Guests leaving saying our cottage is not fit for purpose!

[Kim4457]

Hi, I need some advice on what to do regarding refunding.

We have a cottage on Airbnb that has received 5-star reviews until this month.

Two guests arrived on Saturday, and our house manager approved their arrival. They quickly started using the pool but soon reported to our house manager that there were wasps around the pool. Our house manager explained that this issue is worse in September and is just part of the rural mountain environment. No one has ever complained about this before, and we didn't think it was a major issue.

Then, on their first evening, they left suddenly not even staying one night, a complete shock. They left the keys and informed us they had left on their way to their new accommodation saying that they had to leave because the property was not fit for purpose. They also mentioned that they would report their issues to me soon. Yesterday (2 days later), I received an email listing all the issues they found (a complete surprise as we have nevre had this vefore). Most of their complaints were related to the rural nature of our property, which I believe wasn't what they were looking for in terms of being in the mountains, rustic, and rural setting. We have never had any issues before and have received glowing reviews, some of which highlight in apositive way the things they are complaining about.

They did not give us time to address any of the issues, as we would have sent our house manager to help/explain with each problem, but they just left. Now, they want a refund, and we cannot rebook the week.

I just don't know how to deal with this. I have responded, addressing each of their issues.

It has cost us money even before they arrived, with cleaning, welcome packs, and paying our house manager for the week to clean the pool every day when there are guests and to be generally on call if needed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Shelley159]

Hi @Kim4457 

If I were in your position, my primary focus would be on getting those remaining nights unblocked right away so you can get other guests in their place. If the guests don't accept a "change end date" request (you can send one by scrolling down on the booking to "change reservation"), you may want to get customer support involved to help you free up the nights. A last-minute discount may help to get the nights re-booked. If the departing guests are going to leave a bad review, the replacement guests will already be booked and will hopefully leave a positive review to balance out the negative one.

[Kim4457]

Thank you so much for your prompt response. These are great ideas, but unfortunately, we have guests staying this Saturday, so we wouldn't have been able to book out the remaining nights as we have a minimum 5-night policy due to the costs of cleaners, welcome packs, housekeepers, etc. We were shocked, to be honest, and had to wait for the guests to report their issues back to us as no one had a clue what had happened. They kept us waiting for two days before privately emailing me. This has caused trouble in our small village, as our house manager and cleaners have taken it personally. This is the first time we have had issues in 5 years, as the guests gave glowing reviews all season and just a week before.

Now, they are asking for compensation, but I don't know what for! I'm finding this incredibly stressful.

My partner knew straight away they would not like the ruralness of the property, etc., but they knew this when they booked. Just feel exhausted, to be honest!

Thanks so much though, good to know people are out there

[Greg2406]

@Kim4457 

ABB should not allow any refund to these individuals.  They had adequate time to review the property before the booking.   If you had your cancelation policy set to FIRM, they are not entitled to a refund.    Believe that much of this could have been prevented prior to accepting a request for booking and asking more questions can lead you to making a more informed decision on accepting or declining a booking.  

After our first two months of living hell, we learned quickly how to vet and ask the right questions.   And, yes, we have rejected several booking requests because we didn't care for the answers to those questions and one even insisted they were not going to sign the House Rules.   Yeah,..no.  We couldn't hit the reject request button fast enough!!

[Kim4457]

Dear Greg2406

Firstly, a HUGE thank you for your replies; they are/were so helpful to us.  I am so sorry fort he delay in replying but caught the dreaded Covid, and still recovering!
 
We have just got back from visiting our place to check things out, and it was as lovely as ever. I am still trying to understand why these people really left. I enjoyed reading our excellent reviews for the season and am sitting tight to see whether these people leave us a review, as the 14 days are up tomorrow.
 
Should I leave a review or wait for them to leave one tomorrow and then reply/defend their criticisms? I have nothing to say, really, but of course, I will want to defend us if they leave a review like their email to us. It will be a fat zero and basically say we have a dirty ruin! In fact, it is beautiful and perfect and sits within an acre of land in the mountains. Gosh, this has been so stressful!

[Greg2406]

@Kim4457 

Sorry you had that experience.  Here are a few suggestions.  Make all guests sign a well drafted set of House Rules prior to entry onto the property.  Make sure to have this requirement on your property listing description page.   On arrival, provide the Guests 15-30 minutes to inspect the property.   In the mandatory House Rules, state;  "Guests must report any and all issues to the Host or Host representative immediately utilizing the platform message board"   (Record of conversation, date and time stamp.)  In the same House Rules state, that "All Guests are required to abide by these House Rules at all times during the booked period" and that "failure to abide by the House Rules will result in forfeiture of all funds paid".   I am not sure about the UK, but in the States, Guests are signing a legally binding agreement document and they would not be entitled to a refund if they failed to follow the signed Rules. 

What occurred to you should have never happened and what these individuals did was an abandonment without cause.   Our experience is that some Guests do mischievous actions.  In our first two months operations, we had a 33% property damage rate, and we ultimately had two families banded from multiple listing platforms and issued and ultimately collected fines into the thousands of dollars.   Installing a lock-tight set of House Rules is one thing, enforcing them goes hand-in-hand too.   

Lastly, and not saying you should do this for your listing, what worked for us is to remove all instant bookings, ask good questions to anyone making a request, read their reviews, remind them of what your property has to offer, remind them that it is rural,..and checking up on any guest during the booking period to see how they are doing, is there anything they need, any issues that you need to address.   Most important,...an Olympic level set of House Rules.    

Greg