What's your opinion? Did I overcompensate, undercompensate, or just right?

1

Just refunded one night for A/C compressor death in the Airbnb suite. Guest notified me Sunday a.m. it was not working and 78 in the suite, and reported that evening that it was up to 85 when they returned. They messaged again Monday a.m. before checking out.

I am normally round about here, but was out of town celebrating a family thing – involving copious amounts of prosecco – and missed their first messages until this a.m.

The night temps were respectively 62 and 72, and I assume they were clever enough to open the windows Sunday night.

This happened once a couple years ago, but I was here and offered check out or fans – those guests were unfazed, perhaps because they were European, and chose fans – and my usual all purpose tote bag of local goodies.

Comping a night in this case was more based on my taking 24 hours to respond than on the underlying problem. What would you have done?

2

I’d have done the same.

I learned a few years ago that going out of town and renting my Airbnb don’t mix. Power went out and I was awakened in the middle of the night, unable to do anything. My co-host, also my house sitter, was on the way home from work. As it turns out the power came back on within a half hour and it wasn’t related to anything I or my co host could have done. Now I only have people in my Airbnb when I gone if they are friends who aren’t paying anyway.

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3

Although to me, nighttime temps of 62 and 72 are perfectly comfortable (62 is way too cold for me, hardly AC territory), what you compensated sounds reasonable to ward off possible disgruntlement with either the temp or your lack of immediate response.

4

I agree. I"m not one to refund and seriously, the outside temps were cool enough but I do like my AC so I’d be upset.

As an FYI - I have two ceiling fans and some portable fans that I always leave in the suite. It also helps to air out the place after guests leave.

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5

Refunding one night was the right thing to do.

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6

I had that exact thing happen in the middle of a 2 night stay last September. The AC guy came out, inspected and told me the whole system (AC and furnace) needed to be replaced. Immediately refunded one of the two nights to the guests. They weren’t super happy, but chose to stay. The high was going to be 80, and my place has large windows that open and new ceiling fans in every room, so not super hot. I wasn’t happy about having to replace an $8,500 HVAC system 2 months into beginning hosting and 9 months after purchasing the building either. Large ticket building maintenance happens, you deal and move on.

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7

I would’ve comped either way, even if I had responded sooner.

This time of year AC is a primary amenity. So, regardless of the temperature outside or what I think the temperature should be to turn on the AC (which is actually about 93+ outside for me), it’s a broken and unavailable amenity. That gets a comp from me no matter what the temp or how quickly I respond.

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8

Yes, being a homeshare host & having guests (if you’re not home) is a recipe for disaster. Even with a capable house/critter sitter on hand, I’d not feel comfortable with guests there. If something goes wrong, I want to be there to handle it myself.

9

Every summer I go to Canada for about 5 weeks to visit family. I have a friend who house and pet sits for me in my absence. The first time he did it, he asked if I was continuing to book guests that he would have to deal with. I said of course not. I just can’t imagine that.

He’s actually a very responsible person, and very clean, so I’d trust him to present the space in an acceptable state, but he’s such a strange character that he would likely weird guests out. I doubt they would feel comfortable sharing the kitchen with him as they do when I’m here. Not to mention, he doesn’t even use a phone. He has one, but rarely turns it on.

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10

I would have done the same. It helps to give the refund before people have to ask.

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11

And the result is (drumroll) – excellent reviews on both sides.

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12

We just experienced a very sad ( 2 night) booking. A man came from WA with his Mom, a 3rd year Alzheimers patient to see her Mom, an independent 91 year old. After one night he sent me the saddest texts and had decided he had to move them into a hotel. I think he needed to be able to keep and eye on her during the night and all our beds are separated. He said they both really loved it and she especially would have adored the memories when she still could. We refunded him 125$ .

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