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i’m venting. a guest booked at the very last minute for 5 days and came in last night. she’d had to cancel several places she’d booked at the last minute because she didn’t like the stuffiness of the apartments.
they left after checkout this morning, contacting me by email (i live upstairs) to tell me her husband booked a surprise hotel and she wanted me to refund all the days left.
i have a strict cancellation policy (no refund). she called to make sure i would refund her; i said i could refund according to a moderate policy (half). she said she’d already called airbnb and they told her i had to cancel. i’m not falling for that.
when i went downstairs to start cleaning, i found that not only had she taken her makeup off on my sheets and blankets (white), but she left the iron ON in the living room (after using my wooden table as an ironing board (there’s a regular ironing board there) - a fire hazard!
i called airbnb; case management had her on the phone at the same time (she called them back). so i told my tale to the poor airbnb customer service guy, who could only sympathize. then case management called me back. because of the late checkout and the mess, i wasn’t willing to refund everything, so i said i wanted to charge her for a second night, and refund all the money for the remaining 3 nights.
and then, in addition, airbnb said they were going to refund her 3 nights, and take a loss by giving me a third night’s fees. they cancelled on her behalf, made it so neither of us can leave a review (which would have been bad on both sides), and opened my dates back up. the extra night’s fee was very nice on their part, and helps to make up for the probability of my not being able to book those days at all because it’s totally last minute now.
thanks for reading my complaint. it’s the very first time i’ve had a problem with a guest, and airbnb got themselves right in the middle and prevented total war between me and this guest. so i’m happy.
I’m glad you’re happy, but if you have a strict policy then the guest should not have been entitled to a refund because she changed her mind. You did your part and blocked off the apartment for her. The guest had a demonstrated history of canceling because she changed her mind…Why should you be the one to eat it?
and no review so other hosts won’t know that this is a chronic problem person. Under these circumstances, I would not be as satisfied as the original poster. On the other hand, I don’t need the money enough to want someone like this staying in my house. Guess I have to keep the day job!
I agree with Kona on this one. You changing your cancellation policy to accommodate this guest’s capricious whims and Airbnb’s further rewarding her misbehavior encourages guests to ignore hosts’ policies and basic civility. She has seen that she can get away with changing her mind repeatedly, staying after the check out time and ruining your belongings.
What did you have to do with her husband booking a hotel? This does not even make any sense . Why did you even discussed the possibility of refund. And why on earth Airbnb went along with it? Was there something wrong with your listing. Did she say something that she did not like it?
People like these always win by acting like this. Inconsiderate, fussy and demanding and they are being rewarded.
So these were the guests who replaced yesterday’s guests? - didn’t you have guests yesterday who cancelled a 5 night stay due to their flight being cancelled? Air refunded them in full?
Now Air goes and rewards these fools? And now you only got paid 3 nights total for a 5 night stay??
