Advice from more experienced hosts please!!

[Lindsey398]

Hello fellow hosts

Over this bank holiday weekend, I had some guests staying for a couple of nights at my Airbnb, they originally requested a 1 night stay, which we don't do so then extended for 2 nights which I accepted.

I received a message via Airbnb at 20.42 on Friday to ask about heating controls as they found the house cold, I gave instructions and assured them that the boiler had recently been serviced and that the warmth should quickly kick in.   We'd had guests checking out a few days previously and all had been fine.  I messaged early on Saturday morning on the Airbnb app to check that all was OK.  The response was that it was still too cold so I arranged for my handyman to go over that morning to check that everything was functional.  Within an hour of me indicating that I had made this arrangement I received a message from the booker saying that they had decided to leave after lunch, saying that the weather was "atrocious" and that they would be gone by 11.45 requesting a refund for the second night.  My handyman was already en route so he went in any case and found that the guests had actually turned the heating off, he turned it back on and stayed to check that the radiators were heating up ok.  On that basis I didn't think it was appropriate for me to refund their second night, the guests went out for lunch and returned at 14.22, then messaged me to say that the house was still cold.  The handyman returned and reported that the pilot light had been turned off therefore the boiler went into "shut down" mode, following his initial visit.  The guests took no responsibility and reiterated that they were leaving by 16:00.  I had arranged for a specialist heating engineer to visit who was already in transit - at great expense as you can imagine over Easter weekend.  

I am awaiting a full written report from the heating engineer, which I assured the guest I would share with her once received so that we could move forward as I dont' see why I should refund the second night when I was not at fault.  She has chased me today stating that she wants the matter resolved today and has also said that she has been "treated awfully" and will be leaving a "truly awful" review of both the property and how I have "conducted" myself.

It turns out (after my daughter did some online research) that this guest stars in a reality TV show here in the UK and has posted on her social media that her brother and his fiancee welcomed a new baby over the Easter weekend, which makes me wonder if our guest ever had any intention of staying the second night in the first place. 

Fellow hosts - what would you have done differently in this situation? Please provide advice to a novice who is tearing her hair out here!  Also hoping someone can offer advice on how I can get Airbnb support team involved so that this guest is not allowed to write a negative review about my property..

HELP!!

[Joan2709]

@Lindsey398 

Wow...tough situation. 

I guess the first red flag was them wanting to book one night when they can obviously see your listing has a two night minimum. Lesson learned. For the future, if someone tells you they only want one night, even though they can clearly see your minimum is two nights, they will not be happy about that no matter what you do. For the future, I would decline to accept the booking as probably not fitting their needs for a one night stay. The guest will be disgruntled even if it was a perfect stay and that probably will reflect in the review. Not worth accepting the booking IMHO. How many guests were staying? If it was only 2 guests when the home accomodates 6 guests, that is another red flag.

I think no matter what you do you will get a negative review, so I would just prepare to post a public, factual reply to this guest's claims about what was discovered with the heating. It will be incredibly difficult to prove the guest deliberately turned off the heat in order to have a claim for a full refund, despite what the technician says in the report.

I think at this point, even if you offer a refund, they will write a negative review. You could offer one (30%) just so you can mention it your review, but I doubt that will change her review. I would then leave an honest, factual, short review and mention that you immediately responded to the guest and despite numerous messages and visits from a technician, it appeared the guest possibly turned off the pilot light (twice) resulting in the issue. I would not say anything in your review about your suspicions it was on purpose in order to get a refund and keep it short. If you do provide a refund or partial refund, I would mention that in your review. 

Airbnb could provide at least a 30% refund to the guest anyway if they complain to Airbnb. Airbnb normally does that for an amenity that was not "functioning" (even if it appears the guest turned the pilot light off). It does sound like they were angling for a refund for that second night anyway and just spiteful that you wouldn't accomodate a one-night stay.