking the dogs to bark by standing on the edge of neighbor property when she called me, sounding really sad that she would have to cancel her summer vacation and angry that I didn't mention barking dogs (FYI this has never come up with 85+ bookings so I thought something was wrong, but would also hate to be in her shoes if I came as a guest somewhere that the environment was loud. I let my sympathy override common sense - like asking her if she hears the dogs barking from the kitchen or bedroom. Within 24 hours I contacted Airbnb to get some of that money back through the Help Center but have yet to hear back from Airbnb (10 days and counting).

I don't know which is more frustrating - to know I cost myself $1850 for being a pushover and ignorant (85+ bookings and this is the first time I've needed to use the policy!) or to know I have no reference number to follow up on my request for Airbnb help.

Good luck. This teaches guests to read all the details and other hosts reading this to also to be more detailed.

Jamie
Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

As long as it is clear in your listing as to what storage space you have for your guests and that you leave food your guests can use, I don't see a problem.

 

They can't have a full refund. They can have one in line with your moderate policy.

 

I would message BnB outlining what happened and pointing out that that you listing is accurate so the guest knew what storage space was available and that you leave food for guests.

 

I would change your cancellation policy to strict.