Guest is blackmailing me for a full refund

[Farlene0]

Help! My guest is trying to cancel. I asked her to do so right away and she waited over 24hrs. She booked outside of the cancelation time so should not have even been allotted a refund but I was willing to consider. Until she got very rude and started trying to force me to cancel her on my end. She finally reached out to Airbnb over 24hrs after booking. Now that I am not willing to give her a refund she is refusing to cancel. Says she is going to trash me in my review and I am afraid of what else she might do. However, I am not going to give in to her because she is trying to blackmail me. Airbnb will not do anything to help resolve. What can I do as a host. I don’t want her in my house now and I don’t want to refund her the full amount as she is doing this knowing she is blocking my calendar from being booked by anyone else. 

[Joan2709]

@Farlene0 

What is her reason for wanting to cancel? What kind of reviews did this person have? Has she done this before?

I would take a screen shot of her threats and contact Airbnb CS and ask them to cancel the booking due to the guest threats (a safety issue). BE SURE they DO NOT show you as the one who cancels. Up to you if you want to give her a refund or not. Then I would report her profile to Airbnb for the threats she made and hopefully they will remove her profile (not holding my breath on that one).

[Farlene0]

She did not review the listing and did not know abou the outside cameras. So she wants to cancel. I told her that was fine and to do it right away to keep our calendar open. She refused. Airbnb will cancel and give her the full refund she wants showing that I canceled but I am not willing to do that. They are not giving me the option to not refund her. She wants an all or nothing cancellation. Now says she will call her bank and cancel with them so there is no payout at all. Airbnb says that would not effect my payout. I did report her but that does not really seem to matter. 

[Helen3]

Sorry you can't have it both ways ie want Airbnb to cancel this guest but still be paid for it.

presumably you've flagged with Airbnb she has threatened to trash you in her review .

i would ask Airbnb to cancel the booking as the guest has made threats and makes you feel unsafe 

yes the guest is wrong but you need to protect your property and open it up again for bookings so focus on achieving this objective .

to be honest it's not terribly clear you have CCTV it's hidden away in your house rules and you don't indicate where the cameras are.

personally I would make it clear up front in the main listing as well as in the house rules and other things to note . I'd also include photos .

[Joan2709]

@Farlene0 

Both your listings show you have exterior cameras, but you haven't technically disclosed where they are under the Guest Safety Section. I would get that updated ASAP.  Saying they "view the exterior" isn't exact enough according to Airbnb.

Informing Guests About Security Devices

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2914

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3061

[Joan2709]

@Farlene0 

Personally, if I had a guest that paranoid about security cameras, and didn't bother to look at the listing before booking, I definitely wouldn't want them staying. Nothing you do at this point is going to make this person happy. Cut your losses and move on. Get the dates open to book another guest. 

I would keep try to get Airbnb to cancel (or she can cancel) and I would just give her the full refund and be done with it. As @Helen3 says, your goal is to get the stay cancelled and reopen the dates for other bookings.

Update your camera disclosures though...see below.