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I had a guest book for 4 people a few weeks ago for a one night stay which was supposed to be for last night. It was going to be her (Katie), her boyfriend (Zach) a friend of theirs (Gina) and her fiance (Kyle) whose birthday they were celebrating. I communicated on an on going basis and provided them various things to do since they were interested in fishing and renting wave runners.
The night before they are to arrive I get a message from Katie saying that she and Zach won’t get off work until 4:30 and asking if it would be okay if Kyle and Gina arrived without them and checked in. I told her it was no problem that actually I had no one staying that night so the room was ready for whatever time they arrived tomrorow. I also gave her the option of having her friends rent the room that night at a a third of the cost since it was after 8:00pm already and that way they can get right to the beach and boardwalk in the morning. It ended up they couldn’t do that though.
At about 1:30pm Kyle and Gina arrive, Gina says “should we bring in the bags” and Kyle says “let’s check out the rooms first” I show them the TWO rooms and the bathroom and they say how everything is great and they are just going to get something to eat and go to the beach. I told them about the diner and that I have beach badges and I can tell them how to get free parking. I assumed they would be back after eating since they didn’t have bathing suits on.
They never came back. I didn’t hear anything from Katie who booked the room. I was assuming that they just met up and since I showed the rooms and bathroom to her Kyle and Gina that they were going to come later. At around 10:00pm I messaged Katie through AirBnB (again I personally do EVERYTHING through the AirBnB system so there is a record) and said I may or may not be awake when they get back, can they just message me when they head back to the house. No response back. I message at 12:30am and say that I am leaving the light by the sliding glass door on for them. Five minutes after that I get a phone call from Kyle - NOT from Katie, saying that they aren’t going to make it back. I asked why and he claims they had to come back home due to something with his child and wants to know if they can work out some refund. I asked when did the emergency happen and Kyle said right after they were done eating. I really didn’t believe what he was saying - because that means that they knew they weren’t coming back for over 12 hours now and yet I had even messaged them several hours before and they had not said anything. I asked where they were now because I heard noise in the background and he goes “my house” and I said “oh” and then he just says “I have to go, bye” and hung up.
I immediately called AirBnB told them the situation, and I told them I didn’t trust their story - but once again was concerned about whether they would review me even though the person who booked never showed up. He put everything in the notes on my account and said that if the person reviewed me they would be able to delete the review.
Needless to say a few hours ago I got a notification that Katie reviewed me even though she never stepped foot into the house. I calledd AirBnB - they blocked the review as noted by the previous person. The AirBnB rep was going to talk to her supervisor about the block as well as send an e-mail to Katie. She also told me what Katie wrote in her review. That there was only one room - when in fact I have TWO rooms and I showed Kyle both of them. Then she said that on the phone I was sighing and it creeped them out. I was sighing because I didn’t believe their story as to why they wanted a refund and why they weren’t returning. Even the AirBnB rep last night and again today agreed with me that it seemed very strange.
It could be that they had to leave due to Kyle’s child and that the refund question was just an afterthought, but why did they wait until 12;30am to tell me they weren’t coming back when they knew about it at 1;30pm.which also means that Katie never left home at 4;30pm when she got off work…
I think you’re lucky you got paid and Airbnb deleted the review. Whatever happened really doesn’t matter (although I do agree it’s all very strange)! Airbnb sided with you and that’s the best outcome.
My thoughts are: they booked, and backed out. Reasons/excuses are irrelevant.
Push them to Air for all further correspondence. Air have your side of the story, so let them sort things out in accordance with their cancellation policy.
You did the right thing(s) throughout by keeping all parties informed.
Now let Air earn their 15%, and get on with the next booking.
S
Yeah- AirBnB said that by blocking their review it prevents me from reviewing them. I told them I have no desire to review them. I just don’t think it is right for someone to review who didn’t stay at my place and the person who booked never even came at all.
Okay- so it ends up that the review showed up tonight after being told it wouldn’t. This was the review from the guest who never showed…
We had to cancel for a family emergency (did not ask for money back or anything) and he asked where we were and kept sighing. A bit creepy. You also share all living spaces including one bathroom with him.
_ Private Feedback: _ When someone calls to cancel maybe try not to be mean about it and ask where they are. It was creepy.
_ Accuracy feedback: _ “He didn’t word the living situation correct. You are legit Sharon all living spaces with him. ”
I immediately called AirBnB and told them I wanted this review removed as I was told it would be. After the rep reviewed the notes from my previous two calls he told me he would remove her review but when I asked if it would also remove the star ratings she gave, he said that it would have no affect because the two weren’t linked. After I told him that I am a web developer and program applications for a living and know that they can be removed even if it has to go through IT, he looked into it further and said that he could possibly cancel the reservation. Since it had never been cancelled - physically cancelling it may delete not only the review, but the star ratings as well. He wasn’t sure if it would or not. He tried it and I confirmed that my star ratings were restored and the review was removed. The guest who never showed actually had the nerve to give a 1 star on accuracy. I don’t know what all the star ratings she gave me were since I hadn’t bothered looking at those. I just saw that the review had gone live and I did notice that my accuracy rating went down. I imagine she gave me 1 star on everything - not just accuracy.
BTW - the first thing that her friend who called asked when he said they weren’t going to make it - was for a refund - yet in her review she claims they never did. I also like how she complains that people have to share a bathroom - well right in my listing I say “SHARED Bathroom”. As for sharing other living spaces with me - there are no other shared spaces because I don’t list them as the guest being able to use. I even removed the kitchen being in my listing - although I do say in the description that guests may use the microwave, refrigerator, coffee maker, utensils and dishes. I removed the kitchen from the listing, because I do not want people taking over my kitchen and cooking or preparing food in there.
The one thing she gets right is the fact that I did ask where they were because I didn’t believe them about the “family emergency”. Her friends showed up at 1:30pm, said they were going to lunch. They never returned. I messaged Katie at 10:30pm to tell her to let me know when they would be returning. At 12:30am I messaged again saying that I would leave the outside light next to the sliding glass doors on. That was when her friend called me and said they wouldn’t be returning. When he said that it was due to a family emergency and asked for a refund, I asked him when did he find out that there was a family emergency and that they were not coming. He said as they were finishing up lunch. That was almost 12 hours.
One thing to note on this experience that I found out - if a guest cancels a reservation, they can not review you. So make sure if a guest doesn’t show, that they physically cancel the reservation. What was really great was that cancelling the reservation - even two weeks later when the review went active - deleted the review and the star ratings I was given.
Actually I have only had a couple who were bad since I started hosting in November.
You can look at my reviews and recent guests. I had several people stay after these this no-show which was in July. I do agree though - I did have three within the last couple of months. Two of those didn’t stay though with one person trying to get a full refund and then lying to AirBnB on the condition of my house.
