guests moved out and demand refund

Evita2
Level 2
Cook Islands

guests moved out and demand refund

Hi everyone

Could anyone let help me with one issue. We have guests who moved out after 1 week in thye house because they decided it's too hot for them. they just informed us about it and moved out and now want a refund .

1. We have a strict cancallation so refund only 50% up to 1 week before the arrival., These guests arrived, had no complaints and moved out only because changed their mind regarding air conditioning. our place doesn't have one but is usually quite breeze being right on the beach but they found it too hot. They cannot demand a refund as we provided everything as advertised and there was nothing else wrong with our place but I am worried that they can damage us with a bad review. how to avoid being "blackmailed" by guest with a low rating that you don't deserve? Can we request Airbnb to stop that guest from leaving a review?

 

2. They did not leave the key. they said they are definitely not comming back. We asked the neighbour to pop in and secure the place, make sure windows are closed and no food left over. She found mess in the garden. the guests didn't hang the garbage like requested in the house rule to avoid that dogs will get to it  so there were nappies and other garbage all over the garden. it doesn't matter but they also didn't leave the key. When I asked they said "For sure we can give you or Victoria the keys right away if we can agree on the money somehow." Can I ask for the key back straight away or do I need to wait? How do I ensure that i get the key back, i don't like it being conditional on the refund that we don't owe them

 

With this attitude we really would like to prevent these particular guests from leaving a review of our place.

12 Replies 12
Wendy-and-Frank0
Level 10
Stonington, CT

Change the locks and don't let them bully you.  I have full appreciation of the value of good reviews, but at some point, we gotta be more like Keyser Soze.  I believe you can respond to a review so if you get a bad review, post your position and move on.

 

You said the place has no AC so it was on them.  Any guest can go to a weather website and see a forecast for up to 15 days.

 

 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Evita2 What you do is immediately 'flag' this guests profile where it says 'report this user' and explain to Airbnb that this guest has some of your property and is blackmailing you into a non deserved refund for the return of the property.

Do not let the guest raise this issue with Airbnb first because they may very well give a sob story that Airbnb will accept and give them their money back!

Act quickly on this one Evita and tell Airbnb you will not be put in a position where you are being blackmailed by an Airbnb guest.

Do it as fast as you can!

Cheers.....Rob

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

If they have not cancelled then they would be entitled to keep the keys until the end of the rental, moved out or not they are still renting it.

 

The danger I see is that they will make up some excuse and AirBnb will cancel and refund them, no way of knowing.

 

Make sure you keep all the conservations on the system and think how it will play assuming it is reviewed.

 

 

David
Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@David126 @Evita2....There is a technically aspect to what you have said David but, the guest has made it plain to Evita that they have moved out. They have, through the message stream, terminated their aggreement with Evita and are refusing to return her property until she agrees to a refund. That David is blackmail, and sure, Evita can wait until the Airbnb rental period is over, and by that time the guest will have complained and got their money back and Evita will be the one left out of pocket through no wrongdoing on her part.

At no point in any sort of legal contract will the terms of the contract be behoven to Blackmail.....at least that I am aware of throughout my working life!

Gee, I had to think that one out a few times.... Good point though David.

Cheers....Rob

David-and-Fiona0
Level 10
Panglao, Philippines

They are blackmailing you its that simple. I agree with @Robin4. Do you have this message on the airbnb system? They sould like horid guests.

thank you all guys

I did the following

- raised it up with airbnb - P.S. got no response. who knows best email top use in this situation?

- explained my position to the guests. Offered that I can help them in other ways or they can move back in and I rent a portable unit for them. This placated them a bit. Today I heard back from them - they said it's fine we have made this decission and that's ok

- I still didn't get the keys back but hope to get it on their last day althugh I dont like leaving house unattended.

I also hope they just won't write a review but if they do and it affects my rating hope airbnb will restore my previous rating

 

I just find airbnb system of communication with them in case of problem rather obtuse and don't know the best way to communicate and send my request regarding possible review disregard

 

Thank you all so much

Hi

i wonder if you can help

i am now sending this to airbnb - ythe guests in some way GOIT a refund from airbnb - a reservation was changed to only 4 days without my permission

 

The guests were booked 23 February until the 10th of march

We have a strict cancellation policy. The guests arrived at the house and liked it a lot. Then on 27th of February we got an email saying that even though they are very happy with the house they want to move out as it is too hot for their baby and they want an air conditioned place. Our place has no airconditioning which is stated clearly. They asked if they can discuss refund but before they got our answer, which was negative, they moved out. We wrote back suggesting we get them another fan or rent a portable air conditioning unit if this helps but explained we cannot really refund them. The guests said they already made decision and won’t be coming back

Until today the guests did not return the key to us

on the 15th February I have received an email from airbnb :

This is a reminder that [personal information removed] has a reservation to stay with you during February 23, 2017 - March 10, 2017 at SummerSaltRaro - above the lagoon.

The airbnb consultant I spoke toi said we got a reservation change which we accepted on the 15th. This is true but that was an extra day – the guests wrote to us to inform that they made mistake as to the dates and would like to book 1 EXTRA DAY

At no point did we agree to change the reservation to only 4 days.

 

On the 21st of february I got a reminder from you for 23 february to 10 March reservation and on 24th of February we got an email saying  

Hi Evita,

We've issued you a payout of €1648 via PayPal. This payout should arrive in your account by Feb 25, 2017, taking into consideration weekends and holidays.

Date      Detail Amount

02/23/2017 - 03/10/2017              [personal information removed]              €1648

 

On the 6th of march so only today we have received

  1. Message saying we have a new reservation that starts on the 23rd of February – obviously this doesn’t make sense

A message contained a previous message from our guests “Hallo, wie bereits am Donnerstag geschrieben freuen wir uns auf unserer Reise 2 Woche bei euch zu sein und den 1. Geburtstag unseres Sohn in dieser traumhaften Kulisse zu feiern “ -clearly stating that they are excited about 2 weeks in our place

  1. We also received a request to write a review for the guests which states that the guests were in our place only for 4 days and that we are only receiving 400 Euro for that reservation even though we are owed 1648 Euro

I do not understand how that reservation was changed to only 4 days. We have never agreed to change that reservation, on the day of the arrival the guests were still staying with us for 2 weeks and 1 day after their arrival we have received an email from you that we are receiving the full payment for that reservation. I find these guests very dishonest. I don’t know in what way they had achieved that result. I have correspondence with them on facebook where they blackmail me first with not returning the key which they still refuse to give back and then an email saying – don’t worry about it (refund) it was our decision. I can presume that this was sent because they in some devious way obtained the refund from you but it was without our agreement and since the guests moved out not because of our fault as we provided them with exactly what was advertised we find it completely dishonest on their part and very unfair if airbnb would allow this.

 

I have also wrote to airbnb saying that I am anticipating problems with the guests and asking for your advise but still did not receive any answer

 

Hope to hear from you very soon and really hope that you will be able to help us here

 

Kind Regards

 

Ewa ***

 

Robin4
Level 10
Mount Barker, Australia

@Evita2 This is exactly what I feared would happen Ewa, the guest makes a sob story to Airbnb and gets their money back...we see it time and time again that is why I said to you in the previous post to flag the guest and tell Airbnb the guest is using extortion! You cannot work with a guest in that situation! You cannot wait until their time is up, they don't give a da*n about you, they just want their money back.

It is possibly a bit unfortunate that you may have been influenced by other opinions with your first post and not been a bit more forcefull to Airbnb where this guest was concerned. You were fully prepared to do your bit and host this guest for the duration of the booking, they are the ones who changed the goalposts!

I really don't know what you can do about it now Ewa, the time is gone to use the 'extortion' card! You can try to escalate the claim but I think your chances of success are minimal now. Airbnb prefers to protect their guest base than their host base.

It will probably never happen again Ewa but if it does, next time state your case in the most forceful terms as you can at the first hint of trouble. Don't wait to see how it will go. Airbnb will not tolerate extortion and that is what you should have pushed as soon as that guest did not return the key and asked for a refund....you should have been onto Airbnb there and then!

I am sorry this has happened but I am afraid the horse has now bolted and the time for shutting the gate has passed!

I wish you better for the future Ewa.

Cheers.....Rob

 

Cristina234
Level 4
Frankfurt, Germany

@Evita2

1. Do not talk with them over the phone. Keep all the conversations on the system. The conversation will be reviewed, so keep your language professional and clear by all means.

2. Report to Airbnb that the guest left and clearly explain the blackmail. Use "Report User" to do it.

3. Wait till the last day of the booking and, then, if they did not return your key, ask them to do so on that same day.

4. If they do not return the key, go to the "Resolution Center" and open a claim "Ask your money". State how much would cost to get a new key if not return in 24 hours. Upload a proof of the cost (i.e. budget from your local key service).

5. If they still do not return the key within 24 hours after you opened the claim in the Resolution Center, buy the new key and wait 48 hours to escalate your claim to Airbnb. Keep the receipt, you will need to upload.

6. Check your inbox and your spam waiting for a response from Airbnb. They may be also contacting you by phone.

7.  Do not write a review till the issue is solved or till the 14th day.

8. They will probably will write a bad review. Be prepare to answer with facts. Travellers also recognize bad guests.

9. Be patient and enjoy hosting!

Cristina

Thank you

do you know best email to use in this situation - resolution centre is second the first step is to email airbnb - what email should I use? Do you know if airbnb can help with not allowing the rating to go down in such situation ?

@Cristina234   They will probably will write a bad review. Be prepare to answer with facts. Travellers also recognize bad guests.

that is true after good ratings a jerk will post bunk,sometimes the reviews look like posts from troll town.i wont let a guest think they are always right just ask them what is says on the listing. mabey 50% of the people read about the rental property at all

just saying

they are actually committing the act of extortion because at this point they are withholding your keys in order to obtain money and then stating they will leave a bad review if it gets to the point to where they will not return the keys you CAN sue them for a civil extortion. I work in a hotel and we actually have a guest stating that since his keys dont work he wants 5,000 points refunded to his membership and hes only been down once for faulty keys. He attempted to pull the "extortion" card and I quickly flipped it back towards him stating we did not force or threaten him in any way however since he is coming to the front desk and complaining about the keys and demanding points refunded for one time he would actually be commiting the act of extortion and especially considered points are like cash. You should have seen how red his face had gotten, especially when he wanted to speak with a manager and my name plate was on the "manager on duty" sign