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Greetings all, I read this forum frequently and learn a lot from it but rarely post. Today have a dilemma, and I could use some input.
A guest booked my guest room and bathroom (homestay) for 3 nights, Thurs-Sun. All seemed well until Friday evening, when she saw a spider. No problem, my husband got out the vacuum and sucked it up. Saturday morning, she messaged me through the app that she wanted two more spiders removed from the bathroom. OK, I got them out in 5 minutes. Later that morning, she packed up and left, one day early, saying her plans for the day were cancelled.
Last night, I got a long message through the app from her husband (he didn’t stay here), saying his wife “wasn’t comfortable advocating for herself”. She told him she saw multiple spiders all over the bed and towels, received several spider bites, and saw many spiders outside too. He even said she saw a tarantula “circling her car” as she left. (HIGHLY unlikely. I’ve never seen one anywhere near here.)
Of course, he wants a full refund. I do admit there were spiders but no where near the extent she is describing. I’m inclined to give a refund of 1 night only for the sake of appeasing them, but don’t think she deserves a full refund.
What would you do? Am I risking an escalation that will damage my listing status?
If it were me, I certainly wouldn’t offer her a refund. Let her fight it out with Airbnb if necessary.
What a wuss though. Scared of spiders, needing her husband to do things for her.
I know exactly what I’d say to her (!) but I understand your concern but I doubt any escalation would hurt your listing. If the money she (or rather, her husband) is trying to get out of you is less than $500 then I imagine that pretty soon he’ll realise that the time and trouble it will take just isn’t worth it.
Do you have regular pest control services? Do you have receipts that show that your place was recently treated for bugs? If so, you’re 100% in the clear.
No refund from me. Good grief, do these people live in ivory towers and never come out? Spiders are part of the world. It’s just another repeat of trying to screw the host.
“Multiple spiders all over the bed and towels”- that sounds completely delusional. Spiders are shy creatures, I have had house spiders in every house I have lived in, and never have I seen one on towels or on a bed. They are on walls, ceilings or floors, not furniture.
And a tarantula “circling the car”??? That’s hilarious.
“I see spiders” reminds me of something: a horror literature class in college.
“Ghost stories require two things—scares and catch phrases.” And I agree that trantulas circling the car would make me doubt the whole thing except apparently there were spiders removed by you.
Honestly I wouldn’t be happy with a rental with repeated and multiple insects inside. But context matters. Are you in a suburb or a cabin in the woods? I vote no refund and let Airbnb do what they do.
I had a guest who said there was a spider on the ceiling over the bed, that she had a spider phobia and was afraid it would fall on her and could I remove it. I vacuumed it up, gently reassured her that they actually don’t fall off the ceiling, that in the 15 years I had lived there, had never had one come near me, fall orclimbon me and that was the end of it.
No early check-out, no mention of a refund. That’s how reasonable adults, even those with fears and phobias behave.
Thanks jaquo, yes it’s much less than $500. I don’t have any pest control services because I don’t want pesticides sprayed around my house. So, it sounds like I may not be 100% in the clear but you think Air is unlikely to shut me down on this one complaint?
Thanks everyone, you are giving me confidence to let them take it up with Air. (They haven’t yet, husband is just hitting me up for a refund in the messages.) I was worried because of horror stories about Air taking the guests’ side and suspending host’s accounts. I suppose they could still refund the guest, and I’ll get one bad review, but I’m less worried about that.
@KKC , It’s what I would call semi-rural. All the houses in the area are on an acre, many with various types of farm animals, including mine.
Last question, should I respond to him in the messages? Something along the lines of: Because your wife accepted the space without complaint, stayed two nights, and because we quickly responded to her request for spider removal, I don’t believe she is entitled to a refund.
This guest might actually be a fit for that phrase we never use, “better suited to a hotel”!
Personally, I might refund the last night the guest didn’t stay. The guest’s stay might have unfortunately coincided with a multiple tiny spider hatching event.
Then I would send something like:
“We’re sorry you felt disturbed by seeing some spiders; the property is in a rather rural area and tiny creatures do sometimes make their presence known. Our practice is to remove them without using chemicals, and we were happy to immediately dispatch the 3 you reported to us. There are no tarantula species native to this clime.”
I would consider adding similar to my description or leaving a card or sign in the rental: “The property is in a rather rural area and insects or spiders do sometimes make their presence known. Please let us know if you see any and we will apply a non-chemical remedy.”
I only suggest adding this because my perception is that Airbnb is notoriously sensitive to reports of “pests.” Both my main house and the Airbnb addition are subject to ant invasions in the spring, and I have a little tent sign I put in the Airbnb with a friendly-looking cartoon ant saying “It’s spring and the ants are on the move,” and asking the guest to let me know if they see any and I will take care of it.
I don’t even kill spiders in my main house – they’re generally good guys, and dangerous ones aren’t common to my area. I do know what a black widow and brown recluse look like, and they would have to go.
I wouldn’t necessarily link it to a rural area. There are spiders everywhere. I remember a host from Chicago saying there is some kind of “flying” spider that hatches out every year there and are everywhere, even in 10th floor condo units in the middle of the city.
I live in the tropics where there are lots of spiders and insects. I have never fumigated my place nor would I- these critters are endemic and part of the ecosysytem. I physically kill cockroaches or scorpions if I see them in the house, and will spray out a wasp nest if it is dangerously close to where I or my guests hang out, but otherwise I would consider people who freak out about seeing a harmless spider or insect to be the pests, not the insects.
Concur that this is a totally nutty refund request. Where exactly is she living where there are no spiders?
There are spiders in every house. Had she mentioned that she is spider phobic you could have told her that this was not a suitable place for her. That is possibly what I would say in your reply.
For future bookings - I have in my house rules that occasionally a bug, spider, bee might get into the suite. We are happy to remove them upon request.
In regards to the current guests, if there was such an issue, there should be photos. They are totally scamming you.
If your guests are freaked out about spiders, they should see these babies, that are endemic where I live.
Called a whip tail scorpion, but not a scorpion at all, some evolutionary mutation of a spider. They are quite shy and like the dark, so you don’t see them very often, but there are lots in my shed.
I used to have a dead one in a jar to show guests, so they didn’t have a heart attack if they saw one. They aren’t dangerous, they have no toxin, but are horrendous-looking.
Totally agree. When I turn on a light and the spider is in my bathtub, he’s scared and runs from me. I trap him and let him go outside but I’ve never seen them circling a car for Pete’s sake! Absolutely ridiculous. Tarantulas are shy as well and they are not oned to hang out and be harassed by humans.
Thanks everyone, for the support and input. So far, I haven’t been contacted by Air, although I know the husband reached out to them: “Your guest asked Airbnb to help with their issue. Airbnb Support will be in touch soon.” That was two days ago. I’ll post what happens if anyone is still interested when Air gets in touch.
Waiting to do my review until the last day.
She has a pathological fear of spiders. Not your problem. Spiders are everywhere. Don’t refund. Spiders are actually quite cool. There are only two spiders in the USA that are medically significant and they are incredibly shy and unwilling to bite unless forced.
