So my current guest asked for a refund to check out early because he wants to move into his apartment over the weekend instead of Monday (his official last day). I told him that I would have to call airbnb about it and then he could tell I was frustrated because before he was asking for a possible extension and to have his gf stay over, so he is willing to have his friend stay in his place in his room. However, in terms of cleaning and the sheets, he will be washing them before his friend comes in. Honestly, I feel a bit ripped off because I will be eating the cleaning fees due to having to change the sheets after him and his friend. What’s the best way to handle this?
If you want to host your guest’s girlfriend in his stead; you can tell him you are willing to do so, but that you will require an additional cleaning fee.
It isn’t his girlfriend. It’s another male friend of his. Not even sure if he has an airbnb account.
If your current guest wishes to leave early, having his friend come and take over the remainder of his reservation isn’t really a simple solution. The original reservation would need to be cancelled, and a new booking would have to be made with through his friend’s account. It isn’t fair or reasonable, either, for you to have to clean the room twice to accommodate your guest’s whims, whilst receiving only one cleaning fee. Technically, this would be two bookings. He isn’t supplying you with another guest to make things less inconvenient for you - you would be accommodating his requests, which cause you inconvenience.
I appreciate you probably want to make your guest happy, but making things easier for him shouldn’t come at your expense. When your guest made their booking they agreed to certain terms. What is your cancellation policy? How would it apply in this instance?
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My cancellation policy is strict
Airbnb requires the person who made the booking to be one of the guests staying at the listing.
If your guest wants to leave early, and if his friend would like to stay for the days remaining, tell him that the original booking would need to be cancelled. Your cancellation policy would apply, however if his friend books you can offer a refund for those days. A new cleaning fee would apply to his friend’s reservation.
Alternatively, if friend doesn’t want to stay, you could offer to refund any days that you can rebook after he cancels.
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Your cancellation policy is strict. I would tell him there is no refund at this late date. I also would not allow some unknown person to come stay in his place. Like others have said, the new person would have to make a new reservation. Airbnb won’t cover you or help you at all if something were to happen during the new person’s stay. Lastly, I don’t allow guests to wash my linens as they aren’t going to care about stains, keeping whites white, etc.
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Zoe’s answer is clear as mud. To make it easier for both of you, you could stress that this in Airbnb policy (new booking, cancelling current one, new cleaning fee etc) and that’s why you’re asking your current guest for these things.
Let’s know how it went, @Yen1.
He has decided to eat the cost. It’s better this way because it’s less of a hassle. Talked to airbnb and they mentioned that there’s a button to change or cancel the reservation and would do a one time courtesy refund to me. However, since this guest is able to afford a 2k a month apt without utilities… and my airbnb room per month is way less than that… I will not offer to make any additional arrangements. I’d rather use the one time courtesy on something more urgent than someone who wants to have a special exception to the strict cancellation rule out of convenience when they certainly can eat up the cost. Besides as it is mentioned before, I really am getting the short end of the stick because of someone’s poor planning since I will be the one who will be putting more time and effort into cleaning.
However, I got a question for you guys. So I could tell he was hoping I would pull a special favor for him since he kept on feeding me the same three Indian food and claiming it was because he makes too much food for one person. Ever since I turned him down for the refund, he’s been hiding in his room and no longer wants to interact with me. What can I do in case he gives me a bad review?
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When Airbnb says ‘one time courtesy’ it doesn’t necessarily mean ‘here is the one and only favour we will ever do for you’. It’s just emphasising that they are doing something exceptionally.
Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do. Your guest hoped you could compensate for his poor planning. Anyone who is moving should be prepared for there to be an overlap of a few days between their old and new accommodation.
If he leaves a negative review, just write a response.
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