Guest walks out of Airbnb and wants full refund

[IgglePiggleLovesUpsey]

I've had a bit of a crap day today tbh and the icing on the cake has been having to liaise with Airbnb support - I feel I have gone over so many details regarding a guest that decided to leave early due to issues with my property and now wants full refund.- so naturally I have come here to go over it again.

Timeline

• guests confirms that she and her partner will be using property only but would like use of spare bedroom. 2 adults
• I inform guest some building work has taken place to access loft eg new staircase and loft hatch, it's not quite finished so please avoid the area. She says it's fine.

• Guest arrives, is shown round property, then mentions she will be returning and bringing 3yo. They return, order takeaway, use bathroom etc and then contact Airbnb support to complain about property and say they want to leave citing hygiene and safety as issue. They don't cancel reservation.
• Airbnb contact me, back and forth we go, I want to know what the issue is exactly and be shown photos but they aren't shared.

I call, I message etc and eventually I reach out to guest asking to clarify issues and if she has left of intending to, only then do I find out she left that night. By this point I've stayed away for 2 nights and have packed all my stuff expecting them to stay for 11 nights. I think it's cheeky for them to expect a full refund when they made use of the facilities, didn't indicate they had any issues when being shown around, cost me time and effort to prep for their arrival , lied about number of guests and never even informed anyone they had left.

Or am I unreasonable? They found one small screw on the floor...so they felt it was unsafe for the child...the one we didn't know was going to be there. Also I forgot to check behind the TV stand...there was a clean coffee lid and a light switch to the loft in the area they were asked to avoid wasn't screwed back. I wiped clean the mirrors one last time before leaving and the tissue was referred to as 'trash' left lying around and bathroom slippers suddenly counted as shoes left lying around. The only issue I accept wasn't ideal was that a cupboard - that was not for the use of the guests but had the door removed and was leaning against cupboard.

But these guests found a screw, a coffee lid, tissue, broken cupboard and exposed wiring within a couple of hours. Who knows what else would have turned up had they stuck around.

IMHO there's wrong on both sides.

The guests were aware of the building work and were indeed shown it and agreed it was OK.

They denied any other guests, then brought a toddler, which changes safety precautions considerably, and may have had an impact on costs.

They left without telling the owner, who may have been able to resolve the issues amicably if they were given the chance.

The flip flops and a tissue I would find mildly annoying but not a reason to leave. Just chuck the tissue in a bin or down the loo and ignore the flip-flops. Maybe mention in the review. The screw and socket a bit more unsafe especially with the toddler, but the owner didn't know about the toddler anyway!

I think if I was the owner I'd offer a partial refund as a goodwill gesture.

The level of comprehension on this thread is terrible.

It's not usual to view an Airbnb before booking AND this guest didn't.

They arrived and were shown around on arrival. Not a week before.

The 'week before' refers to the booking they made and the info the OP provided about the work still needing to be done.

There is a huge difference between what the OP may have described in an email and the reality.

Can you consider that they were so appalled at the building site state they saw that they said nothing?

I can. It takes a brave guest to speak out and say 'This is just appalling'.

I'd not be picking up snotty tissues, (even if they had been used to clean a mirror) or be happy about loose plugs hanging off the wall. Nope- not even as an adult.

I'd be gobsmacked, make a hasty retreat, collect the child, go back to the house with some food, mull it over and decide that it wasn't suitable.

Given OP's lack of clarity or honesty here on her thread, who knows how she described he building work to them by email?

Ok just read through again and ‘she left that night’
so didn’t stay a night but made use of the property

In which case how much is owing depends still on length of stay but more importantly whether there is a time period agreed for a cancellation. If there is then that needs to be paid
This could also depend on when the client cancelled their reservation online ( I have no idea if that’s up to OP to do )

Yes, it's rather elaborate.

The wiring wasnt exposed - The socket cover wasn’t screwed back and there’s a photo of that. ( although that’s a two second job if you’ve got a screwdriver on hand and no idea why OP didn’t just screw it in place )

OP clearly states the socket is on another floor which wasn’t available as part of the rental anyway, so they shouldn’t be there. They were told this

I would not be at all happy if I booked an AirBnB and it had

• a socket hanging off the wall (you say it’s not that dangerous but loose electricals are not okay)
• a cupboard door taken off and lying around
• rubbish lying around (screws and tissue and stuff behind the TV) - I’d assume the room hadn’t been properly cleaned at all.
• random shoes left on the floor

Okay an AirBnB may be someone’s home but you are still paying to stay there. It’s not letting your mate stay in your spare room for free as a favour (and I would be embarrassed even about letting a friend stay for free in a room with loose electrical and cupboard doors and rubbish lying around too).

I can also totally imagine being upset and not knowing whether or how to raise it. Perhaps initially thinking “this is bad but I guess I’ll just suck it up because I don’t like confrontation”. Then sitting in the room, talking it over with DH, and one of us then saying “sod this; this is awful, we’re leaving”.

Yeah but what confused me was this sentence by the OP "again a part of the house that wasn't listed as part of the booking so shouldn't affect their stay."

If she was renting them the entire house then it was part of the rental.

I wouldn't give a full refund though as they did know in advance about the works, did not advise about the child and they should have given her a chance to address issues rather than leaving without telling them. They said they wanted the use of the 2nd bedroom so they did know about the child.

That is exposed wiring. Two second job or otherwise, it wasn't done and the wiring was left exposed.

All the nit picking over what is a loose wire or a socket not properly fixed is a nonsense.

This place would not comply with any building regs if it was for sale, rent or whatever.

Her insurance is unlikely to be valid to cover public liability so getting a few quid back for the rent is neither here nor there.

She's lucky they didn't hurt themselves and she ended up in court.
They had a lucky escape but, my God, so did she.

You seem to be convincing yourself that they were making things up now. Did they pull the cupboard door off too?

Love the fantasy you’ve made up of them ‘using the facilities’ and ‘having naps and chilling’ rather than sitting for a couple of hours discussing whether they felt it was safe and clean enough to stay and looking for alternative accommodation.

OP you've just gotten more unreasonable by insinuating they planted things

If you really thought that, why not say from the start?

You now come across as trying to make up reasons why you're right because you've been, quite rightly, called out for your BS

I've stayed in a few airbnbs that have been a bit rough around the edges and wouldn't have thought twice about these issues. I guess it depends on how transparent it was at the time of booking that there was building work going on.

Presumably this has been massively disruptive to the people who made the booking to have to find somewhere else. I don't think they would have done that unless they felt really uncomfortable there.

In part of the building that they do not have permission to access and are not paying to access.
They are adults, they were told this.

Liability doesn't really work like that. If it's accessible it has to be safe. It's that simple.

That’s illegal ageism, OP.

I wonder if OP downplayed the extent of the work being done, as after all according to her getting a new staircase fitted is not a renovation.

I think the people probably had a cursory initial look round with the OP but kept discovering these subsequent issues with the property. It would be interesting to see all of the pictures.

For the sake of recovering one nights rent, it's much more plausible to state you offered a full refund.

It’s on a different floor.!!
If they don’t have access and that’s confirmed then that’s trespass

We could go on and on here but basically they agreed to the property and were told upstairs wasn’t for rent. So keep out!

You can't accuse anyone of 'trespass' in part of the house you've rented out and which isn't behind a locked door.

The out of bounds area was the new stairs from a landing into a loft.

Honestly, some posts here are crazy.

If you read through. I was referring to a comment re liability
Agree some posts on here are completely crazy.

Lol. It's an open staircase in a rental property. If they can reach it, it needs to be safe.

And that is why I asked if they had rented the entire house or certain rooms, and it seems they rented the entire house. So that does make a difference as that does include the WHOLE house so she is liable for the WHOLE house whether she expected them to use it or not.

Liability applies to the whole house. It includes a staircase even if they aren't allowed to access the loft via it.

Do you really think that a house with loose sockets and wires showing is okay to rent out ?

The fire regs are possibly being breached as well if there are no fire doors on landings leading to other rooms.

Basically, it could be viewed as a death trap.

It doesn't matter, it still needs to be safe. You can't just rent out a house that has dangers in it and say "well, I told you about them in advance".