Is Airbnb going to let guests stay for the entire stay if they are just going to refund anyway?

[Cara229]

A bit background: I'm a fairly new host. And I know that I'm caring about it way more right now because I am just starting out, and I will get used to this.

Story: Guest did a same day booking yesterday for an entire place. They will be staying for 2 nights. Checked in around 8 pm, and said that the place has no central heat. His parents who came from outside US are cold, and he wants to cancel the reservation. I told him that we have provided space heaters and radiant heaters in each room. It said right on the listing. Also, in pictures. AND, we gave them house instructions (separate pdf) that has a section for heating. In it, it also states space heaters and radiant heater. So, I told him that if his guests are feeling cold, they are welcome to push it to the max. Guest didn't reply anything else after that.

About 40 minutes later, guest replied that the power is out. This is very odd to us because we had tested out the circuit before renting the entire place. For our test, we ran all 3 heaters to the max at the same time, use toasters and microwave for 2 hours duration. We had figured out which plug will trip the circuit and which wont. We had labelled them in the house as well as "do not plug into other outlet" instruction in the house instructions. Anyway, off we went to the place. We got there in 18 minutes, and we tested. We weren't sure what happened since this time 2 circuits tripped. We noticed that they had all their 6 laptops out. My best guess is that they all were plugged into one power strip. That said, it was very bizarre. But, we stayed for 15 minutes to test out various plugs and all was resolved. 

Right before we left, guest asked if we had gotten a call from Airbnb support yet. We said no because we hadn't. And now, I'm afraid that they are going to use this to get a refund for this place for the entire stay. Their stay is for 2 nights and is airbnb really going to let them finish their entire stay just so that they will refund?  

[Sarah977]

@Cara229  I cannot find it stated anywhere on your listing about the heater situation. 

These just sound like complainer guests and hopefully Airbnb will not refund them. I hope their complaints and your responses are documented on the Airbnb messaging system.

Same day bookings are often problematic, for many reasons. I will not take them at all and have advance notice set  for 2 days.

[Cara229]

It's under the amenities. But I will make sure to upload it in the description later.

[Cara229]

[Mark116]

@Cara229  If I had to guess, I would guess that Airbnb will refund the guests for not having a listed amenity 'heat'.  I don't know which listing of the many you have that these guests are staying in, so can't see what the listing details are.  But, to be honest, not having any heat except space heaters seems like a recipe for trouble, but in unhappy guests and as you found out, guests plugging in all kinds of electronics and tripping the circuits, you might want to rethink how/what you are offering there.

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  She only has one entire house listing, all the rest are private room listings. Also, she lives in San Diego, where it seldom gets especially cold and many homes do not have central heating. I don't think there's any reason why space heaters shouldn't be acceptable, but although Cara says its clearly mentioned in her listing info, I couldn't find it anywhere.

[Cara229]

That's good to know. Maybe I need to rethink abt str business. 

[Sarah977]

@Cara229  It's just that guests don't read through everything, and having "radiant heating" and "portable heater" in your amenities list does not mean guests will understand what that means. 

In your listing description you should say something like "This home does not have central heating. There are portable and radiant heating heaters for all the rooms to adjust or run as needed."

Hosts are always tweaking their listing wording as they go along after realizing guests aren't understanding things.

[John5097]

@Cara229  Hi, relying on that many space heaters is not what they were intended for. The risk would be having two space heaters on a single circuit. Even if it doesn't trip it may overheat. Not sure what kind of radiant heaters you have but a cost effective approach would be to have those upgraded.

I think all states require each room to have a permanent heat source, which could include a hard wired radiant heat baseboard heater. 

If it were me I would try and sort things out with these guest. 

I hope that helps with your planning and research. And good luck with your hosting journey!