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.

Gosh OP there's no way DP and I would be staying at your property and we'd be asking for a refund too. If you can't understand why she's asking for a refund given the picture you've shared, I don't think anyone here is going to be able to help you understand. Who leaves tissues and flip flops laying around?

I think you should have either cancelled the booking once you realised that work would be ongoing on the property, or - and I don't know if this is possible on Airbnb - offered a significant discount to acknowledge that work was going on.

They shouldn't have brought a DC that they hadn't specified in advance. But you took a punt keeping the booking when the property wasn't as described in listing, so you just need to take it in your stride. They were probably trying to decide if they could cope with staying there and ultimately decided not.

YABVU

I can see both sides. They lied and knew that it was having work done.

It’s done now. I think a partial refund is fair.

It clearly isn’t in a state currently to be available to book - you need to pause until the works finished and clean properly.

I reckon she understandably didn't like the idea of staying at someone else's house and was looking for an excuse. I wouldn't either TBH.

I am glad I read this thread. I genuinely didn't know that the properties on Air b n b could be rented out by people who normally live there and therefore may leave their personal effects (slippers and tissues 🤢) lying around! I thought that they were buy to let properties that were professionally cleaned between each guest like hotel rooms. I guess I've been lucky so far! Honestly the thought of staying somewhere like this makes me feel a bit sick.

Air BnB host here. Sorry but that property wasn’t isn’t in a position to be rented. YABU

Its okay for you to live in as the owner. Its not okay to rent it out to other people . I would be furious if I travelled to my holiday and found it in that condition. Give them a full refund, apologies profusely and do better @IgglePiggleLovesUpsey.

This has put me right off Airbnb. Just give her the money back. And raise your standards @IgglePiggleLovesUpsey.

The extra bedroom should have been locked, and it sounds like the cleaning wasn't to the standard I would expect from an AirBnb TBH. That's the reason I don't do AirBnb (my husband has suggested we do and I don't think we would be able to maintain it properly...)
But she Hould not have lies about the number of guests either, that needs to be flagged to AirBnb.
Editted for typos

Given the photos and description, your house wasn't in a position to be let.

I'd also make crystal clear on the listing that it's your home that you live in so personal belongings are everywhere. This alone would put me off staying so I'd want to know and make an informed decision.

There's absolutely no excuse for leaving tissues and coffee lids lying around though. If you can't clean it properly you shouldn't be letting it out.

I'd go with this. They clearly intended to bring a child and not pay so they haven't been honest as guests. Partial refund and as a pp said let them argue it out with AirBnB if they want to go for more.

I think the reason you are having back and forth conversations with Airbnb is that it isn't a cut and dried situation.

Electric socket - surprised you hadn't realised but you could have returned to fit the screw, apologised profusely and personally i would have been fine about that.

All the other things are minor and can be excused if it's a family home. Just because people's expectations of Airbnb have changed I would emphasise the fact in your listing that it's a family home etc.

The fact they left without giving you an opportunity to fix things is really crap and the addition of a toddler unacceptable. I suspect you felt pressured to accept this because of the length of the booking they made, the effort of getting the property ready and the loss of money. All fair enough.

What to do? How many bookings/reviews gave you previously had? A negative review isn't ideal if you haven't had many. Offer a partial refund but given the correspondence you had prior to the booking, the additional guest (for which the property wasn't suitable) and the fact they left without trying to resolve the issue they don't deserve a full refund.

So there was building work to the loft incomplete, a light switch that was unsafe, a screw on the floor, a door that wasn't fitted back on, your slippers lying around, a coffee lid left and a used tissue. Yeah I'd have left also.

At what point did you tell them you had building work?

If it was before they arrived, then I think they're being unreasonable. They could have cancelled then. They also looked round before saying they were bringing a 3yo that they hadn't told you about before.

If it was when they arrived, then I think you're being unreasonable because at that point they probably didn't have a choice whether to stay that night or not.

I would not stay there either.

When you book an Airbnb - like I did yesterday - you have to state who will be occupying the property. Number of adults, children, infants. I have booked a place for 2 adults. I cannot then just turn up with a toddler!

Irrespective of the state of the property you have agreed to let your property to 2 customers, not 3.

It’s deffo underhanded of her to bring an extra guest. But … no I wouldn’t stay with the building work like that and it needs to be very clear on the booking it’s your normal living house, not a permanent holiday let

Those stairs @IgglePiggleLovesUpsey
Surely they aren’t compliant with building regs?

The treads look incredibly narrow , steep and a real safety risk.

@IgglePiggleLovesUpsey i dont understand why you would rent out your place to anyone when there is building work going on at all!!

The house doesn’t sound great, but equally those guests sound shifty. Booking for 2 adults then suddenly bringing a young child , supposedly just for the evening, not staying over night. Whose child was it? Theirs? If so, why wasn’t the child staying with them? It all sounds rather strange.

With an air b and b I'd expect it to be professionally cleaned or cleaned to that level. I'd assume they felt uncomfortable sleeping there given the condition assuming bedding wasn't clean etc.

Yeah Airbnb used to be about cheap stays in someone's house and now it's just another way of getting fleeced. People then end up expecting hotel quality from every property, even those in the original set-up with corresponding prices. It is a shame really.