Hola,
of course this situation that I am going to write is the first one that happens to me in 3 years with Airbnb. I need your suggestions on how to compensate my guests.
They stayed in an apartment, everything went o.k with check in. After the second day there was not hot water and the light went off. In 20 minutes after they call us we were there and they had again electricity. My worker wanted to change the resistance of the heater, but they said that is not the problem. My worker suggested, to come the next day since it was night to check it again. Of course, the next morning they did not had hot water, but after they left for the day, the worker change the resistance and I brought a bottle of wine for them. Everything was running smoothly.
The last afternoon they send me a message which said they were robbed, of course I jumped and called them to ask for details and went immediately to the premises and called my worker to go to the building. Yes, a man came inside the building and went into their apartment, stole a mobile and a pair of tennis shoes, at that moment they were sleeping since they had been scuba diving before.
The man came to the apartment because they left the door downstairs and the door from their apartment UNLOCKED. But not to make the story longer, of course they called the police that´s what they told me and my worker who has friends in the police drove and in 4 hours, we gave them back the mobile and the tennis shoes since they have caught the man who stole them.
They did not wanted to stayed that night which was the last one and I agreed to support any decision they took, we also suggest the police car to stay the whole night if they needed, but one of the group said no.
So, finally 2 of the group slept in the apartment and 2 not. Of course, they are asking for compensation.
During their stay they never mentioned, they found cockroach but of course now they send me a picture of one. It is true, we fumigate every month, but we are in the Caribbean and it can happen. I am not apologizing and of course we try that it does not happen, but it can happen.
OK. my negotiation was that we charge for the use of A/C, so they would not pay the 60 USD for it.
They said since they had so many troubles and so many details (which in my way of thinking they were resolved prompltly), they want the last night to be payed, since the 2 guests went to another hotel payed 120 USD per night.
The apartment that I manage has a normal rate of 200 USD and they had a price of 100 USD for the 4.
I am open to all your ideas and tips. I just want to feel that I am being honest with them and with me.
Thanks for reading it and hopefully I can help you also next time.
Maria
(sorry if I have some grammatical mistakes, english is my second language)
Wow, @Maria - what a story!
So their complaints are
cockroach
short power outage that received prompt response
trouble with hot water that received prompt response
robbery (when they left the door open) that received you full attention.
Is that correct?
Just trying to understand the facts.
I wouldn’t give a refund for 1 cockroach and I’m not even in the tropics. I rarely, if ever, see one in my home but you’re right - they do happen. They live outside and sometimes come inside. It doesn’t mean you are infested. If they saw several over several days - then yes, that’s a problem.
Hola dcmooney,
Thanks for your answer, I really need to have some other minds giving me their suggestions.
Yes, you understood the facts perfectly.
If I were a guest in a hotel and experienced all you described, I would want at least a 50% discount. I understand you did all you could to handle everything well, but if I were hosting, I would offer a sizable refund.
I was also thinking for a 50% refund.
Maria, Hola.
Normal rate is $200 but on last day it was only $100? Some kind of discount? Of course, needless to say, beware of discounting, they do tend to draw these types of people, in which every issue (true or invented) is the source of future haggling.
The upshot is they had two inconveniences, so what, life; grow up. Then, they were stupid in leaving the doors unlocked, and a petty thief came in and stole two small items, which they got back, the overall hassle they deserve for being so negligent. Now we get to the cockroach, which if true, so what, it’s the Caribbean; again grow up. They oftentimes come in boxes used by local grocery stores, so if they brought in anything like that, it is understandable.
My gut feeling? When did they leave? Have they left a review, which trust me will be a bad one, they will go overboard to ‘cleanse’ themselves of any wrongdoing and personal responsibility. If they have, no need to refund anything.
I would tell them, if it becomes necessary, right out they neglected to exercise the most basic security and the fact they saw a cockroach, it is the tropics not a reflection on your place’s cleanliness. Important to always establish correct premises with people.
In the grand scheme of things however, the $100 is not that unreasonable on their part, for the first two events of inconvenience, but not for the latter two (not locking doors and the visiting cockroach).
These people were from ‘North of the Border’? Good luck.
Let me know if I understand this correctly.
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Regular nightly rate is $200 USD per night, but these guests only paid $100 USD for each night? If that is the case, why did they already receive such a large discount?
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Guests are supposed to pay for the A/C. The guests owed you $60 USD but you waived the fee already to make them happy?
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Now the guests want $100 back because two of the guests chose to go to a hotel?
So the second day when the hot water and the light went off…your worker was there within 20 minutes of their call. He got the electricity back on and wanted to change the heater resistance. It sounds like the guests told him it wasn’t the problem, so that’s why he didn’t check it that night. Is that correct? Since they told him it wasn’t the issue, then that’s why they didn’t have hot water the following morning? Then the worker fixed the issue and gave them a bottle of wine…everyone is happy.
Let’s see what you did do for them: You helped them get back their mobile phone and tennis shoes. And you did offer to have a police man stay the night in his car if they wanted. I don’t even know what they are thinking to try to get you to compensate half of the guests for a hotel room.
They seemed happy after the bottle of wine. The rest is just stuff they brought on themselves. I would remind them that they told the worker not to check the heat resistance (if that’s true), you gave them a bottle of wine, and you refunded $60 USD for the A/C, and they already had a 50% discount to begin with.
Don’t think because you give them a larger refund that they won’t leave a negative review. You just never know.
Edited to add: Another thing - I would stress to them is how much of a PITA it would have been if the mobile phone was not found. Imagine all the stress and trouble the guy would have gone through. The fact that your worker had friends in the police dept. was huge help.
True I forgot the 50% discount in the beginning…
Oh, the $100 discount was for each day they stayed, not just the last one. And free $60 AC. And the wine. And now wanting an additional $100. On the surface they sounds like hustlers, and at the end they played the wild card - the one with a Cockroach on it. Cute.
Oh come one everyone is being ridiculously harsh in this thread. Even if you get my trainers etc back nothing’s going to change the upset of having someone rifling through my stuff in my sleep. That wasn’t a situation the guests set up to get some money back … this is a catalogue of things going wrong, each on their own bad enough but added together become the straw that breaks the camels back.
Give them the refund, enough went wrong here that you just need to wash your hands of it.
I agree, partial refund. If only for the lack of hot water.
They left door unlocked, therefore theft is their fault. No compensation, thumbs down as they are irresponsible and unreasonable.
Those were just my guesses. I hope OP comes back to clarify if I understood her post. Come back OP.
I have to agree with @Zandra here. There is a faint whiff of something not quite right in this story. Your ‘worker’ has ‘friends’ in the ‘police’ who got all the stuff back within four hours? Mmh yeah, sure.
I was thinking some more about this, @Zandra - and I realized that I could leave my door unlocked almost every hour of every day - and no one would come in and steal my stuff. Well, maybe - but I don’t live in an area in which leaving my door unlocked is going to mean I get ripped off. If that happened to me, I’d be pretty upset.
Then again it’s your home, your neighborhood. Who goes to a foreign nation and doesn’t lock the door or move their wallet to their front pocket. Imagine if the guests left the door unlocked and something that belonged to the host was stolen. But this whole thing is interesting. Imagine the stuff hotels deal with!!!
@dcmooney exactly.
as you know I live in a flat in London. What you don’t know is I’ve fallen asleep with my front door wide open (not even closed) more than a handful of times. I’ve realised my error when I need the loo around 6am but there have been times when I have slept right through only to find my front door wide open at 8am.
Not once has there been an intruder and god knows I made it easy for them.
It’s totally creepy that someone was trying the door and slipped in …to steal worn trainers of all things. My trust in my living situation would totally disappear at that point.
If it were me, given that combination of unfortunate events - no electricity, cockroach, theft, etc.
I would just arrange it with airbnb so that I can give them a FULL refund and they CANNOT write a review.
The cost of that refund is much less than the chilling effect a disastrous review like that can have on your listing.
I’ve seen some hosts where I am get a nasty review like that, and no bookings for months after that!
It ain’t worth it!
Cut your losses, so long as they CANNOT write a review.
I was going to suggest something along that line, but didn’t want to open a Pandora’s Box about how doesn’t help other hosts; it doesn’t. I would have told them, I will give you the a rebate for your two friends not staying, but don’t leave a review and I wouldn’t either.
Would that work? Seems to me you might get a bad review that also accuses you of trying to bribe them…