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I know ā¦ Then again: Good boys go to heaven, bad boys go everywhere .
But you are right, itās a moral dilemma we are facing. I also very much like being just, but how should we act when being faced with injustice ourselves? We already know that the justice system (AirBnB) is not on our side: They would just let a retaliatory review stand.
@KKC No, it didnāt really slip out like that. It was a decision to do so. I considered it the only way to prevent a lousy review. We will reconsider in case of similar event in the future.
Although itās true that they donāt care about you, other hosts have posted here that they sucessfully petitioned and were granted a review removal.
Ok. Sorry. I misunderstood this
So the intent was to lie to the guest but now the hubby is actually considering that you should give the refund you never intended to give. Hmm.
I wonder if youāve been ātoo clever by halfā ā¦ another English saying.
In my experience ā¦ whenever a guest does not like what they got, even though they are getting exactly what the listing indicates and they want out ā¦ they will come up with the most obscure or whatever reason to get out.
Perhaps they donāt like your city, figured that theyād rather head to the beach right away ā¦
I would not give a refund, but refer to āsure, if I get another bookingā or I would refund 1 instead of 2 nights ā¦ which makes it a better solution for the guest than Nada ā¦
I have given some refunds and sometimes not, but bottom line is unless you can easily absorb a bad review, you need to avoid them.
I had to look up this one . Are you sure you arenāt insulting me?
No offense taken, I can only admit that there was a moment of recognition when I saw what it means.
People who try different things are not always successful, but we try to learn from our big and small mistakes everyday . And I decided to share my attempt at something new, to the benefit of all (success or failure).
I have been thinking about going midway as @AlexSJ suggests. The guest was so cheeky to ask for a refund of 50% of what he paid, but this could be interpreted in two ways:
50% of his whole stay (2 canceled nights on a total of 4)
50% of price of the canceled nights
I would choose the second option, and maybe even deduct an administration cost, so that in the end only a symbolic refund remains. What we didnāt do is specify how much we would refund.
And we still havenāt received his cancelation, although we are one hour away from checkout. Maybe they have decided to stay anyway . Whenever this kind of hiccup happens with a guest, I just prefer to have them out of our place.
As none was intended. I understand it to mean āyou are trying too hard to think of a clever solution and itās going to bite you in the ass.ā I perhaps should have looked it up before using it?
āOn arrival the guests cancelled due to lack of kitchen access and heating. We urge all prospective guests to fully read the listing before booking to prevent disappointment with not finding amenities that we do not offer (kitchen) and are not standard for similar accommodation in this area (heating). Or just ask us beforehand if you are not sure"
So itās been 24 hoursā¦did he check out or not? If not I suppose heās keeping his entire reservation. Looking forward to hearing about the review!
As we agreed with our guest on the phone, he canceled the rest of his stay on Sunday just before noon and left the premises. Today (Monday) he left his review, we havenāt reviewed yet.
The detail that I (stupidly / too clever by half) didnāt take into account is that we are on FLEXIBLE, which apparently means that the moment a guest cancels, they only have to pay the next night and they get their payment for other nights back right away from AirBnB . So he immediately got his last night reimbursed .
The good thing, I donāt think he saw the reimbursement of 1 night before writing his review. The bad thing, he is already asking for his reimbursement.
Reading his messages again, I do think that he is expecting reimbursement for the two nights they didnāt stay.
You asked your husband to tell the guest that you will refund him after he leaves his positive review, but you never planned on reimbursing him? Do I have that right?
YES, I thought reimbursing would be very unfair since the only one to blame is the guest for not reading. Since they are the only ones to blame, a bad review would also be very unjust. So yes, I wonāt lie: We lied !
But he already got 1 of 2 nights back because of our flexible cancelation policy, so the guest has little to complain.
Wow, am I the only one who thinks that this is wrong on so many levels? Sense of decency, hello? Great way to get more people staying away from Airbnb for good. And what for? The price of one night? Is it really worth acting like a jackass for that? If you want to sell your soul to the devil, at least get something valuable in returnā¦
Plus, the guest might have read everything but not checked the amenity section carefully, thinking if there are questionable items, they would also be mentioned in the write-up.
But then you also donāt mention that the guests wonāt get keys, do you?
What would your plan of action be? Instead of judging me for being honest, maybe you can give some decent input.
Just as a recap: The guest already got 50% of the canceled days back. And the guest already wrote a review. We still havenāt reviewed and we still havenāt decided if we will refund the rest of the money, which would be against the FLEXIBLE cancelation policy we have.
What kind of review would you leave?
And would you refund the rest of the money? Maybe even the whole stay?
EDIT: The part of your text I quoted could also almost entirely apply to the guest.
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to do so. I considered it the only way to prevent a lousy review. We will reconsider in case of similar event in the future.
. Are you sure you arenāt insulting me? 
. And I decided to share my attempt at something new, to the benefit of all (success or failure).
. Whenever this kind of hiccup happens with a guest, I just prefer to have them out of our place.
. So he immediately got his last night reimbursed