Guest claiming bugs

[Peter4641]

I have had well over 150 different renters over the last 2 years and have a 4.97 rating. These few days are college graduation where I have a townhouse airbnb and someone booked and stayed 2 nights, then someone new is coming in, and the guest who stayed 2 nights had booked again tomorrow. After their first 2 night stay they checked out at 11am today. They then contacted me at 11:15pm at night to tell me that they saw tiny bugs in the townhouse and they would like a full refund as it was not up to cleanliness standards. They also would like all their money refunded for the stay upcoming today because they dont feel comfortable. Now I get nothing but compliments on cleanliness, and I was the one who cleaned right before they came. There were no bugs, after their stay there was also not a single bug noticed by my adult children who cleaned today. They stayed their whole time, offered up no proof of any bugs, didnt contact me until 12 hours after they left, and now want a total of about $800 back.

I explained to them they are welcome to go through airbnb but I was there the day before they checked in and the place was thoroughly cleaned and no bugs were seen, and the cleaning crew after found no bugs. Also, bugs can come in the home at the start of summer in eastern North Carolina, it is not out of the ordinary although I have never had a problem. And tiny bugs doesnt mean the place was not clean. I believe she is lying and found another place to stay for tomorrow that was cheaper and is trying to get all her money back.

So my question is that if a person has provided zero proof of tiny bugs, did not contact me during their stay for me to address it and I have a 5-star history of cleanliness, will I be forced to refund her? 

[Joan2709]

@Peter4641 

Well...the short answer is...maybe.

It all depends if the guest wants to get Airbnb involved or not and if they can prove the "tiny bugs" claim. Either way, you will probably get a negative review and they are proving very difficult to remove these days. Just curious, what were the reviews like for this guest? 

Did the guest ever provide photos of the "tiny bugs" they supposedly saw? 

Did you keep all your discussions with this guest on the platform messaging? 

Did they guest ever say if they don't get a refund they will leave a bad review?

I'm thinking they probably searched the internet on how to get a free stay at an Airbnb. Not sure about the recent stay, but the upcoming one they should obviously not be able to cancel and get a refund, but one never knows these days what Airbnb will do?

Let us know how it goes...

[Allyson109]

I am someone who HAS had bug issues in my space. Air bnb is not kind to hosts with bugs. 

However, If they stayed the whole time and have no proof then they will not get a refund. It's not hard to doctor proof of bugs if you want to grab a pic off the internet. 

They need to make the claim while they are in the apartment not after they leave. 

Will you get a bad review? Yes but you can also give a bad review; and you should! You have a near perfect score so it won't impact you. I have been trying to raise my score to a 4.8 for two years now and I'm only at a 4.6

I get about 5 perfect scores in a row and then get some riff raff or another. Right now it's a gal upset about the pool being closed 😞 

Don't worry about it! but Joan is right - you can't get reviews taken down very easily. 

[Joan2709]

@Allyson109 

Airbnb says the guest has 72 hrs to report an issue, if they want to get a refund. Based on the timing @Peter4641 provided, they may be within that window, but the policy says they should provide relevant proof (photos, video). Of course, photos can be faked and time stamps on photos can also be modified on your phone, so I would use caution with that.

How to Request Rebooking Assistance/Refund

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868

Review

I would definitely mark this guest down for communication, and be very careful about mentioning the "bugs" specifically (depending on the outcome of this demand for a refund). I would just say "The guest did not communicate well, which contributed to a few issues during their stay" or something similar.