Azan Sound. Fully refund, partly refund or no refund. What do u think?

[Yasin16]

Hello Dear Friends,

My guest who has a 1 month long-term reservation at my house wants to make changes to his reservation. They settled in the house 2 days ago and today stated that they were disturbed by the sound of the mosque in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, this is the case in Istanbul. Azan is recited 5 times a day from all mosques. I have had around 20-25 guests from airbnb until today and no one has reported such a problem to me.

The mosque in question is clearly present in the photos of my advertisement.

They said that they wanted to shorten the reservation dates and leave the house for the reason I mentioned above.

I also stated that this 1-month date was closed for them and if I made a full refund, it would be very difficult for me to fill the remaining days. Getting help from the help center was the best idea.

what do you think i should do? they didn't send me any date change request via airbnb.

fully refund, or partly refund or no refund?

[Gordon0]

While many of us understand that different cities and countries will come with particular nuances, I think your listing title 'In city centre but in peaceful street' doesn't tell the full story. Likewise, the one photo doesn't leap out as an illustration of the noise (apologies for calling it this) it's likely to emit, @Yasin16. 

It's a tricky one - if they simply can't get over the situation, it's going to be hard for them to stay. Maybe a compromise?

[Yasin16]

I made a refund of the remaining 24 nights, except for the 4 nights they stayed. It was very difficult for me to decide. I hope my 5.0 rating won't be affected by this. we'll wait and see. It seems like a good idea to apply a discounted price for canceled days.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

well, IF they leave a review they will certainly mention the noise and will not give you 5* so you can only hope they will not review you at all.

You should remove "peaceful street" from your listing's description and leave earplugs by the bed for your guests. I am not sure how to mention the mosque in the neighborhood in a gentle way

Church noise is a big problem in Croatia as well. Many churches changed their old bells with electronic ones and now they are louder and sound like banging pots and pans. It takes a few weeks to get used to it. Sometimes earplugs don't help either. Fortunately, neither our ABB nor our home is near a church. Churches here are above the law so there is no noise limit. They can sadistically do whatever and when they want. There is even the Croatian Facebook group "against the noise of church bells" , some church bells are banging every 15 minutes 24/7. It's pure sadism.

[Said132]

I think the guest was just looking for any reason to cancel. I am not going to get into it though. What you can do is either invest big in sound proof windows, or invest very little in small foam ear plugs that a guest can use and throw away after they are done. two ear plugs should last about 3 days. 

[Inna22]

@Yasin16 it is ridiculous to travel to Turkey and be disturbed by the call to prayer 

[Colleen253]

I’m surprised it’s taken you 30+ guests before you reached one dim enough to miss the fact that noise from a mosque is highly likely, where they were going. But now you’ve learned that this type of guest exists. Best to head trouble off by being explicitly clear about the potential for noise. Nowhere in your listing do you address it, @Yasin16. Instead you describe your place as peaceful and quiet. 

[Shannon1026]

Hi! I'm new to hosting and recently got this one guest complained about the same thing.

Here's the thing, I'm in Malaysia, and my listings are in Kuala Lumpur, the capitol of Malaysia. Apart from the praying sound, since it is even near to a hospital and some embassies or government buildings, there are constant sirens from ambulance and police vehicles escorting VIPs. I knew clearly that this place will never be peaceful and quiet, hence I didn't even try to describe it as one.

But this one guest complained about the prayer sound, not others. He claimed that he didn't hear any of this in his previous stay in another listing (just a street away from the current one he's staying). I find it rather funny as you can't really miss the sound if you're staying in a Muslim majority country, especially in a city with dense population.

Currently, I just advised him to close the curtains (full block sunlight) to reduce the sound. He haven't read the message, so I would like to know if there's any better solutions than refund, just a backup plan if he did ask for another solution.

Thank you in advance.