unhappy guests

[Marit0]

I just had an unusual experience. A girl wanted to stay for two months, and since I have only good experience with long term guests, I accepted. She wanted to come with her mother the first week, so she made two reservations, one for both one week, one for herself only for 8 weeks. I explained to her clearly that they will have to share the room and bed.. They arrived late yesterday, and left and said goodbye very early this morning because they did not like it in my house. There is no window in the bathroom, and this was not tolerable for them. It is not common to have window in the bathroom in this city, so I never mentioned it in the description. They wanted to contact airbnb for cancellation. A couple of hours later I have still no news through airbnb. I have a strict cancellaton policy. What do I do now, nothing? Wait  for them to cancel? 

[Jeet0]

Hi @Marit0,

Good that you have a strict cancellation Policy in place.

I'd suggest you leave it to her to cancel the booking and let her handle the case with Airbnb. I don't think you'd be penalized in any way, except, she could leave a bad review, which is fine, considering you are a super host and have so many amazing reviews.

You could leave a response if you wish or just let it be, it'll eventually get lost in the good ones. If she makes any false claims in the review, report to Airbnb they'll delete the review.

Why don't you include a picture of the bathroom? A clean, well ventilated Bathroom is one of the main needs of guests. If they can see a picture, they'd be more confident while making the booking. In the picture description you can mention that there's no window but an exhaust (assuming there's one).

Hope it helps,

Jeet

[Eileen4]

The no window in the bathroom sounds odd to me. I mean, I could understand it if were a bedroom without a window, but a bathroom? Come to think of it, I don't have a window in mine either and I've never heard anyone complain. There is a good ventilation system, however.

Is there are reason why she would be saying this? Like is there any mould or mildew in the bathroom that could be associated with a lack of air circulation? I did have that in one Airbnb I stayed at, and there was no window there either, but the mould was so high up on the wall that I just made a decision not to look. The price of the place was so good and everything else about it was fine, so I didn't do or say anything.

I would just let her cancel and deal with Airbnb. I'd only contact them if you want your calendar opened up and if that's not happening, then yes, contact them. 8 weeks is a long time to go with no bookings. 

[Marit0]

 What happened in the end here, was that the week my guest had reserved for her and her mother (I gave her a far to good discount for that week) she will have to pay, and the reservation for the 8 weeks she had for herself was refunded to her in full. She made complaints to airbnb she never told me about, and that could be easily resolved. She also sent pictures about issues she wanted to complain about to them (I never saw this and cannot say what it is) but in the end airbnb gave her the credit. I have a strict policy, and I should have had 50% of that payout. 

I have not have any complaints from guests, and my reviews are great:) People really love the apartment. Of course my house is not perfect, and if you want to find flaws, there are plenty. I am also literally on my knees cleaning before the arrival of every guest.

I have travelled many times with airbnb, and I honestly will say my home is cleaner and nicer than most places. No mold in the bathroom:)

 I bet it is easy to find flaws in everyones home, and if complaints about small things are enough to credit the guests, what is the point in having strict cancellation policy? Guests can construct a big problem out of nothing if the will is there, as the case with this one. If there was a real issue with my flat, I would not have become superhost and with the good reviews as I have. What can I do to protect my interests, when clearly having strict policy will not work out in the end? 

[Marit0]

I also wonder how to protect myself from this kind of incident. If it was an empty apartment I let out for rent, I would not mind much. When I have guests in the house where I live, it is a different story. Of course it makes me reluctant to let strangers come in my home and behave weirdly at my expence. It creeps under my skin. I really don't want that to happen again. What to do?

[Eileen4]

Your place looks very clean (and very cute!), so I hope you didn't mind me asking about mould. Even with photographs, guests can make a mess and then photograph it to make a complaint, so who knows what she did. You might put a photo of your bathroom up on your site.  I haven't had this kind of issue yet, but then my condo is brand new and so it's easy to keep clean. And I hear you about the getting down on your knees. I clean my place to that degree too. It's too bad Airbnb didn't let you see the photos. I would maybe phone and ask again. You could say it might help you keep your guests happier. 

[Monica4]

@Marit0 It is extremely important for this case that you give the guests an honest review of how they cancelled through no fault of your own and nitpicked/lied to Airbnb to get a refund. It is guests like these that the rest of us do NOT WANT. The only way to weed out these kind of guests from the Airbnb platform is to warn other hosts never to accept a booking from them.

[Eileen4]

@Monica4 can we say things like that--like a guest lied and nitpicked to get out of a booking--without Airbnb taking it down? It strikes me that if they are willing to not give out the correct payout, would they let a really negative review like that stand? I'm just a bit worried. I had someone cancel a 5 day booking with me and it was clear that she was expecting a full refund. (She cancelled a mid-week booking about 20 days before, and it's coming up in a few days.) I'm just wondering if I'm actually going to get my payout. The woman has used Airbnb 17 times so far (I stand corrected--she is a host with 17 reviews) and was certain I was going to cave. She was very confident when she cancelled and messaged me. I think she was a bit taken aback that I said no and so she contacted the resolution center within minutes of my declining.  

[Monica4]

@Eileen4 I would not say it in those words....rethinking. But something like this could be said....."I am a Superhost who has had only happy guests, but this guest was the exeption. There was nothing I could do to make this guest happy."

[Eileen4]

I wrote about an upcoming cancellation I have pending. It turns out the guest who cancelled and wants a full refund is a host herself! Sheesh. And she has a place in another country other than the US, so she must be aware of passport issues (her excuse).

I had a booking in Toronto and the day before, I fell ill and didn't think I could drive from Montreal. So I messaged the host, but let it go...we let the booking go on (it wasn't a huge amount to begin with).  

Oh well. 

[Jean160]

I just had a guest who just left the unit he booked after complaining of the location,it's a bit far from the city.he didn't complain on the property.i was messaging him if he went out to look for a different house to rent and was requesting him to better cancel his booking since his booking is flexible,while there is time to cancel his booking.no reply from him.i was trying to cancel the booking myself but was asked by airbnb to call customer service which is an international number,i am from baguio city philippines.it's not possible for me to make a call unless i will pay for the per minute call.now my concern is for the guest to make a bad review for me.i was looking for any way to report it to airbnb but i cannot find a means to report.any idea what should i do?

[Marit-Anne0]

@Marit0

I have a feeling this must have been a case of the guest not reading the description and were expecting the apartment to themselves rather than a shared space.  Now making silly excuses to get out of the mess they have made.  Norwegian bathrooms are usually well ventilated, insulated and fitted with floor heating. I have yet to see mould in a Norwegian bathroom, even in older properties.  

There are almost daily reports on similar cases where airbnb sides with the guest.