Advice on compensation to offer

1

Hi all. I have to fess up to a mistake. Guests arrived late on Saturday night to find the cabin was double-booked. They had driven from the East Bay (so about an hour 45). It was the big holiday weekend of the year (Memorial Day), I called around but was unable to find them a replacement so their only option was to drive home. They had a special event in the area to attend (to be fair, you can do this trip as a day trip so I dont think it prevented them from attending, but it was clearly a big inconvenience). They are asking for compensation. What do you think is fair?

(And yes, many lessons learned about failed synchronization of calendars across different booking platforms, that is not my question.)

Thanks.

2

You could offer a couple nights at your place for free. Have to say I’d be pretty upset if that happened and the only thing to do was drive home.

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3

Thanks @zillacop . Not sure you had to say that, unless your point on compensation was directly related eg how much is proportionate. I get that this is bad.
Leaning away from comp in kind, I don’t need unhappy people at the cabin.

4

I would feel terrible. Therefore, I would offer them a 4 night stay for free.

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5

And I think that’s the most important consideration. There are plenty of stories around about people not staying at a rental but still (somehow) being able to write a review.

The last thing you need is a bad review but a review saying how kind and helpful you were would be a great outcome.

Therefore some sort of compensation could be in order, but I’d be inclined to give them something like a voucher to a restaurant in their home area or similar. I’m assuming here that there was a complete cancellation and that they weren’t out of pocket at all.

6

I think the suggestion of offering to pay for them to go out for dinner is a good one. I would also pay for their gas for the wasted trip, even if they were able to attend their event anyway. And of course make sure that their booking refund includes the Airbnb service fee.

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7

Definitely a refund for the days they couldn’t stay.
I can imagine your dismay on discovering the error.

8

I would definitely agree that compensation is due. I’d first ask them what they are thinking would be fair to get an idea of what they might be looking for. If a 2-night free stay is what they suggest, I’d agree to it.