Hello, My guest wants to know if she can get a partial refund because the shower drain drained slow? She is the first guest that had told me about it, and I am handling the problem this morning. I only made $50. last night and my cleaner makes $30. How should I handle this?
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Tell us a bit more about your listing. Whole house, room in a house, etc.
no refund for a slow drain. However, your cleaner can tell you if the drain is slow.
Thank you! Never mind, I resolved it by giving her a $10. refund. She is happy with that!
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I was going to encourage you not to offer a partial refund. A plumbing problem is only grounds for a refund if it’s truly TERRIBLE. Wet feet in the shower is kind of expected. 
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Yes, Thanks for that Levi. I thought it was a bit much. It would of been nice if she said " I think you need to clean the drain, it was draining a bit slow" My cleaner said it was nothing! Oh well, I hope I get a good review out of it. Thanks again Levi!
Wendy, in the future, don’t do that. You’ll feel terrible if you refund over something trivial and the guest leaves a bad review anyway. BTDT!
A slow drain isn’t grounds for a refund for crying out loud. Imagine checking into the Hilton and asking for money back because the drain was slow. You’d just call housekeeping, wouldn’t you?? Or would you go down to the front desk, pound your fist and demand a refund???
Also, before you refund over a drain again, try my drain clearing miracle secret. 
Take some dishwashing soap like Dawn, with known grease dissolvers, and pour like 1/4 cup down a clogged drain. And EVERYTHING will go down!!! You don’t even need to plunge.
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Thank you! Yea, I’m pretty unhappy that I caved so easy but confrontation is not my strong suit. I don’t think I did her a favor or the community because she will probably do it again. The Airbnb guy I talked to on the phone basically said the agreement is that the house is in good working order and if the drain is not working and she is standing in water then It’s not working properly. Thanks for your support Kona
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I agree that a slow drain is not grounds for a refund. It’s relatively likely some minor thing will go wrong with a stay, I think. Though I am not as experienced as some. And a slow drain is pretty minor. If we gave refunds right and left for every little thing, we’d make no money at all. And Airbnb doesn’t care whether hosts make money or not, so don’t worry about them.
The guest does has a right to have it fixed quickly. Though, frankly, she could probably fix it herself. Do you have a plunger in the bathroom?
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Thanks! I’m new to Hosting and a people pleaser by training, But I really appreciate the wake up calls to what is FAIR by this Airbnb community, it was a burn for me, for sure. Thanks
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Smart thing to do. No reason to risk poor review over $10. Not sure extent of problem but a slow drain can be a big problem. People don’t want to stand in standing water in shower.
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Nothing wrong with pleasing people. In large part that’s what hospitality is about. But maybe take a moment to reflect on what is being asked of you is reasonable. There are people who will take advantage of your good nature if they can.
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Well, you just got scammed.
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A refund is not a guarantee of anything!!!
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What kind of drainer, excuse the pun, asks for a partial refund for a slow drain on what appears to be a budget priced listing? I’m flabbergasted 
. I would also put that in my review.
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If a guest is requesting a partial refund I would say your have close to a 100% chance of a negative review if you say no. (Not saying the refund is warranted or negative review is appropriate). If you make them happy with a partial refund I would say that % drops considerably.
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Well we can’t let guests hold us hostage because of the threat of bad reviews. So you are going to let guests push you around because you worry about negative reviews? Extortion is against the TOS, so if it happens you can report them and have the review removed.
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Yes definitely. Will pay $10 all day long to avoid a bad review. There is a story of Nordstrom allowing a customer to return a set of car tires to maintain good customer service (not hard to figure out they were not sold there). Obviously there is a tipping point, but I try my best to appease the crazies.
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Well… think how bad you would feel if you refunded HUNDREDS to avoid a bad review and got one anyway? BTDT!!!
Playing that game doesn’t help you avoid anything. And if you mention it to the guest, it could be viewed as bribery or extortion.
This is not how we should be dealing with guests, and honestly, Air has created this culture of review mania, enabling just the sort of behavior you describe.
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No review yet and I think she owes me a good one BUT I think Im just going to write her off.
Did you guarantee it would drain within a certain period of time.
No!
Ludicrous…
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