JUST BECAME A HOST

[Leroy55]

Hello everyone,

My fiancé and I just became Airbnb host. We own a duplex and decided to Airbnb the other unit to help save up for our wedding. 

This weekend we had our second guest book (woo hoo) but the roll out has not been entirely great. 

Our first guest absolutely loved their stay, but in their review they listed the home as a “shared unit” which caused a lot of confusion because potential guests messaged us to make sure it wasn’t a “shared room or space”.

In our description, we were intentional with our language in describing it as a “second private home on a duplex compound”.

How would you have worded it if you have a duplex?

Our second guest was a bit more…ugh. Before each stay, we make sure to inspect every inch of the home before the guest arrive to ensure a clean and tidy space. We expect the same when we travel so we do our absolute best to provide this to our guest. 

On their first night, the second guest discovered one dead cockroach and one string of hair on the shower wall. 

Of course, we’re embarrassed. Our home is old and historic so we have Orkin (bug killers) visit our home regularly. Inside and out. Every now and then, a dead critter might (it’s so rare) pop up because of this treatment. 

We inspected the bathroom ourselves and because of the design of our shower wall (it’s gray with black lines) we likely missed that one strand of hair that blended in with the design. 

Additionally, they complained about our neighbors dog barking which is out of our control, but we did market our place as quiet. And it is, we get favorable comments about the quiet all the time, but they did mention the dog barking as nuisance. 

So, of course they want a full refund. 

Just wondering if anyone else had a few growing pains when they launched their Air BnB. We don’t want to stop hosting because we like it and worked hard to save and get the place ready. Also, it’ll definitely help save for our wedding. 

But how do you handle the things that often feel beyond your control (like dogs barking or dead critters popping up)?

This is a long message. Sorry. 

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Leroy55 Sadly chancers tend to target new hosts. Technically for the cleaning issue they should have allowed you to re-clean. 

We have issues with spiders coming in and building webs within hours of us cleaning everything. We  put this and any other issues in the description of our space (the extra bit you can add not the main description) so that guests can't complain if they see a spider.

[Leroy55]

Thank you for sharing this. 

Yes, we responded by telling them that we'll refund their first night and half the cleaning fee, because we did go back and re-clean and specifically address the things they pointed out (including removing the one strand of hair that was on the shower wall). Our city is constantly having issues with critters and sometimes they creep in despite our best cleaning efforts. 

So, we feel like we were fair and reasonable by offering them a chance to continue their stay with a partial refund. Hopefully they agree to it, if not we'll move forward knowing we did our best.

Thanks again for the feedback. 

[Helen3]

I would have offered to re-clean the property. I wouldn't have also offered a refund on the cleaning fee and half a nights stay in addition to recleaning the property.

There is no 'of course they want a refund' most guests wouldn't in that situation.  Some guests try it on.

If you know the neighbours dog barks loudly then you should mention this in the listing. @Leroy55