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Hi my name is Sophia and this is my first time writing on the airbnb forum. We have a house that we decided to rent in Mykonos.
Our first guest was very happy when he arrived and we had a review 5 out of 5. I was very happy with that because it gives you the feedback that we did it right.
Unfortunately my second experience as a host is not the same.
When the guests arrived at the property they started telling the housekeeper that this house is not what they had in mind. That they want to leave. She tried to give them instructions for the house and they were rude at her. When I spoke with him on the phone he told me that the description of the house is not what it is in reality.
FALSE: I have thankfully our dialogue on airbnb platform when he asks me if it consists of one house or two and I clearly told him that there are two separate houses, one is small 30m and the second is 80m. I also told him that the bathroom on the one house is very small. The pictures reflect the real house.
After our discussion he then said that they want to leave the next morning but they want the refund.
I told them that I have a strict cancellation policy but nevertheless the owner will give them back the 50%. The deducted amount would be the cleaning costs, check in expenses, house set up ameities, taxation, airbnb service fee and the one night that they stayed.
Then he replied that they will stay because the 50% is not working for them and that they will stay.
After that I said that I understand him and that I would be available in case he needs any arrangement.
I am very disappointed because I really donât want to leave people dissatisfied. I have worked so hard to help them with all the arrangements. We are very descriptive for the house and the photos reflect the reality 100%. The location is amazing but for them it is difficult to reach because of the steep hill that is mentioned at the description.
I wanted to ask if there anything I could do to change their perspective for the house so I donât get a bad review
Sophia, as youâre a new host just be aware that youâre going to get weird guests from time to time. Donât take it personally and try to imagine scenarios with annoyed guests and how youâre going to deal with them. Itâs important to have your responses ready in your hosting arsenal.
Bear in mind too that one of the hostsâ mantras is âguests donât readâ so donât rely on your listing to let guests know exactly whatâs what.
This is quite a common âscamâ by a certain kind of guest in our area. They book multiple properties, and then visit them all when they arrive.
They choose the one they like most, and cancel all others.
Make sure you include a photo of that steep hill in your listing in the beginning of the photo section. That may scare away guests who want to avoid steep hills.
We just had a guest from Canada book and immediately requested a full refund and did not indicate where they would go next. They tried to claim mold. Unfortunately for them, we are in the process of selling our Airbnb home so we happen to have a full copy of our 2019 inspection and pest report available that obviously says otherwise. The guest ended up losing $2,500+ in deciding to go with this bogus claim. Airbnb sided with us.
I remember reading that Airbnb will not give refunds for a reservation that overlaps with another reservation, so the group would need to have multiple guests with different accounts to pull that off, and the guests lose 2 nights for each cancellation unless they fake some issue and get away with it. Kinda risky.
We had a similar experience with our very first guests via AirBnB last year.
I had been very careful to describe the property very accurately along with the surrounding area, also strongly recommending that guests hire a car for their trip.
I believe that the couple did not read one word of the property description, just looked at the photos. They arrived with no car expecting to be able to walk to bars and restaurants every evening. When they found this was not possible they wanted to cancel and get a 50% refund. I was sympathetic, but refused on the basis that they were at fault, not I.
It is uncomfortable in such cases and it made us feel bad, but when you know that you are 100% in the right then it is best to stick to your guns. In my opinion if guests take 20 minutes to read all the details and do a tiny bit of research then such situations can easily be avoided.
In the end our guests decided to stay and enjoyed their holiday. They left no review, but since then we have hosted 9 times and received 7 reviews in total, all five star.
