Room has no A/C, guest wants refund

[Jesse192]

I'm a new AirBnb host. 

My guest checked in 3 hours ago, emailed me asking if the unit has A/C.

Unit does not have A/C, and A/C was not listed as an amenity.

Room is stocked with 1 small fan, and I offered to supply another larger fan.

I'll admit up front, I should probably state "No A/C" in the house rules so it's crystal clear to future guests, that's a lesson learned for me.

Guest now requests a refund because "she has allergies and is unable to sleep with a fan on her, or with the windows open".

Her booking is 4 four days, spanning one of the most lucrative weekends of the year (Ironman weekend in Boulder, CO).

What would you do? 

On the one hand she's only been here 3 hours. 

One the other hand if I refund, I've lost revenue for an entire lucrative weekend.

Thank you!

[Susan151]

@Jesse192 . Well AirBNB makes it pretty clear that you are not offering A/C. They even highlight it as NOT Included.

One stategy that some have used is, she can cancel, and you will refund any amount that you are able to rent the room for during her nights, minus a 'hassle factor' fee. With a major event, there might be a last minute booking.

Otherwise, simply stick with your cancelation policy. This doesn't mean AirBNB won't make a different decision for you however.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Jesse192 

Your House Rules don't need to mention A/C. Your amenities do - and you state there are none.

Do as @Susan151 suggests.

[Jesse192]

Thank you both for your input!  I'm the original poster.

My guest has been very cooperative ... she cancelled her reservation, so Airbnb refunded ~25% of her money back.

I offered to refund additional money (to get her up to a maximum 50% refund) based on my confidence that I'll get a last-minute booking.

She was grateful and we agreed to exchange positive reviews.

Thanks again!

[Ana1136]

@Jesse192 you should know that exchanging positive or negative reviews for refunds is against Airbnb policies. I am glad things worked out for you but keep that in mind. 

[Jesse192]

Thank you for pointing that out.  I should clarify, she will provide a review for the several hours she spent in as my guest.

[Ana1136]

@Jesse192 of course, even if she didn't stay at all she can leave a review, but exchanging it for a refund is what is against policy, no matter how much time she spent there. 

[Sarah977]

@Jesse192  You miss Ana's point. It is extortion to offer to trade money or anything else for a good review, whether that comes from the guest or the host. Whether the guest stayed for 3 hours or 3 weeks, that's immaterial. Extortion is very much against Airbnb TOS and you can get booted off the platform for that if the guest reports it.

[Jesse192]

Thank you.  I understand the point.

There was no extortion involved on either side, I should have been more precise in my language when I posted earlier. 

I've updated my post with clearer description of how we handled it.

Thanks again for everyone's quick replies!