I agree with you. They mentioned a place they stayed in before which I think was more champagne brunch than my humble home. The guests have some other issue and just want their money back.
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This is partly why 3rd party bookings are so risky. The people staying didn’t choose the place. Maybe they just trusted the daughter and barely looked at the listing. Or they are just the type that want champagne on a beer budget. Good luck finding anything nicer at your price level.
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Which is well known to you and maybe most New Yorkers, but although I’ve visited New York and other places where row houses were common, I’ve never stayed in one. I wouldn’t know or think about that aspect.
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I am going to include that in my listing as well. Thank you @Arlene_Larsson you are such a great help. I love 
your suggestions
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Let’s look at this logically for a moment - @crycepaul has 20+ great reviews. The guests have had (more than likely) just one previous Airbnb experience and zero reviews because they don’t even have their own account and they are people who have broken the TOS. So who’s right here?
To say that they’ve stayed at an Airbnb place before is meaningless - it’s not like saying ‘I’ve stayed in a Marriott’ or some hotel chain that has standardised accommodation.
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That may be the issue too. The daughter was very nice when booking the space. The parents seem to have some other issue they are not mentioning; and maybe they want to go to a “really nice place” again and need me to refund the money to do that.
@jaquo that’s so true. It’s probably why they don’t have their own account. Perhaps this is something they have done before?
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It wouldn’t surprise me.
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oops wrong post xxxxx
Your place looks clean, tidy, well decorated, really nice, you look like a lovely lady, etc. … BUT the place also looks really closed in: no windows, no light, no air. To me this can very clearly be seen in the pictures. Personally I prefer a space with more natural light and air, but could possibly be enticed into booking if the price is right.
In this case, with the third party booking, the guests of course didn’t know where they would be arriving. My guess is that in Barbados they have a very light and airy house, and in your place they might just feel claustrophobic. And of course, there is no quick solution to this problem.
All this however, shouldn’t have to be your problem. The pictures clearly show that it’s a space with little natural light and one can suspect that natural ventilation is limited. There is even a review that mentions the darkness of your listing.
The only remark I can make: Doesn’t AirBnB want us to photograph our listing with natural light only? (To be honest, although our rooms are quite to very light, we still made pictures with some lights on.)
Apart from that, you are of course in the same 
situation as we are currently. If you don’t accept the refund, you will probably get a very bad review. If you do refund, you will probably still get a lousy one.
This is clearly a major flaw in the review system. The whole situation is solely the responsibility of the guest (or the person who booked) and now you would have to assume that responsibility if you don’t want to harm your business. It’s so unfair.
You could try doing what we are trying to do (see topic First non-reader complaining and wanting refund), although there’s some risk involved and it’s not really ethical to be lying to people. On the other hand, this kind of review system isn’t ethical either.
EDIT: Please do take care when attempting this, because in your case AirBnB is already majorly involved.
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Do not try this!! If they mention to Airbnb that a refund was offered in exchange for a review, you could be shut down and your listing removed. That is much worse than the risk of a bad review.
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You are right, in this case there’s a bigger risk involved than in our case.
Do you believe that AirBnB would apply the same logic in the other direction: “Guest offered a good review in exchange for a refund.” And since host rejected to give any refund, the bad review should be deleted from her listing?
Where does AirBnB get any proof of such horse-trading? Or will they automatically believe a guest’s word, and reject a host’s word?
Maybe @crycepaul should just choose to attack instead of defend and put the next message in the message system: “Dear (guest), like I just explained to you in person, I cannot offer you a refund in exchange for a 5 star review. This is against the TOS. Please stop manipulating me to get your refund.”
(I am often in doubt if my mind should be considered creative or criminal 
.)
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OK that’s fine, tell Airbnb to give the refund out of their pockets, if you manage to rebook then they can have the refund back. Or tell the guests they can have a refund if you rebook. In the meantime you’ve got bills to pay on that fine old house of yours.
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Actually …we recently had a thread from Yon? also in NY where Airbnb promised to pay him nights that were not rebooked if he agreed to refund an unhappy guest. In the end they did pay him.
So that might be something you could try to negotiate knowing quite well that your chances of a rebook are minimal, but KenH sums it nicely: no refund
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What??!! You can’t make the sun shine?? 
What a terrible host you are. 
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@JonYork who is in NJ did report that recently. But in this case she has already talked to them on the phone and they have made no such offer.
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Welcome to the forum. Please stick to your guns with both the guests and Airbnb; I think you are totally correct on both counts. Air CS are trained to try to “coax/coerce” hosts in to giving refunds, even when the guest has spurious grounds for wanting one. In the meantime, the person you are talking to has a funding allowance in their back pocket to offer refunds in extremis. I suspect this is all linked to the CS rep’s KPI’s!
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Just tell them they are outta luck and stick to your guns. NO CANCELS! NO REFUNDS!
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Air hasn’t offered to pay me if the nights are rebooked. They have offered to pay me for the nights the guests have spent here and nothing else. Air says that I can rebook, but I haven’t had offers for the remaining time and I have guests immediately following this guest’s stay.