Help! How to refund an unhappy guest

[Amanda2546]

Hello! I am relatively newer to hosting but in my first few months I have almost all five star reviews and super host status. No one has had issues yet like this one but I had a couple reach out asking for a full refund after finding three spiders in the  forest cottage. I am fine with refunding them as I understand everyone has a different threshold for nature but I do not know how to go about appeasing them appropriately. My questions are:

1. If I dont review a guest then they cannot review me- is this correct? I definitely dont want a bad review and they didn't even stay the night because they were unhappy upon first arrival and want a refund. Is there any other risk of them publicly complaining that I am not aware of?

2. How do I go about giving them a refund? The airbnb fees and taxes are non refundable so do I just refund them the difference or do I take that part out of my own pocket? What is fair? 

3. How do I go about this technically? I am out of the country so I didn't see their message until the next day and due to time zone difference it is too late for them to cancel the reservation as it was only a two night stay. The only options I can see are for me to refund them by sending them money but I am not sure how much to send or if I should at all. 

[Sandra856]

Hi @Amanda2546 🌿

If I were you and I wanted to refund the guest I would contact Airbnb and let them cancel and do the refund on your behalf. Explain to the guests that you haven’t been paid yet and that you have contacted Airbnb so they can refund the guests. Airbnb will then contact the guests to confirm they want to leave and wish for a refund. Both guest and host got 14 days to leave a review - if only one part leaves a review the review will get published when the review period is over. 

[Amanda2546]

if only the guests leave a review and I do not leave a review of them, does that mean their review will be published? I was under the impression that both parties have to leave a review or neither will be published.

[Sandra856]

@Amanda2546 Yes, reviews submitted will always be published. It wouldn’t be fair if it wasn’t possible to leave a review just because the host doesn’t leave one. And the other way around. As I wrote if only one part leaves a review it will get published when the review period is over 14 days after check out/ 14 days after the cancellation happened. 

[Amanda2546]

also I am unclear as to who I contact on airbnb or how I reach out to them? is there a specific contact for this kind of thing?

[Sandra856]

@Amanda2546 you can contact Airbnb cs via the reservation. Either write or call. 

[Shelley159]

Hi @Amanda2546 

Now that you know, as @Sandra856 has explained, that their review will definitely be visible whether you review them or not, you can re-think whether and how much you want to refund them. It is, of course, also possible that they will hold back their review until they see what you do about the refund. Tricky, but hopefully this is the only time you will have guests that react so drastically to spiders.

[Helen3]

There is no way I would consider giving a refund to a guest who saw a few spiders in my property it's unreasonable for them to even ask.  @Amanda2546 

I would say sorry to hear they were disturbed for a couple of spiders at the property . That most properties the world over will have spiders in them at some point but particularly those in a forest location, that you can't stop insects coming into a property and these are completely harmless. And therefore there is no reason for you to consider a refund.

say as a gesture of good will on your part if they want to cancel the rest of their bookings you will voluntarily refund them the rest of their stay from tomorrow providing they leave by your checkout time and there is no damage and house rules for checkout are followed. 

there's nothing to stop the guest leaving a bad review whether you refund  or not. You have done nothing wrong and your listing is as advertised 

the Airbnb Help website is a good source of information on how reviews work and other areas relating to Airbnb

[Mark116]

@Amanda2546  I would never give a refund for three spiders found in a forest setting.  And I mean never.  However, I understand you want to placate the guests in this case.

Going forward, if you don't have it, put some language in the listing that tells guests it's a forest setting, they may see animals or insects outside, adjacent to, or even inside the property and if they have issues or phobias about same they might consider a different choice.

 We have an urban listing and have similar language that includes the fact that the yard and house are not treated with chemical poisons/pesticides. 

1) The guest can review you, whether you give a refund or a review or not.  Once the clock starts on their stay they can review unless they're found to break rules/have a party or something very unusual.

2) You will be crazy to pay them for Airbnb's fee out of your own pocket.  If they want to try and claw that money back, let them deal with Airbnb directly.  I haven't done a refund in a while but I think you just hit the button for send or request money.

**I thought the taxes were refunded if a refund was provided, since the service that was taxed has been cancelled out.  

[Sandra856]

@Mark116 If you let Airbnb do the cancellation/refund they will refund the guest the fee as well. That was why I told @Amanda2546 to let Airbnb do the refund. 
I would also never refund a guest because of a couple of spiders in a rural setting where they are suppose to live. But if Amanda feels that it is what she wants then she should do that. 

[John5097]

@Amanda2546 

Sorry for the difficult guest. You have gotten some good suggestions from different view points. 

Before I hosted on Airbnb I decided if a guest showed up and simply didn't like the place for any reason I would offer them a full refund. So far only one guest in over 400 wanted to cut their trip short.

I always just google Airbnb customer support number when I need to call them.

At this point I think contacting CS is the only way for guest to cancel for full refund. You could put that in writing in your message that you intend to offer full refund. As @Sandra856  suggested calling Airbnb would be the best approach at this time. 

You could send money but there isn't a way for host to refund service fee or taxes. 

I personally would try and just get rid of these guest and move on. It seems like they are being honest and are hyper sensitive to spiders. So could just update the listing. 

If they checked in they will be able to leave a review. As mentioned both host and guest will get the notification to review. If guest or reviews and you don't their review will be posted 14 days after the reservation ended. Same if you review and they don't. If you both review within the 14 days both will be posted after each reviews. 

Your cottage looks really amazing! I've been to that area with friends to their cabin on the Hood Canal.  

[Alexandra2134]

Amanda, it sounds like you are being scammed into giving these guests a free stay. These spiders could have easily been collected outside and placed in the home, so even if they provided photo evidence it may not be legit. I am currently dealing with a similar scam, where the guests for what ever reason decided they no longer wanted to honor the reservation when it was past the cancellation fee deadline, so they trashed the home after entry and then called Airbnb to have them cancel the reservation to avoid paying the cancellation fee. Naturally they left a 1 star review to support their claim.  Unfortuantely, Airbnb won't be much help if they leave a poor review as they likely will. I have documentation showing the place was cleaned prior to the guests arrival, cleaner documentation through Turno, documentation through Airbnb chatthat the dishwasher was working despite the guests claim it wasn't, and photo documentation that they were on the property for hours allowing ample time for this mischievious behavior and yet my request to have the review removed was denied.  These scenarios would be easily resolved if Airbnb would just not allow guests to leave a review if they that have accepted a full refund.  As to your situation I agree with the others, I would not refund; it is extortion. In my house rules I place the date of maintenance  activities such as lawn mowing, inculding pest control, so guests are aware these services are regularly scheduled. That may help in the future in case this spider incidence was ligit, but if it was, they would not be asking for a full refund.

[Naomi447]

I literally had 2 guests ask me to refund after one night because they had ants on them in the Bathroom. 

I declined, told them they have to cancel because  their reservation was still current even though they said they left.

I asked for picture evidence they said they didn't have any Shocking there is no way there were ants in the bathroom.

Then they responded in their message with a  "kiss emoji and said I should keep the money because  I need it"  I said thank you.

I then proceeded to report the message as harassment. 

then 2 hours later they filed a reimbursement request in the resolution center, I declined. 

Then I filed a request for extra cleaning because  they let the bathroom messier than usual guests for $75.00 and got approved immediately by airbnb.

I took have great reviews and track record, but I can see a fabrication and will not approve refunds on canceled stays, unless it is valid.

Now for the review part this will be new to me, I wrote them an honest Not good review, will they retaliate, most likely and Will I dispute yes Will I win? I don't know!

Nam

[Naomi447]

Have you filed for damages?