Had a message last night that my guest room bed frame broke. I’ve already purchased a new metal frame and made arrangements for it to be set up this morning/afternoon and the guest is happy. They disassembled the other bed and put the parts in the office room and put the mattress on the floor last night. It’s a wooden bed frame and I had just taken it apart and put it together 2 weeks ago and swapped bedrooms. I’ve had guests in there since I moved it, but honestly, I don’t know if I didn’t put it back together securely or if something gave way. I purchased the house furnished and lots of things in the house have been “southern engineered” so until I see the bed on Sunday I have no idea if it’s broken or just came apart. Either way, doesn’t matter as that isn’t my guests problem. Just my commentary.
I’d like to be proactive and offer something for their troubles. It’s just a two night stay and the nightly rate is $148 plus the taxes. There are 6 adults staying in the room. Should I offer to refund part of their stay? How much? Or give them a free night on their next stay (they live close and drove) or pick up a gift cert for dinner? Suggestions? I’ve never requested any refunds from Airbnb before as I’m brand new and don’t know how that works or how long it takes.
Thanks for the help! P.S. My client is being very understanding.
I would drop off a gift basket of goodies with a card. You can make your own basket by going to the Dollar store to buy some individually wrapped packets of dried fruit, nuts, cookies, etc. Then finish it off with a $10 bottle of wine. It would be cheaper than giving a free night or buying them dinner. If they were there for a week, I would refund one night but since it’s a two night stay, it seems too pricey, especially when you immediately corrected the issue.
good idea…I don’t live in the town so I’ll need to have someone do it for me. I’m loving having a place to ask for things like this
I understand why people don’t give cash refunds/compensation. But as a guest that’s what I would want. On top of that, for you to give a “gift basket” means extra work for you. Another host, @jaquo, likes gift cards from national chains that can be used anywhere like a Chili’s. I don’t like those kinds of restaurants and prefer not to have that kind of compensation.
They paid in $$ not in pistachios or wine, right? So that’s what I comp them.
I agree with that too. what would be an appropriate compensation amount?
Since you don’t know what the cause of the problem is I’d make it a nominal amount. Something like 25% of one night, or “for their time” like $25 thinking they spent an hour messing with it.
But if I found out it was because they had a 6-some on the bed I’d want my money back. 
“Sorry for the inconvenience. We want to be a 5 star experience for all of our guests. Can we offer any compensation $$$s to turn this into a win/win?”
I differ and would vote for gift basket. People love to get presents, it’s makes a “wow” impact, and it’s cheaper than a partial refund.
I would not ask the guest if they had a six-way in the bed, as interesting as that would be to know 
The idea that money needs to be thrown at every inconvenience really rubs me the wrong way. A lot of guests already have that attitude and demand discounts or refunds for any minor perceived inconvenience. There’s no need for hosts to encourage that attitude.
If guests obviously are acting angry about it, sometimes it’s just easier to proffer some discount, but if they aren’t, I think an apology and some little perk is quite sufficient.
It also depends on the result of the bed breaking. If it crashed down in the middle of the night, shocking or injuring the guest, that’s different than if it just minorly collapsed on one edge when the guest sat down on it, or four 200 pound guests were all sitting on it at the same time.
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Wow, what a beautiful presentation. Looks very classy. They will be delighted!
There are 6 adults staying in the room ? This is not only surprising, but it could also be the reason the bed broke. $148 night divided by 6 people is very low priced. What could you possibly give that would be meaningful to any individual after being shared between six adults?
My goodness, I’d not noticed that when I first read the post. That’s $24 per person per night!
As the OP refers to a ‘guest room’ and not ‘apartment’ or ‘suite’ or whatever then it’s hardly surprising that a room (which I assume is for two people max) with six people in it had a broken bed.
I’ve no problem at all with bargain hunters who want to travel frugally as they go about seeing the world, but letting 6 people into a room seems crazy and I’m surprised that there wasn’t more damage.
I’d be more inclined to berate the guests for damaging the property rather than offer compensation.
??? It seems the host was fine with 6 people in one room. At least they haven’t indicated that was a result of sneaking in more guests. So that shouldn’t enter into the response to a broken bed.
Not 6 people in the room, 6 people rented my house. Three bedroom house. Sorry for the confusion.
This brings back memories. My family lived in Marin County, north of San Francisco in the 1980s. The restaurant and lodge at Mt. Tam, with balconies overlooking the bay were one of our favorite places to go for special occasions.
Apologies. I misunderstood.
You didn’t misunderstand. The OP just typo-ed.
