Guest wants refund because she misread location

[Melissa2285]

My very first guest in our new listing was supposed to arrive today. She called at 7pm and asked for a refund because she misread the location and it wasn't close enough to where she's meeting people. 

Is it fair to split the refund with her, give her 100%, or give her nothing? I want to be reasonable but I likely can't rerent this weekend. 

Appreciate your insights.

[Inna22]

@Melissa2285 I see no reason to refund her. Why should you eat the loss? Did she purchase insurance at check out? I would refund the cleaning fee at most. Unless you use outside cleaners who have already been scheduled and need to be paid. You can also tell her to cancel her stay and if you end up rebooking the nights, you can refund her then. I would be very careful with last minute reservations though

[Melissa2285]

Thank you. I was blindsided when she called me last night to ask. After reading policies again, I agree it doesn't make sense to refund for this reason. Cleaning fee seems reasonable. 

I'm anticipating a negative rating. Would I have recourse for this if it occurs? Appreciate the advice as I'm very new at this!

[Melissa2285]

And no, she didn't purchase insurance. 

[Nur785 · Accepted solution]

@Melissa2285 

While the guest's request is extremely unfair, I would recommend to just ask her to cancel and giver her the refund. 

My reasoning is this: you say this is your first guest. Coming back from a negative review as your first one would be difficult. If you had a few five star reviews to begin with, it would be a different story. 

But as horrible as this sounds, I go by this. People generally act in stupid ways like not reading the listings and figuring out the location. It's their fault. You are absolutely entitled to deny the refund, but in my experience, the loss of income from this refund would be worth it in the long run if you didn't get bogged down with a bad review. Just my 2 cents. Also, even if you have a strict cancelation policy, which I do, you cannot keep someone in a place they don't want to be. 

[Melissa2285]

@Nur785 Thank you for this perspective. We decided to refund them even though it was their fault. No reason to start off on a bad foot with the listing. I appreciate everyone's advice and this community - it's been very helpful for me as a newbie.