Refund request - stand ground or fold

[TamaraAndSteve0]

We had a family emergency and i had to go to the hospital via ambulance.  I had pulled my back moving patio furniture to pressure wash the deck of our country home.

The guests arrived earlier than check in and my 15 year old was finishing cleaning. 

She didn't do a perfect job - but the dishes were done, a little wipe was needed in fridge and stove.

A bit of dust in the bathroom and a bin of new toilet paper needed to be put in the cabinet.

They are requesting $295 refund for one night of a 2 night stay.

I'd offer $100 discount plus $50 cleaning refund, but I'm not sure the difference of $145 is worth my time to hold my ground. 

The place is beautiful, the linens were clean (she was putting pillow cases on the last bed when they arrived).

They are there now.  Please chime in on what you would do.

The wife was so freaked she couldn't understand the stove element dials.

Just bad first impression?

What would you do?

We know they will leave a poor review.  However, if I'm honest, they were pretty heartless.

[TamaraAndSteve0]

Thank you so much @Helen350  @Kelly149 @Andrew0 @Sarah977 @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 @Mark116 @Jerry250 

It took me alot of courage as i normally have only nice things to say. 

You know they are not coming back, but it does help to warn other hosts.  In their only 2 reviews it mentions cleaning so I'm thinking they are uber picky guests.

______

In the end, this was my review;

John and his family arrived prior to our usual check in time.  We had a family emergency requiring an ambulance and had notified them prior to arrival, however their response was less than understanding.  We realize it was not as 'perfectly' clean as usual and offered to continue cleaning, refund the cleaning fee and offer a discount.  Instead, they requested half of their weekend fee. Not a group we would accept again.

_______

I promise to weigh in on the community feed to other hosts.  I'm a fourth generation host/landlord but this group really got to us, at a very critical and unusual time.  Most people would honour the humanity of the two way street and be kinder.  Because we all need what our health officer says:  be calm, be kind, be safe.  Thanks again. Tamara

[Helen350]

Fantastic @TamaraAndSteve0 ! 10/10! - I recognize a few suggested phrases there, so a good group effort too!

WOW! He gave your place a good written review!

Wishing you nicer guests going forward!

[Suzanne302]

@TamaraAndSteve0 

I would offer a sincere apology for the missed cleaning details and refund of the cleaning fee but not a penny more. The place was otherwise as promised and it sounds like they're just trying to push the boundary and see how much they can get.

If you're so inclined, maybe offer a bottle of wine or a small basket of goodies as an additional apology. Do not be held hostage to a bad review. A reasonable person would accept that and be done. An unreasonable person will leave a bad review no matter what you do to try and make amends.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@TamaraAndSteve0 

Things may not have been perfect and your explanation alone should have been enough for a reasonable guest. Demanding a free night is not reasonable. No matter what you offer or even if you pay their ransom, they'll still hang you in the review. To that review you will have the right to reply which would be your explanation here, which would be fair.

As @Suzanne302 said, offer a refund of only the cleaning fee as a concession for the parts 'not up to your usual standard because of your hospitalisation' through the Airbnb message centre (making sure her demand for a nights refund exists there too, as this could be construed as an incentive to provide a false review according to its excess). If it doesn't exist, make sure you include it in your message...

Tell the guest, this is what you're going to do and send the message.

"Dear Guest, I'm very sorry that you feel it necessary to request a whole nights accommodation fee of $295 for some cleaning issues which were easy to resolve. This is not up to our usual standards due to a family emergency as you know. I would be happy to refund you the cleaning fee to resolve this issue, so if you please reply your acceptance and I will implement the refund through the Airbnb resolution centre. Thanks, Tamara & Steve."

[Gordon0]

From what little I've heard, I don't like this crowd, @TamaraAndSteve0. Cleaning fee, yep, give it to them, anything else? It would be a no from me. You'd effectively be paying them for a decent review. And they might just stab you in the back too.  

[Linda108]

I hope your back is better by now, @TamaraAndSteve0 .  Did you have a chance to notify the guest of the issue prior to their arrival and prepare for the "in progress" state of preparations?  Like the other hosts, I am not inclined to recommend much refund and since they did not decline to stay, Air BNB wouldn't see reason to refund either.  You have a wonderful post and beam home and great reviews.  Never become hostage to a potential bad review.  Let your sense of fairness and willing to see the issue from the guest's perspective be your guide.  Let us know what happens!

[TamaraAndSteve0]

Thank you.  I'm not better and cannot return to clean after their departure.  I've offered them to stay an extra night.  I did manage to send a brief message during the ambulance ride to tell them that my car would be there and not to be alarmed and that i would see them as soon as possible after an emergency way.

Most guests in this situation would have been resonable, compassionate.

I could have cancelled their stay but felt inclined to give them their time, even though it involved 3 hours of excruciating driving for me to get to my home.  I have explained what happened.  At the end of the day, it's not about money, it's about health, and we have an awesome home and i have decades of hospitality.  This is just one of those situations where the customer is not always right and we did all we could. 

Thanks for your comments.  i appreciate them.

[Kelly149]

@TamaraAndSteve0 if it were me... I'd be saying "I'm sorry you're dissatisfied, our EMERGENCY TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL has obviously made us unable to meet your standards, I'm sure ABB will find you somewhere else to stay" while someone stood at the front door holding it open for their departure...

if that seemed to make them rethink their stance then I'd offer to have the 15 year old continue to clean whatever they felt was lacking (if of course you think that's safe) hopefully this would either appease them or embarass them into reasonableness.

Please review them appropriately and hope you feel better soon

[TamaraAndSteve0]

Thank you.

I did offer to go in and clean whatever was amiss but they declined.

I was so vulnerable (had not had morning coffee or breakfast and returned at 3pm from the saga including a $150 taxi ride back to the property), that i didn't have the wherewithall to ask them to find another accomodation.  maybe lesson learned.  I just think most people would have been fine (dishes were washed, beds made, even our dyson was full so it's proof she vacummed).

yes, the challenge will to review appropriately.  They only have 2 other reviews which mention super clean, which in retrospect might have been a flag from other hosts.

I'm still unable to sit at a computer, or drive back, and have blocked off the next week for other guests so i can be certain to be functional. 

Thanks for your reply

[Helen350]

@TamaraAndSteve0 You offered to clean that which your daughter would have finished cleaning, if they'd stuck to the rules & arrived 42 mins later?!  It was obviously very minor, if your daughter could have completed cleaning with an extra 42 mins!

Like Sarah said, they sound like jerks.  They should not get any refund for such trivial failings, which most people would have found acceptable, especially in the circumstances.

- Give 'em a bad review! WARN other hosts they expected a 50% refund over very minor, trivial issues.

I've had several guests turn their nose up because the place was not ready when they arrived 40+ mins early.... Thankfully no refund requests, but a few dinged me on the stars, for a problem that was THEIR fault!

[Sarah977]

@TamaraAndSteve0  Refund of cleaning fee, some placating words, no refund of nightly fee. These folks sound like jerks. They arrived before check-in time and can't even have a little understanding due to your injury? I wouldn't reward them for that by refunding the night or even a portion of it.

What I would have done, though, is gotten a message to your guests to explain the situation when you knew you couldn't finish the cleaning. That warning might have made the situation less contentious, but who knows, some people are just looking for anything to grab onto to get a refund or discount.

A suggestion, take it or leave it- train your 15 year old to do the Airbnb cleaning impeccably, and pay them accordingly.  You never know when she/he might need to take over again, it's always good to have a back-up plan. A friend who hosts trained her 20 year old son, who lives with her, to clean the Airbnb suite, as she works as a nurse and sometimes gets called in when she doesn't expect it, or is sometimes just too exhausted to do the cleaning. They now often do it together and she says once he knew what had to be done and how, he's even better at it than she is, because he has young eyes 🙂  "Mom, didn't you see that hair stuck to the shower wall?"

[TamaraAndSteve0]

Yes, i appreciate your comments about training.  Usually there are two adults guiding.  We have a checklist for our other suite, but it is in our house and we can go in after and monitor.  She was in tears, had tried her best but likely was stressed about her screaming in pain mama being carried out on a guerney.  Life lesson learned for her that not all people are the same when it comes to kindness.  For example, our previous guest was an angel who went out of her way to help us on the same day.    Thank you.

[Anonymous]

@TamaraAndSteve0  You can throw money at these people if you want, but it's not necessarily going to buy you a better review.

Personally, I would call their bluff. If they felt the condition of the property was unacceptable, they should have cancelled the booking and left. 

[Mark116]

@TamaraAndSteve0  I'm going to predict they leave you a negative review, but we'll see, hopefully I am wrong as you basically gave them a free night because they barged in early.  

I hope you give them the review they deserve.

[TamaraAndSteve0]

Thanks, I'm writing it now.  I was curious if they would not leave one, but it's short.  I owe it to other hosts to write something cryptic that alerts them to this kind of guest.  Challenging as most guests are lovely.