Air Bnb Overrides my cancellation Policy and gives guest full refund

I had this lady book for her husband. He came checked in loved the place said he would out all day as his friend is getting married and he has a few friends staying on the island. He was booked for 2 nights. Next day Airbnb messages us Lorainne was her name and says the guest wants to check out as he feels uncomfortable in your home. My husband during check in mentioned that id he came late night since its very quiet here and other guests would be sleeping to not use the car alarm. He agreed happily. Next day heā€™s wife is calling airbnb and saying he was so uncomfy but not using the car alarm. He stayed 1 night and his wife is asking for a full refund. Airbnb contacted us they said that would you like to offer him a refund. We were watching a movie overboard after a long time we took the time from our busy schedule to watch this movie. I said we were busy and would like to discuss later. They said you have to make a decision now. W said no we would not like to offer refund. She went ahead and gave him a refund for even after staying one night. Apparently as a guest you can pretty much say your uncomfy at a host home and they override your cancellation even though this was not a valid reason for someone to feel uncomfy. FULL REFUND and did not respect our decision to say no. Why ask us in the first place just do what you want. I later called them and they said the decision is final and case is closed. What amazing customer service from Bnb donā€™t you guys think so for us hosts?

Bit confused regarding the Car Alarmā€¦? You said he couldnā€™t use it? What does that mean?

I think it means she was worried it would go off and disturb neighbours. If he was out then he wouldnā€™t be there to right whatever the problem with the car was.
What she doesnā€™t make clear is how this was a ā€˜policyā€™. If itā€™s a house rule then it needs to be on the listing. Maybe she will clarify, but deactivating a car alarm also impacts the driverā€™s insurance should there be a problem.

@mummy, Iā€™m afraid most of this problem is ā€œyour problemā€.

  1. If you have no written policy about car alarms, as mentioned above, you should not be telling guests not to use them ā€“ it certainly can affect insurance should the car be broken into. In spite of the fact that you feel safe in your neighborhood, not everyone would feel that way if told they canā€™t use their alarm.

  2. If that movie meant more to you than dealing with Airbnb officials and you told them to call back later instead of discussing it then; then you canā€™t complain if they decide to refund the guest without further consulting you. They didnā€™t ā€œrespect your decisionā€ because you didnā€™t respect their attempt to remedy the situation.

YES they can refund any guest or host who ā€œdoes not feel comfortableā€ with the situation. You apparently made the gust uncomfortable with your not particularly wise demand that he not set his car alarm. I would be upset too.

Why would the issue of a car alarm ever come up, was it faulty and kept going off?

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Let a few days pass then call back and most likely you will get a different customer service rep. Ask about the refund issues and most likely youā€™ll have your money back. I did exactly that and it worked, even if airbnb sided with the customer first. Second call a week later and I got my money back. Chances are that your guest, happy heā€™s got away with the request won;t balance the checking.

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Call.again and get another case manager on line. Also mention it was third party booking. That wife didnā€™t stAy.
I would understand.if.they refunded guest for the night not Stayed but to.refund for.nite already stayed ā€¦

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What do you mean ā€œuse the car alarmā€??? Are you talking about the horn honk when you lock your car? Or do you literally mean that he should disable the alarm, because I would have no idea how to do this if someone asked me to. .

In any case, my car alarm does not go off unless someone is breaking in (which has never happened) or my toddler gets a hold of my keys (this does happen).

The real problem here appears to be that you were too busy with a movie to handle your business. AirBNB handled their business, and the fact that the host couldnā€™t be bothered to deal with the issue led them to make a decision with the party who made the time to discuss the issue with them.

Next time handle your business when the issue comes up - this should not be a frequent occurrence.

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Sure, but who knows what the guest said happened? Itā€™s possible the host needed to explain what happened with the guest (third party guest at that). If she had taken the time to explain the situation, perhaps she could have defended her decision not to refund.

I live in the city and car alarms do seem to go off for no reason and wake people up. If one goes off I am far more concerned about peopleā€™s precious sleep than a car. Thankfully hardly anyone in my neighborhood uses a car alarm (Iā€™m in the meusli belt) so itā€™s not an issue. If I had a problem with a guests alarm waking up my neighbours that would definitely be a thumbs down!

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This is not rule. Sorry about the late reply. We had just asked him politely that if he came late if could not use the car alarm that late that is it. It was very casual as it is very quiet here and other people in the home sleep.

This was not the issue at all. He got a place to stay with his friends and took the free option obviously. As the rep mentioned that he dint book another place with airbnb. He mentioned several of his friends were in town for a wedding. No male adult 40 years would feel uncomfortable with this request. It was not that he could not use it. It was just that he should be conscious of the noise if he came home late. Yes, we have had issues in the past where the car was a foreign car for them and the car alarm went on for hours as they dint know how to shut it or lost the keys. Yes, the neighbors were woken up and the other guest. I donā€™t think this is unreasonable as Ive checked in over 400 guests with same request.

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Yes, this is correct. Why ask us for a refund then? We clearly said NO.

Ashb24 I was in a movie theatre I told the rep that I would discuss later after. She literary said right now. I felt like make a decision now. Like there is a gun to my head. Literary very rude OP.

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Also you can lock your car without using the car alarm to lock it. Again this was not the issue for the 40 year old male. It was more he trying to find an excuse to use so he can get to get his money back. Which airbnb gladly refunded him. I called them again they were very nice this time as I asked to speak to the supervisor she apologized and said third party should be booking and had cancelled their account and reviewed the whole situation and refunded our money back. But I had to really fight with airbnb to do that. I mean 40 year old male uncomfortable what were doing that made him so uncomfy. It is our home at the end of the day. He will leave in 2 days but our neighbors will come protest. We are letting you stay in our home for money yes. But this is my home. I live here too. I know most of you live other places and probably let guests do whatever they want. I mean this wasnā€™t like you cannot use your car alarm at all. Just donā€™t use it when your coming at 2:00 am at night. Jeez

I have no idea how to lock my car without arming the alarm. I did turn off the beep when I first bought the car and substituted a flash of the lights. The alarm is a default.

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If someone put this restriction on me on my holiday (and Iā€™m not staying in a hostel in my early 20s), AND they didnā€™t mention this in the listing, I would be seriously annoyed, out of there and demanding a refund right quick.;)> Blockquote

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Are you saying that this is a house rule in your listing? If itā€™s directly stated in your listing ( that car alarms cant be used late at night, then you have a leg to stand on. So even if he did stay at another guest of the wedding, and also happened to feel uncomfortable, at least you can state that this was a house rule, already established. If not, then perhaps it should be. If youve made the same request of 400 guests, then its obviously a consistent issue.

Our place is very safe and fenced in with 4 outdppr cameras. Plus we live in an small island on top of a mountain It is not like city rules. The only place if the car was stolen would be in the sea. I guess its difficult to explain. Thanks for your reply.

So you think itā€™s fine to wake up neighbours/the host with a car alarm and woe betide anyone who even mentions it?!

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Nope. As i already stated, she should put a consistent rule in the listing so that people are either aware of it (she states she has made the same request to 400 guests so this would imply that its important) so that they had an opportunity to not book with her (as many have stated they would be uncomfortable disabling their alarm ( in this thread alone) and /or 2) not be able to gripe when she mentions it (if they didnt read the listing).