A guest wants me to refund an amount in access of my daily rate for a power outage.

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Maureen89
Level 1
El Dorado Hills, CA

A guest wants me to refund an amount in access of my daily rate for a power outage.

I have been a host for 12 years and I have never had a guest ask for a refund for inconvenience. In spite of my advise for her to contact airbnb during her stay, as I had no experience in handling this, she waited until after the stay.  She is not covered under the airbnb insurance now and the decision is left to me.  This is a guest that I made pet accommodations for as well as late check out arrangements.  There was a power outage in the night 10:00pm until 8:00am.  We are in a rural forested area, so we have a gas cook top and a gas fireplace in the event the power goes out. She is asking for a refund in access of my nightly rate. Does anyone have a suggestion of how I might approach this?

Thank you!

 

Maureen

 

1 Best Answer
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Maureen89 Oh dear - You seem to be confirming the suspicion that helping guests by being accommodating of their needs then just backfires as they make ridiculous requests.

Sadly, unless the guest has reviewed you, you will most likely get a bad review whatever you do.

Have you reviewed the guest? If you haven't then perhaps, if true, 'XX was a lovely guest whom we helped out with pet accommodation and an early check in only to be rewarded by a refund claim post stay due to an overnight power outage out of our control"

For the future I would add into your listing something like "As we are in a rural forested area we occasionally get power outages but have a gas stove/fireplace to ensure guests are kept warm and fed"

Now what to do...I think I would say no to any refund and risk a bad review. Perhaps explain that if the outage had affected her smooch you would have allowed her to terminate her stay but that as she didn't request this you are not willing to do anything in retrospect. Then be ready for the bad review - Any comment you leave to mitigate it MUST be addressed to future guests NOT the person who left the review. something like 'I was disappointed to get this review but expected it as we refused a request for refund when the power went out overnight. Had the power outage truly affected the stay we would have offered to allow a cancellation with a suitable refund.'

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4 Replies 4
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Maureen89 Oh dear - You seem to be confirming the suspicion that helping guests by being accommodating of their needs then just backfires as they make ridiculous requests.

Sadly, unless the guest has reviewed you, you will most likely get a bad review whatever you do.

Have you reviewed the guest? If you haven't then perhaps, if true, 'XX was a lovely guest whom we helped out with pet accommodation and an early check in only to be rewarded by a refund claim post stay due to an overnight power outage out of our control"

For the future I would add into your listing something like "As we are in a rural forested area we occasionally get power outages but have a gas stove/fireplace to ensure guests are kept warm and fed"

Now what to do...I think I would say no to any refund and risk a bad review. Perhaps explain that if the outage had affected her smooch you would have allowed her to terminate her stay but that as she didn't request this you are not willing to do anything in retrospect. Then be ready for the bad review - Any comment you leave to mitigate it MUST be addressed to future guests NOT the person who left the review. something like 'I was disappointed to get this review but expected it as we refused a request for refund when the power went out overnight. Had the power outage truly affected the stay we would have offered to allow a cancellation with a suitable refund.'

Thank you kindly for taking the time to offer a solution.

 

Regards,

Maureen

Lorna170
Level 10
Swannanoa, NC

@Maureen89  Because of the hours of the outage, the guest should not have been severely inconvenienced unless you do not provide any lighting options in the event of a power outage. 

 

My response to this guest would be to provide a token refund at best, and one that is far less than the nightly rate.  I would also have provided it immediately upon learning that there was a power outage, which goes a long way to making the guest feel that they were cared for.

 

In the future, you may wish to have emergency lighting and water supplies in a location that can be accessed by the guest as soon as you are made aware that there is an issue.  

Anne-Jeannette0
Level 3
Oakhurst, CA

So sorry this has happened to you. I also live in a rural, forest area and had problems with power outages. One thing you can do is purchase battery powered light bulbs. I get them from Amazon. There are two lamps in each room with these bulbs. They work normally but also turn on when the power goes out. Also, I keep a water stand for their use throughout their visit.