No hot water

[Anne-Marie382]

Hi all,

I have just started hosting this Summer and have run into my first roadblock.  My guests checked in on Monday - as the house was ready I invited them to check in as early as they wished, not wait until 15.00.  I didn't hear from them at all so sent them a message on Wednesday morning to touch base and hope they were enjoying themselves.  Later that evening 18.35 they replied saying they hadn't been able to get the hot water working.   Bear in mind there is an ensuite with electric shower so this just affected the main bathroom and obviously sinks.  I immediately replied and had someone call in to ensure they were switching everything on correctly.  I spoke with the guest and we tried a few different options to no avail.  They are a couple with baby btw.  I assured him my plumber would call today and as he had a key there was no need for them to wait onsite for him.  So, the plumber is with them now, I think the immersion is gone (I am hoping that is all it is).  Assuming the problem has resolved and there wasn't a massive impact on them do you think offering to buy them dinner with a bottle of wine this evening in the local (really good) restaurant is sufficient compensation?   I agree they have been inconvenienced so do appreciate if I am way off the expectation here so please don't hold back :-). 

Many thanks

Anne-Marie

[Anonymous]

@Anne-Marie382  I think the dinner offer is a great way to compensate for a temporary inconvenience. Guests tend to appreciate these gestures more than cash refunds. Had the guests indicated that they were really unhappy with the situation and didn't want to stay, the best opening offer would have been to cut the booking short and refund the remaining days. But these sound like reasonable people who alerted you to an issue but didn't make a huge stink about it, so treating them to a nice local experience is the best way to go.

[Anne-Marie382]

Hi Andrew, I do agree however I have since spoken to the plumber who said the guest was quite rude on his arrival and didn't want him there, said I hadn't been in touch - my last message was 10.15 last night and first message this morning was at 8.11 to confirm the plumber would be arriving.  He didn't acknowledge this morning's message.  It has also been brought to my attention that he had 3 additional guests staying over the duration of the 4 nights.  What does one do in this situation?  He hasn't yet acknowledged the offer of dinner this evening, I am hoping at this stage he doesn't.  One bad experience isn't going to put me off but I did invite them to check in early and had their issue resolved as quickly as possible only to learn that they have broken the rules of AIRBNB by not advising me of additional guests.   Hopefully they will leave the property in ok repair when they leave tomorrow and I'll just move on.  What would your advice be?  Thanks Andrew.  Anne-Marie

[Gordon0]

This is a tricky one, @Anne-Marie382 and I'm not sure it'll pay dividends to get into a point-scoring spat about it. The fact of the matter is they were genuinely inconvenienced by the water issue (I suspect you can't stick a baby in a shower either?).

Letting them check in early doesn't mitigate that inconvenience they clearly suffered.

Their rudeness to the plumber; not OK. 

Rule breaking; not OK - although I didn't see any 'warnings' on your listing about additional guests (and many will just think if there's a bed they can fill it...on the basis they have the reading ability after the first para of a flea).  

If it were me, I'd take the high ground and stick with the (very nice) offer of dinner if they accept it.

Thankfully, grouchy guests are few and far between.

PS. Great location!

[Anne-Marie382]

Hi Andrew, I have had some reflection time and I came to the same conclusion - I let the house as a whole up to 6 guests so no financial loss by there being additional peeps coming and going.  Agreed there was an inconvenience and that's down to me regardless of anything.  They have been in touch and are very grateful for the offer of dinner and as we speak should be walking over to the lovely Mary Barrys for what I hope will be a lovely last evening in Kilmore.   

I really appreciate your input Andrew, sometimes writing your frustrations down dilutes them overall and lets you see the bigger picture :-). 

Thank you

Anne-Marie

[Anne-Marie382]

Apologies, Gordon!!   I was replying to you but had Andrews name in my head!!

Many thanks!  Great to have this forum!

Have a lovely evening! 

Anne-Marie

[Gordon0]

I'd be having a much lovelier evening if eating lobster and chips (brown bread too, natch) at Mary's, @Anne-Marie382. What a dream!

[M199 · Accepted solution]

@Anne-Marie382 

Just a thought to cover yourself, call CS and ask them to make a note on the reservation full of all the details.  This way if the guest comes back at you later, it's already been documented.  Tell them you don't  need to take any other action, but that you need the details recorded.

[Anne-Marie382]

Thanks for the advice. that is helpful.  They did have dinner and have been in touch this morning to say they are tidying up and will be out at the agreed time so hopefully all good. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Anne-Marie382 do please post an update when you get their review. It is always nice to see what the final outcome is when hosts try to mitigate issues that a guest has.