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.

Full refund 100%. Screwing on cupboard doors and clearing up screws is part of cleaning up after the building work. Screwing back switches is also part of the building work, and until it is done I suspect the property doesn't meet health and safety laws. Until this is done, the house is not ready to be re-let. Granted, you thought it was just adults and these things wouldn't pose a DANGER to sensible adults, but still stop trying to grab money be renting out an unfit property.

You have chosen to monetise your property, therefore you should be capable of making decisions based on the business impact and not taking it personally.

Right now the only question you should be asking yourself is what is the outcome that will have least impact on future business. I would suggest that's likely to be a full refund, provided that means they can't leave a review, but I don't know Airbnbs model.

If you choose to take money off people in return for a service, things like this will sometimes happen, and it's best not to allow yourself to be emotionally impacted by it.

Some cultures do yes

doesn’t sound fit for hosting paying guests sorry

YABU it sounds dirty and unsafe. Used tissues left out, loose screws, doors off hinges. Refund them and do better.

Assuming all the wires have been connected OK, you really don't need a builder to screw in a switchplate. You could have easily done that yourself!

Exactly this, I don’t leave dirty slippers, coffee lids and tissues lying around in my own house when it’s just me there, let alone if I was renting it out. 🤢🤢

To me it depends how you've marketed it.

A. Please note this is a lived in working home, and the price reflects this.

B. Glorious Victorian cottage holiday home.

I have stayed in places where they are quite clear that it's an ordinary lived in home, the price is cheap, so my expectations are set to expects shoes in the hall way etc.

I'm afraid the exposed electrics are not acceptable at all op, either way. If it wasn't for that, most people would have overlooked the slippers.

Sorry OP but I'm with the guest on this one. You cannot rent out an unsafe property that has your belongings and rubbish lying about. You need to refund the guest, you have ruined their holiday. I would also be wondering if you are covered by your insurance renting with building work and exposed wires.

Yes. What this comes down to is the safety issue.

While the guest is being a CF bringing an unscheduled and unpaid for toddler, she shouldn't have had the opportunity to be a CF in an unsafe property in the first place.

Even though the guest looked at the place & decided to stay does that absolve Op of all responsibility?

It doesn't sound as if it was fit to rent out.

The guest said she would be bringing a child & Op didn't say no so did she break the ts&cs?

I agree with this.

You said nothing about building work prior to them booking and then after the fact say to avoid the area?! This isn't safe OP and you're being ridiculous. As a paying guest I'd be furious.

Well air BNB seems to always side with the host so offer a good will gesture and air BNB will close the case.

I wuld have been cross to find tissues, slippers, doors leaning against cupboards, open sockets and screws on the floor. So yes - I would probably have left. I used to have an airbnb and none of this would have been acceptable for my standards.

Any building work should have been behind a locked off area, anything else is totally unacceptable regardless of whether it is children or adults.

As for slippers and a used tissue - yuk.

I too would be cross and want a refund.

When walking around someone else's home and being shown things by the owner, you are unlikely to say to their face "that's a bit manky. Jesus, dirty tissue on the floor, exposed wires, someone else's flip flops in the middle of the bathroom." It's just not the British way.

Us Brits tend to just nod our heads, agree politely that everything is good and then deal with the problem by email 😂

It's a bit like when the hairdresser has mutilated your hair and says "it looks great doesn't it?" And you want to scream "what the fuck have you done to my hair??!!" But you don't.

of course they should have booked somewhere that took a 3 year old

You should never have rented out your home with the light switch not completely fitted. It doesn't matter if it only needs 1 screw, the live wires can still be accessed.
I would assume that the persons didn't find the issues they complained about until after they were in the property.
I would also be concerned that these issues could invalidate your house insurance.

They should be given a full refund.

You should not be letting out a house with visible live electric wires and incomplete building work.
When you next let the property, give yourself 5mins for a quick checkover to make sure you don't leave anything personal or unhygienic behind.

The refund is the least of your problems.

What you ought to worry about it a bad review and the guests taking to social media.

This why I don't like Aibnb, it takes revenue away from guest houses and b and bs. They have to spend ££££££ ensuring decent hygiene standards and health and safety. You need to refund though.

You can't charge people to stay in your property when light switches are hanging off the wall. Completely unsafe.

They did not use the service they paid for, they left and notified AirB&B, they get a full refund. You don't get to decide if their reasons are relevant enough + your obviously extremely bias to yourself.

Having 2 adults or 2 adults and a toddler in a 2 bed house really doesn't change anything, Ive never seen an AirB&B charge on number of people its just used to find suitably sized accommodation which a 2 bed place with a double in one room is.

The place being a building site means it wasn't suitable to be let, thats on you. Also was building being abandoned for 11 days or did you expect work men to come and go too?

Frankly you don't have a leg to stand on.

This is my line of business OP. It was the wrong decision to try to rent it out in that state. Full refund.

And improve your cleaning if you want to avoid bad reviews. Pay someone if cleaning is not your thing. Good cleaners are easy to find in London, and Airbnb charges cleaning separately as you know.

I have been running holiday lets for a very long time. I'm afraid I'm with the guest on this one.

I couldn't stay somewhere that was obviously a stranger's home, rather than a dedicated holiday rental. Personal stuff about, particularly slippers would put me off. I did it once, a man lived in an island village (which meant we were trapped) and he moved in with his daughter during the summer, who rented it via Sykes. I'm not joking when I say we had to spend a full day solid cleaning when we arrived. If you rent a home it can't just be clean enough for visitors, it has to be hotel standard clean.