Guest Request for Money After Checkout

[Haley93]

I accepted and worked hard to accommodate a last minute request for a booking made by guests without reviews on Airbnb.

I don't normally do this because the guests who book last minute and especially without reviews have *without fail* had issues with my place (I'm assuming booking last minute means there aren't many options available and these guests end up having to choose a place they wouldn't have otherwise chosen?? I don't know).

But they arrive, say everything is great, everyone is happy, and then at 10:30AM the day of their checkout, they ask if they can checkout at 1 or 2 (normal checkout is at 11). Since it's a same day turnover, I tell them I wish they could but that it'll be a tight squeeze for the cleaner so they'll have to check out at the normal time unfortunately but that any other time it would have been perfectly okay.

Shortly after that I receive a request for $100 (mind you the cleaning fee is only $65) with them saying:

"There were issues with the cleanliness we waited 2 hours for the cleaner to clean but when we got there it was a dirt ring in the tub, 2 dead spiders on the carpet, and dust on a lot of things, and there was a pair of black underwear left in the washer. We had a good time but these were still slight things that we just handle ourselves to not cause issues and just relax."

Anyone have any advice on how to handle this or what to do? The guest paid $479 for 5 nights, I was paid $358, and they're requesting $100. The cleaning fee was $65 and when they checked in, they said everything was beautiful and I was given no other indication that things were off.

The entire booking conversation went like this in case it's helpful context:

Guest: "Hiii it’s just going to be me and my bf on a “vacation” I say it like that bc he’s still going to be working lol but we’re really excited and saw you had amazing reviews"

Me: "Hi! Thanks so much for the information and thanks so much for your request to book! That all sounds good. It’ll be a tight squeeze for the cleaner so let me ask her if she can fit in the cleaning. She should be able to and I’ll respond as soon as she lets me know 😊"

Me: "Hi, Okay so it'll be a really tight squeeze for her so we're wondering if you're trying to check in at exactly 3PM or would a little later be okay? She thinks she can accommodate it but she doesn't know for certain whether she can get it ready by 3PM.

Also just so everything is all good all around, since some people in the past who have booked last-ish minute have been surprised by certain things: there's no couch (unfortunately it came down to having a couch or desk space argh), there is a TV, the dishwasher is currently out of order, the bed is queen-sized, hmmmmm yeah, I think that's everything 🙂 but yeah it's an older apartment and sort of has the quirks of an older apartment is all"

Guest: "A little later would be ok that’s no problem"

Guest: "Thank youu we’re in it’s beautiful In here"

Guest: "Hii I was wondering if we can a little later check out we’re running behind with stuff 2pm the latest but if we can get 1pm that’ll be good too"

Me: "Hi, We would love to but unfortunately the next guest is checking in at 3pm and the cleaner will need to get in at 11 or around 11 to clean so super sorry but we’ll have to stick to the original check out at 11am :frowning_face: Oh man yeah just triple checked on everything to see and unfortunately nothing’s moveable :frowning_face:"

Then the request for $100 was sent...

[Hossam21]

@Haley93 I think you can contact Airbnb Support and explain this situation to them and they’ll be able to help you out and I’m sure they will make a fair judgement 

[Joe3261]

@Haley93 It kinda sounds like retaliation for not providing a late checkout since they never brought it up during their stay. I would first respond with “I’m sorry to hear you weren’t satisfied with the cleanliness and I wish you would have brought it up to my attention earlier so we could have addressed it at the start. I will have to check with the Company that owns the property to see what we can do and I will get back to you shortly.”

Wait a bit.

Then replay with, “I spoke with the Company and they said they can do $____ refund (perhaps half or 1/4 of the amount they requested), which will be taken out of the cleaning crew’s pay. Would that help to smooth things over?” The thouhht process is to 1) apologize to sympathize with them, 2) position yourself as the middle person by saying the “Company”, 3) offer a partial refund so they get something, 4) say you’ll take it out of the cleaning crew’s pay, which means their request will be affecting a 3rd party and they may retract or even lower their request at this point. 

Always position yourself as the middle person fighting on their side. Also ask yourself this: “How much will a 1, 2, or 3 star rating hurt my profile for future bookings? Is it worth $25, $50, or $100? What if you viewed refunds (whether justified or not) as a Marketing Expense? 

[Ijlal0]

Yes, it seems that they were offended by your sticking the checkout time.

They should have been politely conveyed and provided some little extra time and that another guest is in the que.

Patience is virtue.

[Helen3]

I would say 'dear X, what a shame you didn't contact us on arrival to let us know you had concerns about the cleanliness of the apartment you made a last minute booking for. Instead on arrival you told us 'everything is great. everyone is happy. It's beautiful in here'.

'You knew when you booked that in order to accommodate your last minute request for a same day booking we needed to ask you to check in slightly later than our earliest check in time to give the cleaner time to clean the property and you said this would be fine.

'Rather than following the instructions on your booking confirmation to raise any issues on arrival if the listing is not as advertised, you waited until five days later after you had checked out to let us know you felt there were issues with the cleanliness of the apartment. Interestingly you didn't raise any issues until we had to turn down a last minute request to extend your check out by four hours.

"It's so disappointing after our cleaner and ourselves made such efforts to accommodate your last minute request to receive this request from yourselves when there is no evidence that our listing which has five star ratings for cleanliness was not provided as advertised.