Would you fully refund the guest?

[Ryan2594]

I had a situation today whereby a guest had booked their stay on the day they were arriving. I was expecting him around 12:30pm and gave him the code to the self-lock box as I had an event to attend at 1pm.

Unbeknown to me at the time my neighbour started to paint half of the metal landing which my guest would have had to cross to access my flat. Although there was signs put up warning of wet paint he accidentally walked across it and got paint on his shoes. My neighbour helped clean his shoes and they were back to normal.

I had only realised he was my guest when I spoke to my neighbour as I was about to leave to attend my event. He then got rather emotional all of a sudden and didn’t want to stay at my place anymore. He also refused when I offered him a cash refund. He barely spoke to me and wasn’t making much sense and then just left. I suspect he felt embarrassed about the whole situation and personal family issues going on as he briefly brought it up.

I spoke to Superhost contact line and they issued him a full refund as I had instructed but they seemed surprised as I was within my right to keep the money. I certainly didn’t want his money as he didn’t stay and he was clearly distressed. 

It makes me wonder about hosts in general. Would you have been willing to refund him?

It seems to me that hosts treat their guests like cash cows and are very reluctant to offer refunds. 

[Michael5689]

Yes, I would feel pretty bad for that guest in this case as well.

Even before the new air cover policies came into effect I had the AC go out on a group mid summer due to a fuse being blown during a thunderstorm.  I felt really bad for them and iniated a partial refund before they even asked since I couldn't get it fixed until the following week.

I always try to get as much money back to my guests as possible even for cancellations past the free cancellation date as well though I do sometimes keep some of the cleaning fee to pass onto my cleaner. 

I'm still upset at a host where my parents were renters and repeat guests and refused to refund thousands of dollars when they had to cancel for March 2020 even after she rebooked the property.

These are hospitality businesses at their core.  If hosts don't have their guests concerns in the front of your mind I don't think they should be hosting.

Mike

[Z-2]

I will refund them. I normally refund guests arrived and not satisfied.  Also I have refunded cancellations COVID or emergency related. For example, one want to cancel because the trip is for visiting a friend, but friend get COVID, so he have to cancel the trip. One canceled because the airline mask rule changed and they don't want to take airplane anymore, then no travel and need to cancel. In both cases, I refund them all. If the reason is not that good, I normally still offer them "will refund all if I re-rent it" because generally I believe most guests won't cancel it for no reason. You don't want them come unwillingly, then you might get bad review.

[Helen744]

@Ryan2594 Most people are in fact professional or semi professional and doing this to supplement their income so, yes they expect to be paid but like you , I would have refunded him as he did not stay. I do not like to take money for nothing. the choice when booking is always the guests as to which policy they choose and also the hosts. Big bookings over a three month period basically takes the hosts house off the market so a last minute cancellation cannot mostly be filled ,so some hosts apply penalties to prevent those who are just trying to tie them up from booking. It is always up to the host though if they do refund in that situation. Many do,but somewhere it states that most bookings more than two days are booked 28 days before arrival on average . If you book generally short notice and only one night then it would be a little different. also those with longer bookings also refund guests generally if they manage to rebook those nights and days H

[Anonymous]

@Ryan2594  I wouldn't characterize it as "treating guests like cash cows" to uphold the cancellation/refund policy that they voluntarily agreed to. 

Most of the times I've had guests choosing not to stay after check-in, it's been because they failed to read the listing and booked the wrong property type. There's no reason they couldn't have completed the stay and gotten exactly what was advertised; they just wanted something different. Other times, people's plans have just changed at the last minute. I don't do refunds for that sort of thing.

But if a guest changed their mind because I didn't deliver something I was responsible for - such as a smooth check-in, timely communication, proper cleanliness, or an advertised amenity - I'd get out in front of it and offer a refund.

Never in cash, though. If you don't keep it in the system, you could wind up refunding the guest twice.

[Helen3]

Wow rather rude comments about your fellow hosts @Ryan2594 

Just because most hosts uphold their cancellation policies doesn't mean they are doing something wrong. They like you are running a business.

It's a shame your neighbour didn't tell you their were carrying out work on their property that would affect your guests (I presume you have told them you are doing Airbnb).

In your situation I would have refunded not because I had to but I would have felt bad the guest had a bad check in experience. 

I thought you must be fairly new to Airbnb because of some of your comments. However on checking your listing I can see you are an experienced SH with 40 reviews.  - you should never refund in cash any refunds go via Airbnb. And why would you allow a 12.30 check in. Most hosts use the Airbnb check in of after 3 p.m. so you have time to clean properly between guests.

[Debra300]

@Ryan2594,

I don't accept same-day reservations, because usually there's some type of problematic history behind them.  And I definitely wouldn't have taken one knowing that I couldn't greet the guest upon arrival so I could suss out and get ahead of a potential problem which could arise from this type of reservation.  Once the guest started displaying a lack of emotional comportment, I would have informed him that my place isn't a good fit for him right now, and I am contacting Airbnb to cancel his booking and issue him a full refund.  This situation sounds like an appropriate time for a host to use a "I don't feel comfortable" cancellations for an instant booking.

[Huma0]

@Ryan2594 

I agree with @Debra300 . Accepting last minute reservations with same day check ins is just opening yourself up to potential problems.

[Anonymous]

@Huma0 @Debra300  I'm also wary of same-day (and one-day) bookings, and unless a host is on site 24/7 and prepared for anything, I think it's a bad idea to allow them. That said, I notice that Ryan's listing type occupies a special niche that is uniquely suitable to a guest who's urgently in need of a cheap bed, more so than one who's carefully planning a leisure trip. Whether it's worth the hassle is another matter.

I think that if that's the type of accommodation I wanted to offer, I'd make the listing available last-minute on days when I was at home, but block off days when I had other plans. 

[Huma0]

@Anonymous 

Yes, it makes sense if, for example, your listing was located close to an airport and you got a lot of last minute reservations from guests with cancelled flights/who had missed flights etc. If the host has the flexibility to manage these, e.g. self check in, the listing is automatically cleaned and turned over after each stay because there are rarely long gaps in between, etc. it might work.

It's not for me though. I'm a live in host and also work from home so I am here most of the time. Still, it's too much of a headache. I started with one day's notice but even that was often hard to manage so I eventually changed that to two days.

Of course, now that I host long term guests, bookings are usually quite far in advance. However, I do still get some short notice ones when I've had a cancellation, for example, which was obviously happening more frequently due to COVID related issues. What I found was that those guests more often than not turned out to be problematic in some way.

[Gillian166]

@Anonymous 
 Being in a wine region it's not uncommon for people to decide they'd rather get an uber to a local accommodation and enjoy themselves for the night, than risk driving home not quite sober. They turn up late, sleep, and leave early. wonderful! 

Or we get the road trippers/campers who just want one night somewhere with a comfy bed and hot shower, and they book last minute too. 

There's been a variety of reasons for last minute, and curiously "just need to get away for a day" is quite common. Adelaide city is not exactly the busiest city in the world, it's rather lovely actually, not a place you need a break from! But city people are busy little bees, everywhere, and if the fresh air and starry skies is what they need for a night, so be it. 
And as you say, we are on site always so there's no funny business. (well, there is funny business, we get a few tinder hookups too, haha) 

[Anonymous]

@Gillian166  There's something undeniably romantic about spontaneously getting a place for the night. But as a guest, Airbnb wouldn't be on my shortlist of sites to seek out a same-day booking. Even if you can Instant Book, there's no guarantee that the host will host will get the alert and have the home prepared in time. 

But it would be interesting to have a category filter for hosts who specialize in last-minute accommodation.

[Gillian166]

@Anonymous  I wouldn't want to specialise in last-minute, too stressful to be ready on time. Had a hilarious situation a few weeks back where I thought i'd tempt the gods and i put our 3 bedroom house-share listing back online after a busy 2 day bridal prep group had been through. i only put up the one-room/bathroom option but within 20mins I got a booking request! haha, boy did i have to hustle !  

and you fib, i know you would choose a romantic airbnb as a spontaneous trip, you don't strike me as the boring hotel type. 😉 

[Anonymous]

@Gillian166   Well it's not as though the only accommodation choices out there are "boring" chain hotels and Airbnbs. Out in this part of the world, most Airbnb listings outside of urban centers are just ordinary apartments in residential neighborhoods with big-box retail furnishings; those can be a good choice with a group of people who prioritize having a kitchen and separate sleeping spaces. Getting the most of out them tends to require a bit of extra planning ahead to self-cater and careful coordination with a host. When it's just two or three of us having a spontaneous jaunt, I usually aim for somewhere with a great restaurant on site and some convenient recreational amenities, which small hotels are often brilliant at.

[Gillian166]

@Anonymous  ah yes, you have reminded me immediately of a boutique hotel near me, which I have secretly aimed to copy in small ways because they are just so **bleep** fabulous. (I don't have their budgets though). I suppose if you live in a big city there are some fabbo hotels, been a while since i lived inner city. 

edit: why is **bleep** a bleep word??

edit: lol!