I woke up this morning to multiple pictures from a guest that checked in late. She is claiming that she found 2 hairs and something else on a pillow. I’m not sure what it was. I’m thinking she is trying to scam me for a refund. While she did provide photos, this listing is brand new. She is the 3rd guest to stay there. I have had over 300 turns in the last 10 months and not 1 renegade hair complaint. Our cleaners do a good job and catch stuff all the time. In addition the hair in the photo is long, like the guest, not the 3 middle age men that just stayed there. She’s claiming the sheets were not washed in between guests which we have multiple sets so if there is not time to wash 10 beds worth of sheets housekeeping can use a fresh set and take the dirty sheets home. I’m going to send housekeeping back to change the sheets and apologize profusely but I have a suspicion that she is going to ask for a refund. What have you done when you have received a rouge hair complaint?
I’ve never had one and I use a sticky roller on all the linens. Thing is, it’s hard to look someone in the eye and lie and say it was there already. It sounds like you aren’t around to go inspect. I have a hard time imagining anyone trying this one on me.
Your plan is a good one. I’m assuming she reported this right away so the new sheets were put on before she slept on them? I apologize and maybe have the housekeepers take a bottle of wine for the inconvenience. NO REFUND. If this was late at night and she had to sleep on the supposedly dirty sheets, maybe I’d do a small refund. Free night? NO.
Also work mention of it into the review so if it happens to the next host we have a heads up. Something like “Christine was very patient when we sent housekeeping in to deal with alleged dirty sheets.”
I personally check in 99% of my guests & give them a quick tour & answer any questions. This gives me a chance to give the place a last minute check & make sure nothing was overlooked. This also keeps them from being able to lie about conditions because they know I was with them when they checked in.
Hotels probably give in because the person deciding doesn’t lose out and it stops a scene. But we need to stop these people doing it to AirBnB hosts who can ill afford it. As for her claims I would say “I have spoken to the housekeeper and she has marked off the room as cleaned and sheets changed for clean ones and I trust her word on this as she has worked for me for many years” (whether than is all true or not). Get the housekeeper to show you the “dirty” sheets and make up your own mind if they have been cleaned before offering a refund.
Agree with @KKC, maybe a small “goodwill” refund but if you’re sure the sheets were changed between guests, don’t give in to offering a refund. If the guest makes a comment in the public review, I’d actually answer, even if otherwise I’m not a fan of public answers to reviews, like “we are very sorry that the sheets we had prepared for you in the first place were not up to your expectations, but are happy that you found the second set of sheets our cleaners immediately provided to be adequate” or something like that. What’s important is that potential guests understand that even if there may have been an issue, true or not, you did not question the guest, but rather reacted and tried to accommodate your guest promptly, and that actually speaks highly of you as a host.
and about the 2 hairs on the pillow? I mean, come on. This can happen, in rentals, in hotels, luxury or not. If I find a hair on the pillow or the floor when I check in somewhere, but the rest of the room is immaculate, yes of course I am not gonna be thrilled, but I would not even go to the reception to ask for a new room or whatever. I’d just put it in the bin and go on with my stay:) If that’s mentioned in the public review, you could say “our professional cleaners are fantastic and usually catch everything before a new guest comes in, and we are very sorry if an unruly hair escaped our attention this time, we’ll make sure it does not happen again” - it’s important you get the message across that you have professional cleaners and you usually have no issue with cleanliness
And yes, please, mention in the review of the guest as KKC suggests.
Let us know how this unfolds:)
I never have. I’m sure that there are stray hairs in the apartments though - mine. If the cleaners have been working with you for years and genuinely are up to Airbnb standards then you’ve nothing to worry about.
If you’re 100% confident that the rental was in ideal shape when the guest arrived then there’s no problem in simply saying so to her. If I absolutely knew that there were no issues then there’s no way I’d send housekeeping to change clean sheets for more clean sheets. I wouldn’t even consider a refund and I would ignore any demand she might make.
Write in the Airbnb message system:
“Further to your message this morning, I can assure you that I changed the sheets myself after the last guest for perfectly laundered bedding. The entire apartment was thoroughly cleaned and personally inspected by me.”
See if she has the nerve to call you a liar 
“Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Your linen has been replaced. I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
I am reminded that 10 years ago Air was couch surf paradise. Now we answer to inspections that would find fault in a 4 star hotel.
That would imply to me that the guest was correct in their complaint.
Good news! Her reservation is complete and she did not ask for any type of refund. I did send housekeeping back and they changed out all the bedding again on all 3 beds in that room and then made up all the other rooms as a courtesy. I dropped off some wine, apologized and hope thatI don’t get slammed in the review. Realistically, there was other linens that she could have used but, I guess changing a pillow case was too hard. I agree with Marie, that common sense would be, just pick it off and go about the day, or change it out with the other linens. Like Justmandi, said, the guests want 5 star experiences but are forgetting they are renting a home that doesn’t have 24 hour staff on site. It’s not like any one of us wake up and go, hmm, How can I make my airbnb crappy, I want the guest to have a bad trip, find a hair, stained towels or anything along those lines. We want them to have a nice, clean and safe place to stay and hopefully return again (if they are good).
Okay, well I might wake up and go, please, no makeup stained towels, please no ruined showers from hair dye or self tanners, please, tell me the main line is not clogged again from feminine products and wipes.
Guest perspective: I have to have 200 things in the unit in order to leave a 5 star review and If I don’t like your art you will get a bad review or you didn’t give me a discount them I’m giving you a low value rating because I could have stayed somewhere else cheaper.
Host: Please don’t stain my sh*t, break things and take your trash out