Hi all the hosts,
I haven’t been a host for too long, but already a Superhost. I have always been friendly and helpful to my guests. But my last guest turned out to be a nightmare and now I am even worried about my safety.
A woman is her 50s booked for 8 weeks. I allowed her to check in early on the first day and then drove her to a supermarket to do her shopping. She bought 5 bottles of wine on the first day, and more on following days. She was fully aware of my house rules not wearing shoes in the house, but refused to do so. The bedroom carpet was left with dirty mud. I made it clear on the website that there is a £3 charge for using the washing machine. When she first came, I kindly offered her to do her first laundry for free, a couple of days later, she put something like two pairs of socks in the washing machine and did an hour cycle. So I said that we need to following the extra charge rules at £3 each time using the washing machine. She agreed to pay me in cash when she leaves. But guess what? She would not use the washing machine when I am in the house (I am away for most of weekends). She then tell me that she did not use it. I know that she did use it. She also had her husband over to stay for one night (so she said, I was away for 3 days).
What came after was even worse. Three weeks into her 8 weeks booking, she told me that she broke her shoulder and cancelled her booking. I am not sure if it was true or not. She messaged me in the morning that she managed to book a flight for that day and will leave at 3.30pm (my check out time is 10am). As I have a strict cancellation policy, she was refunded for less she wished for. She believes that is was me who decided how much she should be refunded, and started blackmailing me. I was notified that she has written a review for me. I contacted Airbnb and they confirm that they have noticed the blackmail and will not publish her review (you can image the review must be bad). She now requested for a full refund.
Can someone advice me what I should do from here? Will Airbnb force me to give her refund?
Thank you for all your help
Kind regards
That’s unfortunate 
Airbnb will not force you to give a refund.
In the future, know that if a guest breaks any rule (within reason) you have listed under the “House Rules” section of your booking you have the right to cancel their booking immediately. Simply call Airbnb and explain the rule break to them. If they agree they will cancel the guests booking on the guests behalf and inform the guest to vacate the premises immediately. Also, be sure to take photo and/or video evidence of the rule break if applicable.
Thanks for your advice. Really appreciated.
Hi sirvin,
My guest cancelled her booking 3 weeks into her 8 weeks booking. She said that she broke her shoulder (I am not sure if it’s true).
Can Airbnb force me to refund her under special circumstances?
I am sorry you had this experience. The review won’t be posted and do not offer any refund. It would be different if she had been a nice guest. Call airbnb, explain the situation and your strict refund policy and ask them if they have your back.
Had you provided an extra discount due to the long stay? If so, it seems she may have said she was staying for 8 weeks but only intended for the 3 week stay to get the discount.
As far as I’m aware of, they cannot force you to give a refund under any situation. However, I have not experienced a situation like this.
This is not an accurate statement. The host doesn’t get to decide if there is a refund. AirBNB does.
@smtucker This has not been my experience. Can you elaborate?
There are many posts on this forum where hosts have relayed stories that ended up with refunds to guests. Just last weekend, AirBNB canceled a guest three hours before checkin since they wanted to bring 3 people more than my maximum and I can assure you there was no payment the next day. I was not asked if this was acceptable.
You maybe right. I offer 10% discount for stay over a month. I didn’t think of that.
I totally agree with you. If she has been a nice guest, I have no problem to refund her, I have done it before to other guests,
Yes they can. If it was some really emergency situation and proof is produced by guest Airbnb will give refund
Hello @Caihong
I am so sorry you had this experience. I know you mention you are a superhost, but I think you would benefit from becoming more familiar with how airbnb works to help you manage your listing. Do have a look at Airbnb Help Centre, which has lots of useful information including how the cancellation policies work.
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You don’t have a booking on a strict cancellation policy, you have a booking on a long term cancellation policy. If your guest has cancelled through Airbnb they will process the cancellation in line with this policy.
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Please don’t let your guest walk all over you. You don’t need to let guests check in early, take them shopping, do their laundry, or let them break your house rules continuously without penalty
If she breaks your house rules remind her in writing that if she does it again, you will need to ask Airbnb to cancel the booking. Breaking the shoes rule, having her husband stay, using your washing machine without paying.
Just confirm that she is being refunded in line with the policy she booked under. Airbnb may ask if she want to refund her more than she is entitled to, make sure you say no.
If Airbnb decides there are extenuating circumstances (see Airbnb Help Centre) they can force a refund but hopefully this won’t happen in this case.
Thanks for you reply.
Yes, she has been refunded once she calcelled her booking after staying for 3 weeks. She is not happy with what she received and believes it was me who decided the amount. She took it a bit too personal and blackmailed me.
She has posted a review which Airbnb agreed to block it after reading her blackmail.
She has also made a request for more refund, and I have about 48 hours from now to respond.
I do not wish to write a bad review for her. Actually I noticed that she has been an Airbnb member since 2016, but doesn’t have a single review.
As I mentioned in my earlier post all you have to do is say no to the refund.
I can’t understand why you wouldn’t want to leave an honest review. Your fellow hosts rely on hosts giving honest reviews to make decisions about which guests to host. Would you really want another host to have to go through, what you went through with this guest?
Perhaps other hosts decided not to leave a review and that’s how you ended up having to host this awful guest.
Not sure if Airbnb would post my review if I did, as they have blocked hers.
It would be unfair if they didn’t you haven’t done anything wrong, but why not ask them?
You are well rid of her. Now you must thank your stars.
You didn’t ask, but … I would avoid doing all the running around. She rented a room, not a maid, butler, concierge, cook, mommy, laundry girl and chauffeur. And… god knows what else. You don’t need this kind of guest… Doing these kinds of things will attract the wrong type of guest.
AirBnb may indeed refund her, with the new cancellation policies. If she has sent you a res center request, simply decline it. It’s out of your hands after that point.
Hi, thank you so much for reminding me about my long stay discount policy.
Guess what? I remembered that this woman made a booking for 3 weeks and extended to 8 weeks. I just went back to check her messages and noticed that she initially booked till the 16th February and that was the day she told me that she broke her shoulder and had to cancel her 8 weeks booking. She extended for 8 weeks to get the discount, but didn’t realise that it would actually cost her more. That’s why she is getting so mad.
All clear now! I am going to pass this information to Airbnb.
Shocking discovery!!!
The guest who cancelled her 8 weeks booking after staying for 3 weeks initially booked for 3 weeks and extended for 8 weeks. She must have noticed that I offer discounts for long term booking. The day she cancelled her booking was the same day she said that she broke her shoulder. What a coincidence!
She is now requesting a full refund.
Decline it and be glad she is gone,