Ants compensation

[Ann783]

I have guests leaving today after one week stay. On day 3 of their stay they reached out  complaining of ants inside the house and around the pool. I offered to get pest control in but they declined - likely wanting to social distance due to Covid. I told them where to locate ant/insect spray which we keep at the house and to let me know if problem got worse. 

They check out today, but last night sent me a message about possible ant bites - affecting one guest. Clearly, going to inspect and have pest control after they leave. My question is about refund/compensation?

I'm not sure what is fair.

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

Where I live, some sugary food left out, even for a few minutes, will have ants swarming over it in no time. 

When people are freaked out by harmless insects, there's usually little point in trying to get them to understand or acknowledge that they really aren't being reasonable, because it's a personal phobia.

That said, ants aren't harmful (yes, some sting, but the sting dissipates quickly), they don't carry disease, it won't hurt you in the least to ingest them, and if you clean up well after preparing food and don't leave out anything that will attract them, they'll go away. They move out of an area as fast as they move in.

But if you simply can't bear to stay there, I guess it's something you'll have to work out with the host. Just remember that the host didn't leave donuts out on the counter overnight, you did. That isn't the host's fault.

@Brandi105

[Matthew2111]

Just what I want, bug bites. Why are there no ants in my home?

[Inna22]

I get ants all the time, at my house and at my rentals. I fight them the best I can but I can not fully prevent them. If I compensated every guest for ants, I should have closed down. I do have a blurb about them in my listing but no one reads as we know. I keep a gel solution at every property. It works extremely well and within few hours. I have never had any guests ask for actual compensation. They are so impressed with my gel trick, they usually ask me where I got it and I gift them a tube (they are not cheap). I have encountered ants as a guest and while it was incredibly annoying, I did not dare ask for anything 

[Debra300]

@Inna22,

I get ants all of the time, also.  What is the name of the gel solution that you use?  

[Inna22]

 @Debra300  I didn’t forget about you! Here it is, I get it on Amazon. You put a little droplet along the ant line and they take it to the queen. It then kills the entire colony.

[Fred13]

Regardless of the species, in which there are over 1000 different ones in the U.S., ants need water (moisture) besides food, why they are often found around a wet sink area.

I am beginning to think 99.99.99% of my clientele must be on the 'tougher' side of life, because they never complain about anything pertaining to nature. The .000001 exception was someone that complained about our local small cute gecko and made 'Paco' sound as some vicious man-eating Komodo dragon. 

[Kelly1290]

I just had guests throw a fit about seeing a few tiny sugar ants in the far corner of the kitchen.  They wouldn't let us remedy the situation and left. Now they want a refund.  What should I do?

[Debra300]

@Kelly1290,

I read your other post about this situation.  You should follow the recommendation to update the things to know section and your house rules.  Also, when you noticed the ants you should have informed the guests via Airbnb message service that you saw some ants, told them about the mitigation steps you've taken, and inquired if this would be a problem for them.  Then you would have been able to save the cleaning costs if they said they wanted to cancel.  If they said that it wouldn't be a big deal, then you'd have it in writing that they were aware of the situation before arrival, and they decide to come anyway.

BTW, I use the ant gel that Inna recommended, and it has kept the ants away for over 6 months.