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.

You're being unreasonable for the use of 'reached out'.
The words you want are 'I contacted'.

Reached out....😂

If I left immediately, I’d ask for a refund. If I had no choice but to stay, I’d want a partial refund or some other form of compensation.

I don’t want to see grime when I enter a hotel or rental so I always look for very high hygiene ratings and reviews before I book.

Away from the rooms they'd paid to use?
They paid for the entire property.
That's how the insurance would see it if there was a claim

To be fair to OP, £90 a night in London for two rooms is cheap, so the guests were crazy to think it would be top notch. They would have been better off at a PremierInn.

OP I think you're going to have to accept that Airbnb-ing requires a higher level of professionalism than you realised.

Guests will have high expectations, not necessarily proportionate to the lower rates that they're paying.

They'll expect tip-top cleanliness. They'll expect every electrical terminal to be safe. They'll expect cupboard doors to be in place. If they're hiring a property, they will expect to have full use of it and any part that is for whatever reason off-limits to be securely inaccessible.

Safety and perceived safety is number 1 priority for hirers.

Airbnb is not an informal arrangement. It requires a commitment from the service provider that the property is fully compliant with regulation and reasonable expectations.

Your property didn't meet the standards most hirers would expect. Yet rather than acknowledging this, you are doggedly defensive and seem to feel your guests are the only party being unreasonable in this transaction.

Even at £90 a night in London, you can expect the place to be safe

The tissue etc, I wouldn't be fussed about but unsafe features (the cupboard door is also a massive risk) would be a problem, even cheap.

Those stairs don't even look safe. They should be blocked off for sure whilst booked out, regardless of age of guests!

Exactly.

Instead of being defensive you could use this as a learning curve to understand your market and how to make Airbnb work for you.

Airbnb was founded on renting out rooms and personal properties - they’re not all immaculate by to lets - but even with your own home there is a minimum standard of cleanliness, safety and finish that is required to rent out to paying customers.

One aspect to consider is whether it’s worth paying a cleaner if you’re not the best, it could be worth the investment if it yields better experiences and reviews.

Do you have proper holiday let insurance and do you comply with fire regs?

You really need to look at this for your own sake.

You seem to think that the family objected to one minor issue with the property, but then go on to drip feed a number of issues of varying significance. If I found light switch plates unscrewed, cupboard doors off their hinges, random bits of rubbish lying around (including construction items like a screw), and personal items like slippers, I'd feel uncomfortable and would be wondering what else I was going to find. Look at it from their point of view, they've been inconvenienced and have had to find alternative, safe, comfortable accommodation because your place was unsuitable.

THE 'OUT OF BOUNDS/ DO NOT ENTER BIT'

I'd love to know the layout of your house @IgglePiggleLovesUpsey

I'd assume both bedrooms in a 2-bed Victorian terrace house were upstairs?
You mention them only having to 'walk along the corridor' to access the rooms they use. Is this corridor upstairs?

But unless you've converted a reception room to a bedroom, the guests must be sleeping upstairs.

Are you doing a loft conversion where part of the landing has new stairs?

I'm really puzzled how, in a relatively small house, any part can be 'out of bounds'.

Can you explain?

To me it sounds okay but I am never fussy at all where I stay (exception is a place that had building work and drainage problems and we couldn’t open the windows and we still stayed on just accepted reduction in price!! ) from the way you speak eg ‘I forgot to wipe’, I would guess that people who stay/ have the most pristine places maybe wouldn’t agree.

You're her perfect guest!

LadyPamelaH

I edited fine to ok probably before you commented (!) because with the building stuff etc fine doesn’t sound great but as I said people have different standards and some people just really want a place to lay their head but I get that others might want something more

Because OP thinks they've rented the 2 bedrooms bathroom and kitchen and living room
Whereas the guests and AirBnB and everyone else know they've rented the whole house.
That's the top and bottom of it

That's the top and bottom of it

Pun intended?

I agree but which other rooms are there in a 2-bed Victorian terrace?

Wow, this has become an extraordinarily long thread over something that could have and should have been sorted much earlier on. OP, I hope you have learnt your lessons and have refunded or partially refunded your guests.

On that note, I must admit that I have only read the first 20ish posts on this thread, so apologies if I have missed anything extra that the OP has done / hasn't done.

LadyPamela, why are you so overly invested in this thread? I recall thinking that early on when you got involved. I thought you were related to the guests and are trying to make a point, but you're still going on like a pitbull unwilling to let go. You have been so hard on the OP that it's made me question your motives. It does not add up. I'm not quite sure what it is, but something has annoyed and triggered you immensely.

Care to explain?

I’m horrified by the socket/ switch hanging off tbh,
guest should not have brought an extra person, and should of messaged you to say they were leaving and not happy
but if I’d seen the switch I also would have left along with tissues slippers etc
op you need to start over and up your game
not everyone can express their opinion about the actual issues to you face
air b and b are in this case correct
I would send a message of apology to the guest , suck it up and start afresh.

Reading some of the comments and blaming OP is wrong IMO , the guest was happy to accept and even happier to bring their 3yo along also so it couldn't have been that bad. A tissue and a pair of slippers does not warrant a refund, I'd offer maybe 20% no more

Airbnb would have overruled you, quite rightly.

Guest then saw the state of the accommodation and left....

I would check Airbnb's terms and conditions carefully- with Booking.com (which I have experience of) there is a very clear cancellation policy which is stated when you book, if they seem supportive of your position send the clients an email stating that they don't have the right to cancel and that you will be taking the case to the small claims court- and see what happens, it might not be with following through as it is a hassle and costs up to £300- you'll have to weigh it depending on how out of pocket you are.

I have only read the OP posts but this is EXACTLY why we are now in such a mess in Scotland. Property like this.

So instead of dealing with this kind of thing, there is now a complete licence regime. Where nobody can let a room or a property without one, and the councils cannot cope with the demand to issue them.

I'm talking fire safety assessments, insurance, pat testing for every single item. Floor plans, water testing, legionnaires assessment's. Fire doors, shared access plans, neighbours surveys. The lot.

Now while for some this is needed, it's hit hard, very hard. And it was aimed at people letting bedrooms in unsuitable properties in Edinburgh and air b and b

Similar experience to me. I sucked it up and stayed the five nights but I will never stay with Airbnb again as a result. Health and safety is vital. Screws on floor, unfinished building work and electrical covers is unacceptable

I have an AirBnb and wouldn’t rent it out if there were building work going on. It has to be pretty much immaculate before guests arrive, as far as I am concerned.
Having said this, am I right in thinking the original booking didn’t mention a child? I don’t take bookings with children and would be extremely displeased if anyone tried to sneak one in, and would forbid them entry to the property if they tried.

As others have said, sounds a bit chaotic to me and I wouldn’t want to stay there.