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Our guests booked from Friday to Tuesday. They arrived today Saturday very early (the reason I made them book an extra night). They want to stay for one night, but they want to cancel the last two nights and get their money 100% back for those nights, because:
There is no heating in the apartment. // Almost no one has heating where we live. Only fancy hotels have heating. We are a high quality budget option. // Our listing doesn’t show heating as an amenity.
The kitchen isn’t fully habilitated. // Our listing doesn’t show kitchen as an amenity and it is totally off-limits to guests. Also food can be found close by for less money than one can reasonably cook for.
It’s a first for us, and we are fearing a bad review if we don’t return them the money. And even if we return any money, we still might get a lousy unjustified review.
We already figured out a tactic to come out as a winner. If it works I will inform you all in a few days.
Any advice on the review I should leave for the guest? I’m feeling a bit angry and feel like killing them for not reading (this feeling will pass), but I do want to sound professional and not like the pissed-off host .
“Guest arrived as expected and immediately cancelled their remaining two nights due to our listing not providing heat or kitchen use. These are not listed amenities therefore they were not entitled to any refund. We cannot recommend this guest.”
@GutHend you can try and stall the “refund” and then not give them one at all. Like “the manager is away and we’ll review your case in few days”, “we’re talking with airbnb about this” etc. Then the review period is over and you tell them they cant get a refund. (You can also post their review at last moment)
Airbnb representative told me few weeks ago that guests are not entitled to a refund for lack of non listed amenities.
Dont give a review now because it’ll make them review you.
Ugh, so sorry this is happening to you. I don’t have any precise advice other than DON’T fear the bad review. And don’t refund. F*&*'em.
They are in the wrong, not you. I know it’s easy to say but if you allow yourself to be held hostage by this, you will feel so bad and resentful later. Stand tall and weather the storm.
K9’s suggested review is good. If they leave a bad one for you, come back for advice on how to reply.
I would just politely remind them that you don’t advertise either of those amenities. Then I would tell them if by chance you’re able to re-rent the nights you’ll be happy to refund. Then I’d go with K9’s review. Surely you must have enough great reviews you can stand to take a less than stellar one?
Situation: My MIL currently takes care of our guests on site and we manage everything from a distance.
OUR TACTIC
Since my hubby shares mother tongue and Latino culture with guest, I made him call the guest because, although my Spanish is great, I lack the necessary cultural fine tuning (read: I am way too direct).
I made him CALL so that we don’t have any written trail. My hubby reminded the guest that we don’t advertise those amenities (@Arlene_Larsson), he told that the guest has to cancel and leave tomorrow before noon (they want to stay one night) and that we don’t want our business to be harmed by something that is out of our control. Therefor we asked guest to leave a review on the same day of checkout, after which we would refund.
Guest was very nice on the phone and showed happiness with the rest of the service we provide. He said it must be a cultural difference, because in his home country Chile, these services are always provided: This must be true for the heating, but can’t be true for the kitchen. My hubby didn’t enter in discussion. I love how he always keeps his cool and hate how he’s always an even softer egg than me : He now wants to consider refunding him after getting the good review .
@AlexSJ Guest has one good review of one line and five stars. I don’t know how he can say that all BnB’s in his country have kitchens while he only stayed in 1.
@KKC Excellent writing, that is definitely the review I feel like leaving. I even have to add a bit of subpar communicating pre-arrival. Should I also give the guest a thumbs down?
@gem20 This seems totally logical, and in fact until one hour ago we didn’t have any intention of refunding until my hubby ‘connected’ with the guest .
@magwitch At the moment I’m quite sure we have that one covered by our tactic . I always say: I’m a good guy with a very bad character .
@Arlene_Larsson It’s two nights before the next guest arrives, we do VERY limited same day arrival (reservation before 8am) and there’s little chance to fill the vacancy. We decided not to approach the guest in this manner, because we didn’t want him to doubt getting a refund.
@cabinhost I love the song you posted: Let god be the judge. Unfortunately AirBnB wants us to be the judge on our guests . But to be honest, I am fearing karma (pun!).
Thanks people for a first feedback. Now I will go back to sleep and tomorrow we will consider the last steps in our plan of action!
Why do the guests want heating? Mention the temperature in the review perhaps e.g. it was 22 degrees inside ( that’s what my thermometer says in the UK at the moment). I hope I don’t get a ridiculous hot house flower guest before my heating goes on!
At the moment it’s 16°C outside, so it should be at least 18°C inside. Yes, this is colder than most of us are used to, but still it isn’t very common to have heating where our place is. We ourselves just put on warm clothes. If you head to the mountains, it could be close to 5°C inside, and many places still won’t have any heating.
I could mention it that we don’t have heating or air conditioning and that temperature can be between 16°C and 35°C depending on the time of year. I can also explicitly mention that guests are not allowed to use the kitchen. But what is all this worth if people don’t even check something as simple as an amenities list? Why would they bother with all the reading?
The positive side of this story: I can finally truly relate to all the people complaining that guests don’t read .
What a nice climate you have. Italy? I might be up for a bit of Aircon at night when it hits 35 degrees though!
It may be worth reiterating in your welcome message that as per custom in your area you do not have heating. It’s like the equivalent of UK guests asking for Aircon, we just don’t generally have it apart from big hotels and shops. My thermostat says 20 degrees inside today. I will be cross if anyone asks for heating yet.
Actually, in our hosting world, ‘non-reader’ could be considered quite the insult! Along the lines of mouth-breather, or finger-sniffer.
“Look at that badly behaved person over there…I bet he doesn’t read all of the available information on the listings page, that he may or may not subsequently book”
I found relying on not having any kitchen ticked as an amenity was nowhere near enough. Now it is in the main description, ‘My kitchen is not listed on Airbnb for self catering but continental breakfast is included and there are plenty of cafes, pubs and restaurants nearby.’ I also remind them on the house tour. I do allow guests to make hot drinks and have snacks in my kitchen in the evening. I think it takes at least 3 modes of communication for guests to get the message.
Just as an aside: I used to have an older neighbor, who was originally from Chile. After the divorce she had to take in lodgers, mostly homestay students etc BUT she allowed no one to enter her kitchen. Not to put anything in the kitchen or fridge, nor to get a glass of water (she would get it for them). She would provide 3 meals, do all the dishe…no kitchen access literally meant NO KITCHEN ACCESS.
She was…may I say without getting ripped to pieces, quite totalitarian.
Same applied to her son that was living there for a number of years. He was not allowed in the kitchen either.
That depends on how all the rest goes. If he leaves everything in good, clean condition and checks out at the agreed time I would give a thumbs up. He may be an excellent guest in a place with the required amenities.
You mean after reading his review. If he leaves a bad review you won’t be refunding right?
I hope this all works out for you. As you know asking for a review in exchange for something is prohibited by Airbnb TOS. Even though you didn’t make the offer in writing he might still contact Airbnb to complain. I doubt it since he can’t be bothered to read but I’d still be unwilling to risk my listing over one short stay.
Friday night I was at a concert and I had an Airbnb guest. She messaged me to say the dogs were barking and she hoped they would be quiet soon. Of course I didn’t get the message until after the concert. I just replied that I was sorry to be out of touch and would be refunding her the night. There was no quid pro quo, she didn’t ask for it and most hosts here would disagree that I did it. I got my all 5 star review already. I made the same amount as I would have if I’d blocked off the night, which is what I should have done. It cost me a load of laundry and some of my time.
Even if he leaves a wonderful review, I don’t want to refund.
As you say, it’s against the TOS to ask for something in exchange for a review: That is what the guest, indirectly, did. Of course he didn’t put it that way, but in fact that is what the system pushes for in this situation. If we told him that he wouldn’t get his money back, he would have retaliated. (I am aware your words were meant in the other direction, but this goes both ways.)
Doing it in any more civil way (=telling the truth), would have been risking our listing. And refunding every guest because he could leave a bad review is also bad for business. We could honor our word, but many people are advising against any refund here.
We recently refunded a whole stay (2 nights) for a big mistake we made. That was our mistake and we took responsibility for it. In the end, like we were hoping, the guest didn’t leave a review. We didn’t ask for this.
In this case, refunding money, does feel very bad. I might refund some costs that we didn’t have because of the cancelation. Don’t you think that refunding anything more would create an entitled guest?
I agree with not refunding in this case. I’m just thinking of what Airbnb is going to do/wants you to do: refund and let him leave a bad review. If you could have gotten him to threaten you with a bad review in writing then you could have a chance at getting Airbnb to remove it.
In your case refunding would probably create a more entitled guest.
His plan is to not give a refund. His husband’s plan…uh, LOL. I don’t think either of them planned to refund but in the course of the chat that’s what slipped out. The same Latin American tone that was necessary to grease the wheels (as we say in US English) is the same conciliatory tone that unintentionally offers a refund.
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), he told that the guest has to cancel and leave tomorrow before noon (they want to stay one night) and that we don’t want our business to be harmed by something that is out of our control. Therefor we asked guest to leave a review on the same day of checkout, after which we would refund.
: He now wants to consider refunding him after getting the good review 
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. I always say: I’m a good guy with a very bad character 
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