Help! guest confronted me when they arrived to ask for refund!

OI am not a confrontational person, so I’m shaking, the guest just arrived I checked them in, then they started arguing with me saying they wanted their money back for 4 nights. ok, so this is what happened.

so the guest booked for 9 nights then messaged me a week later saying they only want to stay for 4 nights and the very last night, so I assumed they were going to leave there stuff there and go away to another city or something, plus the booking change request they put through was for the same number of days? so i messaged them saying i was confused and again they just reponsed saying they only want 4 nights and the last day, they did not query the charge or booking until they arrived. they booked 2 months ago.

should i just refund them and cancel the last night because i have 2 night minmum stay.
or just give 50% back like the rules

Hi @Cocoanouk,

I’ve been where you are and it’s definitely awkward!

In my case, I reiterated to the guest my cancellation policy and told them to cancel the reservation through Air and they will be reimbursed what is due to them under the cancellation policy. Do not do it for them!

If you really want to be rid of them, I think it’s legit to offer a full refund if they cancel the entire reservation. After they cancel, you would then refund them through the “send money.” Again, do not do it for them!

Editing to say, you may also want to contact Air to tell them what’s happening before the guest contacts them.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

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Are you a live in host? My decision would depend on if I wanted them out or not.

yes it is a whole house, i dont live there!

How long ago did they make the reservation? How long ago did they indicate they wanted to cancel 4 nights?

A difficult one… :thinking::thinking::thinking:
Reducing the amount of nights would officially be considered a change of reservation ME THINK. And, if there were only a few days between reservation and cancelation, I would have helped them change the reservation and refunded them those days, because in the end they remain guests and I like to be flexible with guests. But what complicates the matter is of course the night they want to return and your one night minimum. On that matter I would have probably asked for a 50% price increase for the one night. That is supposing everything to be arranged PRE-arrival :grin:

But if I understood well, it totally escaped your attention that they wanted to change the reservation. I do think this is a small big mistake on your part. Apologize for the misunderstanding and talk to them about your 2 night minimum, and see if you can get to an agreement that suites both.

EDIT: On the other hand, for a whole house rental, people should understand the 2 night minimum. Try offering a 2 night refund and give in to a 3 night refund.
I’m also wondering if you don’t need a 3 night minimum. A whole house sounds like an awful lot of work to turn over.

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hi! they booked January this year, they sent through a change of booking request about a week later for the same amount of days, and they changed it from 3 people to 4 people. they never said they only want 4 days! thats the thing!

they’ve had 2 months to change it surely they would have noticed the charge on there credit card?

oh and then they said they thought they would wait to see me to discuss? well great now i have no time to get other bookings, and they pulled out the 'i have all the emails and proof" :laughing: i just want to get rid of them but at the same time im gong to loose money

thats what i would have done happily if i had known!

does this sound ok?

"I was sorry to hear you are unhappy with the booking dates, I checked through Airbnb and my emails and the change request I received was for 9 days. As it seems like a genuine mistake, as a gesture of goodwill, I can give you a 50% refund for the 4 days you no longer want.

I also have a 2 night minimum stay so i will refund you for the last day (31st.)

Kind Regards
Olivia"

I mean it sounds good to me but they aren’t going to be happy about it.

i know :sob::sob:

but if i refund them the whole amount im going to be losing money as i won’t fill the dates again. and my policy is strict,

im just filling out the change request but if i do it it will automcatically refund them the whole amount so i need them to send it through. should i add

Please send through a change request with the 4 dates you want to stay (23-27th).
the instructions are here https://www.airbnb.co.nz/help/article/913/can-i-change-a-reservation-as-a-guest

Yea it is probably the best you can do given the situation. At this point they probably wouldn’t be happy regardless. In which case you might as well just keep all the money. But I would probably give them the 50% refund and let them stay the last night at the normal rate. Especially if you won’t rebook those nights in the middle anyway, might as well keep the booking from the last night.

It’s going to sound stupid but: Call with AirBnB, explain the situation and ask them for advice :confounded::confounded::confounded:… Sorry, it’s a sh :poop: tty situation, a catch22, there doesn’t seem to be a winning solution.

Maybe some of the more experienced forum members can give a word of advice: @konacoconutz, @KKC; @jaquo Girls your help is needed ! (Since it’s a sharing economy, I will pay with some extra made-to-measure polls :wink: :rofl:)

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I am not sure what to do, but I would probably not refund. They made the reservation, you held it and they reneged. Why do you have to be the one to lose money? Certainly do not cancel. Let them do that, and only then would you be able to consider refunding. Gut is right. Call Air and get their advice. Try to hold your ground too. Don’t let them intimidate you. I mean the guest.

4 Likes

rang airbnb, they weren’t very helpfu.l basically said do whatever you want, either refund or not. so will send message and see what happens! :grimacing::grimacing:

What is the point in having a Strict cancellation policy if you refund.

Where I have had last minute cancellations especially if they have blocked my system fir a long time I have said they need to cancel and will be happy to refund if I get another booking.

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I would not refund the entire amount, no one should get a free stay. I would refund part as you have offered to do.

I would not refund. They need to cancel and that gives you a chance to rebook. If they want to return, they would need to re-book that day …you have a 2 day minimum for a reason because it is a pain to turn over the place.

1 Like