This passed Wednesday my guest and her husband showed up at my house in Rome, GA. Upon gaining access and staying for about 10 minutes they called and said they weren’t comfortable with the area. They said they were going to look for a hotel room. I tried to talk them out of it, but had no luck. They were paying $56/night and an $80 cleaning fee. I can’t imagine that they thought they’d be staying in an upscale neighborhood. The neighborhood is working class and has a variety of people walking up and down the street and lots of old houses, but I’ve never heard of any muggings or break-ins whatsoever. It’s North Georgia so there are pockets of poverty, but it’s not like there are drug dealers hanging out on the corner or prostitutes or anything. My guest now wants a refund. I do NOT need a bad review as I am only a few months into this. Advice?
No refund. Unless you are somehow at fault never ever ever consent to a refund. A REFUND IS NO GUARANTEE OF A GOOD REVIEW ANYWAY. And if she gives a bad review then come back and tell us what she said and we will advise accordingly.
There may be some things you can do to make it clear what kind of neighborhood you live in and if you are willing to share your listing we’d be happy to advise.
Finally, do you think there is a racial component or she’s just scared of poor people?
Agreed, no refund. The chances are that you haven’t received the funds from Airbnb yet anyway so just tell the guests that they need to contact Airbnb. That’s their job after all.
You’ll find that very occasionally, these things will happen. If you’re gracious and friendly about it there’s no reason to expect a bad review.
Make sure to tell the guest to direct any refund request to Airbnb, not to you. Airbnb will contact you if you need to be involved.
BTW, it’s been 3 days. Did the guest just now request a refund?
She wanted one right away and then asked again today.
Definitely a racial component to it. These seemed to be sort of country white folks and the neighborhood has all types of people living in it.
Airbnb takes a dim view of that sort of thing, or pretends to so don’t hesitate to use that in your favor. No refund. Tell her you are donating $40 of her fee to Stacy Abrams new non profit since you don’t feel right pocketing the whole amount. 
It won’t let me include a link to my listing. The only thing I mention about the neighborhood is that it is within walking distance of restaurants, shops, bars, and a bike trail.
Ah, you are too new. We limit links of new posters. You should be able to post a link now.
This is a copy and paste of part of my description. Maybe this sort of paragraph would help you too. =
LOCATION - LOCATION - LOCATION.
Nearly at the foot of the Ravenel Bridge over to Charleston Downtown Historic District and the Visitor Center. Local beaches only down the road 6 miles, and walking distance to famous planned I’on neighborhood. Convenient to nearly all Wedding Venues.
The house is in Scanlonville / Remley’s Point on a quiet dead end street. This is a very old Historic neighborhood - demographically and ethnically diverse and deeply rooted in the Gullah-Geechie culture… settled after the Civil War. If you are uncomfortable with diversity, then you don’t want to rent here. Our 5th Avenue was a prime stop on the famous Chitlin Circuit. Local homes can be moderate houses, or Mega Million dollar mansions. We have it all !
I love Charleston and Savannah!! I want to stay at your place next time I’m on the East Coast!!
Great idea! I just added “Ethnically and demographically diverse” to the neighborhood description. Thanks for the advice!
What great advice from you all!!