Guest asked a refund after one night

[Elisabeth1168]

Hi, I am a superhost with overall 4.93 🌟

yesterday my guest checked in and said the house (mind that this is a “stone house” in the forest) was “full of ants”, my cleaning lady who was there 2 days ago had left as usual some fresh fruits (+ wine and bread as we normally do) and as it was there for 2 days the ants had eaten the fruits and where everywhere. They requested the cleaning lady to come back again so she did at 7 pm. She told me everything is good. She always clean very well, we have ants traps and insect repellent… so really there is not much more we can do. 

Now they say they want to leave today and get a refound… I told them normally there is no refound but I will speak with airbnb (just to get some time) and I can surely refund one night but definitely not the whole stay.. I asked them to send me pictures and they didnt do. Airbnb told me it’s totally up to me. I honestly just want to ask them why they booked a house in middle of the forest if they are afraid of ants but I will keep this for myself 😂🫶🏻

what would you do? thank u

[Ana7]

If Airbnb told you it's up to you, then it is so 🙂 
you are not responsible for the bad choices your guests have made for themselves....

[Joan2709 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Elisabeth1168 

Tough situation. Unfortunately, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Not sure how long this reservation is for, but the longer they stay the worst the situation becomes. I think at a minimum you will get a negative review no matter what you do. Although this was a legitmate mistake on the part of the housekeeper, it resulted in a very poor first impression. I agree that a few insects are to be expected in a rural area, but you don't expect ants to be everywhere on the counter. I have co-hosted for a property in a rural area and she not only doesn't leave any open food on counters, she has a sign to warn guests NOT to leave food open on counters and to keep in sealed packaging or in the refrigerator. Otherwise, the ants will swarm on any food left out...it's like ringing the dinner bell for them. Once the source of food is eliminated, they generally don't come back. You could consider getting them to cancel and offer a refund of the cleaning fee and at least the first night. 

No matter what you do at this point, they will still most likey leave a bad review. You can mitigate it with a public, factual response. Explain what happened and that you had cleaning come back to remedy and gave them a refund. Most future guests will understand this is not the norm and was just a "blip" and not indicative of the cleanliness of your property. 

[Elisabeth1168]

Hi Joan thank you so much for taking the time to respond.. the issue is it's only 4 nights and I have offered to give 2 nights back, they checked out this morning (they wanted to do so, I believe that they think they will get more money this way but they won't) and didn't provide any picture even if I asked to do so.. As you say it is also my feeling that they will leave a bad review anyway so I will write a polite response. In the end mistakes happens and the most important is that the host reacts quickly and fix the issue, which we did even if it was 7 PM..