Guest cancelled day after half hour of checkin, can they leave review?

[John7294]

Need some advice. A guest checked into our cabin for what was supposed to be a week-long stay late last night. Within an hour of arriving, they decided to leave as they stated there was a musty/moldy odor that was causing the wife to have difficulty breathing. We told them we would have our team check it out ASAP, but also offered them the refund if rebooked situation. They did opt to cancel, but then expressed that they believe they are entitled to a refund regardless of whether it rebooks.

We had our team check things out this morning, with no odor or other issues to be found. Based on our conversation, I do believe that they were being honest with how the wife was feeling - but given that our cabin is fine this morning and that the previous guest had no issues, I don’t feel like it had anything to do with our cabin.

What would you do? Since they canceled after checkin, my understanding is that they will be able to leave a review…

[Helen744]

@John7294 there is little you can do at this stage . Do not cancel for them , they must do this themselves . They will have to check with Airbnb for any refund but if they have cancelled you can try for re booking . If they complain there is also a chance they will expect a full refund but if that is not your policy then they will need to accept that , but the way guests are manipulating the system at the moment it is difficult to say . H

[John7294]

Thank you Helen for the advice. They cancelled on their end and pushed for a refund of course. We negotiated to refund half of their stay since the wife seemed to not have been doing so well and their vacation was ruined. Not sure how true that was of course but it felt like the right thing to do based on what they told us. Fortunately we got partially re-booked to take the sting away as well. 

[Wilson154]

I have the same situation.  A guest checked in and claimed my property has ants and we are in Florida so it's not typically abnormal.  We have a disclaimer in our listing stating bugs are not uncommon in Florida and hence this isn't subject to any refunds.  Airbnb sided with me and uphold my cancellation policy.  However, because she checked in, AND on top of that she has not cancel the reservation! she will for sure able to leave a review and I for sure know it's a bad one.  In this case, can i fight it under retaliation?

[John7294]

Are they still staying there if they didn't cancel? I would tell my cleaning team to take pics of the areas where there are supposedly too many ants and have it in my back pocket if guest starts to complain to ABB. I know depending on the rep they get they may be able to get a refund regardless of what the rep said to you. Have had to deal with that in the past and it helped to have pics/supporting evidence when you get challenged. 

[Fred13 · Accepted solution]

You have only 6 reviews that is one consideration and it could be a case that the wife is indeed super sensitive to smells unfortunately, if that is the case. Sometimes some bookings are a 'wash' and despite making no sense is best to move on from them quickly (and quietly).  🙄

Either way I would closely investigate if her contention does has 'normal' merit.

[John7294]

Thanks for the response. We checked our property for smells and didn't detect anything. It has been storming everyday so it could just have been a bad time. Hard to say how delicate the wife also was. 

[Fred13]

It is a fluke, we have had a few.

[John5097]

@John7294 

If they checked in they can leave a review. 

Not enough info about the musty smell. Was the AC already running or did they arrive with no AC on? In that area, it would be best to have the AC running long enough to extract the humidity and any musty smells. I'm not sensitive to mold, but the cabin I rented as a guest in same area was musty, stale and hot when I arrived. It had been raining a lot this time of year, as it can get quite humid in that area in the summers, so that it's a challenge to even dry towels. 

Maybe you could have encouraged them to let the AC extract the humidity and cool it down? 

IDK that can be a tricky issue. I always try to have it very comfortable when guest check in. This doesn't sound like a scammer if they just didn't want to stay, canceled and left. But as mention not enough info, how long AC had been on when they checked in or if it was left on for the night when you checked next morning. 

Gatlenberg TN is going to be much different that Littleton Co. They may have just needed to run the AC a few hours. Hope that help! 

[John5097]

ETA: 

Like I said it can be tricky. Right now it's getting up to 100% humidity in Gatlanburg TN at night and 68% in daytime, with high temps of 78, and lows in the 60s, the AC may not be running enough to extract humidity. You should know what the humidity levels are inside and ideally its reccomened to keep them below 55% so funky stuff doesn't grow. I guess see what other locals are doing. We never had AC when we vacationed in that area growing up but maybe the places were designed differently? There are a lot of improvements that can improve air quality such as vapor barriers, dehumidifiers, if you want to go that route, or maybe this geust was just too sensitive for the area? Without knowing the humidity inside the house really hard to know. 

[Justin1750]

We have recently had exactly the same issue.

The day after their arrival, a guest complained about our property suffering from damp, with a strong smell that was exacerbating her husbands asthma. She also listed a whole raft of petty and trivial complaints. We couldn't go out that Sunday evening but arranged to meet her the following day. When we arrived the next day we couldn't detect any smell and she admitted that it had disappeared but was adamant the property suffered with damp. But it didn't matter, she had already packed and booked alternative accommodation and wasn't willing to discuss anything.

We immediately provided factual evidence to Airbnb that there is no damp (we invested in a professional moisture reader) as well as a response to the small issues she mentioned. It seemed to us that she was clutching at reasons to have had to vacate the property. Airbnb agreed with our findings and stated that she was not entitled to a refund.

After she had left, we investigated further and discovered that the previous guest must have spilled something and attempted to clean it up himself. Our cleaning team said they noticed a strong smell of cleaning agent on changeover day and we since discovered a dark patch on our carpet.
Frustratingly the cleaners didn't alert us as they were unsure if it had been carried out by a different member of the cleaning team.

We never disputed with her that there may have been a smell on her arrival. What we disputed was her assertion that the property suffered with damp.

Subsequently, the previous guest then wrote his review and tried to absolve himself of responsibility by blaming the smell on the property (despite there being no smell before he arrived and no mention of it during his stay)
She has taken this as confirmation that there is damp after all, contacted Airbnb and received a full refund. We had no communication from Airbnb regarding this reversal of their decision. She's now left us a rather damning 1 star review which is completely inaccurate.
She's even given us 1 star for being unhelpful and inconsiderate.

We're not sure how we can rectify a damp problem that doesn't exist or a smell which cannot be detected! We're seriously considering an alternative to Airbnb as we're getting zero response from the support team.

[John7294]

Im sorry you're going through all of that. It sounds horrible and as you said, hard to resolve a problem that isn't there. I would keep contacting ABB support showing them past conversations where guest should not get refund or at least try to remove their review.