Alternation requests from a month to a day

[Nancy621]

Hello everyone,

I have been a host since end of July still pretty new.

Something pretty crazy just happened, A women contacted me about my listing, saying she wasnt comfortable sending her permit pictures to me. which I told her wasnt for me but to authenticate she is really who she says she is. I think We both accepted and she called. Might have not needed to authenticat no idea. Asks about my cats the room and the place.  Its a basement place, if you look at my listing everything is there, And on pictures. Room/storage cats etc

We talked on the phone for a while because she wanted details of all these things and help to rent a car. Which I gave her many informations for her, her husband and daughter. I tried my best to help the most I can. Its her first booking.

Week goes by, she calls because they arrived, ask help again about car rental. I help out. The next day they arrive early, My guest didnt check out yet. They werent checking in, they had a place to go but before wanted to see the place. I ask the guest if I may just show them around, they say no problem, but I feel like they rushed out because of it. ( they said no they needed to leave anyways, but I felt bad ) Gave me a good review Thankfully.

The familly goes around, ask about the laundry, kitchen cooking ETC, things I already talked to them about on the phone. They checked the place and said see you later.

Did I mentionned they booked a month!

Went they came back I helped with things, opened the tv set up what they wanted to watched made sure they had everything. We even had a nice conversation.

This morning after 1 night. I say how did you sleep.

she respond by saying thats what we were going to tell you. BAD, Its in a basement theres cats, theres storage, its not open.

I said YES ALL things That is listed AND shown on the listing, AND I told you when you called.  we exchanged a few things. I was trying to help. Said leave the door open, if its that openes you need. I put a gate so the cats cant go in, she said but they could jump over it. I said no, the gate has been there for over a year. They dont jump over it. I put the gate there for that. Then she throws the and my daughter is allergic to cats! WTF lol

Why Would you book a room for a month in a house with 3 cats! I even had some locked in my room during the night because I wanted to be nice. they said thy were downstairs with them all night. bothering them. (they are 6 or 7 years old and scared cats that sleep all the time and hide from strangers ) like I said they were in my room under my bed) opened the door ealry.  I offered the luggage out if it was bothering them. because she kept mentioning it. All to say they wanted to cancel.

I told them go ahead through airbnb, the woman was almost asking me to do it. On top of asking how I got paid. if I did get paid something like that (weird) I told them about the way it works and that I also lost booking. It was up to them to decide what they wanted to do and do it. They said they didnt want any trouble and were still kind of sweet but still.

Well I got a notification that says, they did a alternation to the reservation. 1 night. The one they just did. I freaked out called abb. Said thats not right how are they allowed to do that now I am going to be the mean and bad person to have to decline. Which i ended up doing after chatting with abb.

My policy is strict I have booked every night since I started hosting. I couldve booked these days.

I am definetly not giving a full refund.  They havent done anything since I declined the alternation.

I was told it would be better to wait. which I am going to do. But now I am crossing my fingers they wont come back. would be so awkward. also why would they. lol 

what would you guys recommend and or do in my position.

I dont want to be mean but at the same time I cant just let this happen for no reason and be in the loss.

Thank you guys so much in advance.

[Ana1136]

@Nancy621 I would do the same. They knew everything about the apartment and still booked it, it is not your fault. Maybe they found a cheaper place and now want to get all their money back. If the reservation was for a whole month I would give them half of the price as a refund but nothing more.

[Nancy621]

They told me they were going back to the hotel, cause it was more open.  no idea what they meant. cause hotels arent open air unless they get a huge suite.

My place WAS the cheapeast at least to my knowledge. now I decided to up it a little. was 19 or 20 per night for a whole basement. 

I think I will go for something like. when they cancel. If I book a week or more after they do so, i will give a partiel refund. I think That would be a good idea. I feel like they wasted so much of my time and probably lost bookings because of them, they knew everything. So it felt like they were trying to give excuses. Anyhow  thank you 🙂

[Nancy621]

They told me they were going back to the hotel, cause it was more open.  no idea what they meant. cause hotels arent open air unless they get a huge suite.

My place WAS the cheapeast at least to my knowledge. now I decided to up it a little. was 19 or 20 per night for a whole basement.

I think I will go for something like. when they cancel. If I book a week or more after they do so, i will give a partiel refund. I think That would be a good idea. I feel like they wasted so much of my time and probably lost bookings because of them, they knew everything. So it felt like they were trying to give excuses. Anyhow  thank you 

[Stephanie365]

I had someone book my place, on a horse farm (which is noted in my listing) surrounded by other farms (also noted in my listing) and they were allergic to hay. 

They booked for 6 weeks. They stayed 1 night. They didn't get a refund because they deprived me of 6 weeks of potential advance bookings in peak season and I had already given them a generous discount. 

I now no longer take bookings longer than 2 weeks. 

I would not give them any more of a refund.

[Nancy621]

I was just wondering if i should shorten the max stay..

Abb told me my listing was perfect and if they did give a problem like ask for refund or give a bad review they would help out. Since they cant give a fake bad review exemple give a one star because there was cats when it says. Lol

But imagine that. Still havent gotten a cancellation notification. Since the decline for alteration 

My dates are still booked for them. 

Empty room i wonder when they will decide to act. 

It be fun if i can not waste that room

[Miki5]

Oh boy, these folks sound like nightmare. I agree, don't give them back anything more than your refund policy. You can also block them so that they can’t re-book with you. Hopefully all your communication was through the ABB site so you have a record of your back and forth with them. You may need to use this if they contest the cancellation policy, though you should be fine, as they clearly had advanced knowledge of exactly the kind of place they were booking. Do not accept any kind of retaliatory review from these people, either. You have more than enough grounds to challenge anything mean spirted or bitter from them.

One thing you mention is your nightly price. I assume you’ve kept it low because of location, but I think you should consider raising it. I find being at the top of the price range for my type of listing attracts a better-quality customer, including a fair number of seasoned travelers and ABB-ers who understand the process. These people seemed not to get it and unusually skittish and nervous. It’s quite possible they are very nice people who don’t realize they have - in my opinion- overstepped the line of reasonable guest behavior. I understand you wanted to be kind and helpful to first time ABB-ers and the one month revenue was probably attractive as well, but once they started asking a ton of questions that were all addressed in your listing, my red flags would have been flapping widely in the breeze. : )

About their information neediness: In my first welcome email I state that I will be happy to answer any further questions “not addressed in the listing.” On a rare occasion, I’ve had to redirect a guest back to the page and they have ALWAYS turned out to be more difficult. I’m now in my third year of hosting and here’s my take on these types of guests - ABB is still a relatively new phenomenon and as hosts, there are times we have to subtly train folks to follow the basic good guest behavior. For me, an essential part of the process means having clear boundaries as a host - mentally and logistically. This includes my house rules, all communication and interactions, but also establishing an internal mental and physiological point beyond which I will not go. Basically, there is a behavior I expect from my guests. This took me a while to understand, and I often came to this forum for advice, and continue to do so. But once this frame of mind became clear in my head, I found my guests’ behavior markedly improved, along with my interactions with them, and the whole process, became stream lined and really, a joy. I’m sure that’s a pretty typical trajectory for most hosts and one you’ll discover for yourself as well.

[Nancy621]

I was planning on MAYBE giving them a few days refund if i got a booking of over 7 days once they cancelled. BUT they havent. Lol so now i just have a empty room. Still booked under them. Abb was nice to check and tell me yesterday that my listing was perfect and would give me no issues if they were to call and complain. Everything is there and on pictures.

I put the price up a little but im still nervous. Dont want to exaggerate. I have cats a perrot and its a storage/room BUT they have the whole basement. 

[Letti0]

@Nancy621   There is no instintive to cancel. It was a long tem booking meaning they paid for the first 30 days and it's not refundable at all. Your strict policy is not in play. I would not refund one dime either. Escpecially since she even did a walk thru before coming back. 

[Nancy621]

You are so right!

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@Letti0 

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 There is no instintive to cancel. It was a long tem booking meaning they paid for the first 30 days and it's not refundable at all. Your strict policy is not in play. I would not refund one dime either. Escpecially since she even did a walk thru before coming back. 

Thank you. They have been gone since the 18th. Since I cancelled the alternation. Nothing has happened. They are still booked on the site as if they are still here until the 16th of sept.

No cancel, no news from abb. 

[Sarah977]

@Nancy621   Sorry about the situation. You said all these conversations with this woman were by phone. DON'T DO THAT in the future. Keep all your communiction with guests on the airbnb messaging system. That way everything is documented for airbnb to see. If you do all this stuff on the phone, whether by call or text, then it is just your word against the guest's when it all goes south. 

It's no big deal if a guest just phones you to say-"Hi, we'll be at your place in 10 minutes", but anything where you're explaining things about your listing or the guest is asking for info or making demands all should be done on the airbnb site.

Also, do not allow new guests to view the space if they arrive early and you have guests there still getting ready to check out. Tell them they can leave their luggage if they want, but they can't enter before the check-in time you have agreed upon.

[Nancy621]

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@Sarah977 
Thank you, luckily everything is already written on my listing. I called abb and they said everything is there that I will be fine if they call and complain about cats, basement or whatever that the told me about before leaving.  I made sure to say everything so I wouldnt have any problems.
It is very good to know though. I have some prouf of being very helpful on here and text. 
I will need to be more carefull with that next time. They still havent cancelled 2 days later. I am about to post a duplicat since my room is empty.
How would you keep it on the site though. once they reserve they have my number and can call right away?

[Sarah977]

@Nancy621    Just tell guests that you only want to communicate through the airbnb site. If you do have a phone coversation, be sure to reiterate it on the messaging stream- "Hi XXX, just following up on our phone conversation today that you do acknowlege that there are 3 cats in the house and that neither you nor anyone else in your party are allergic to cats?"

[Nancy621]

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@Sarah977

I love it! thank you.

She told me that only to get out. I know for sure her daughter isnt allergic. because I have friends that are and I saw what it does when they come over.

I think its because she doesnt like cats. also she ran and screamed the day they were leaving when my parrot flew. lol She definetly wasnt at the right house

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[Megan69]

@Nancy621  I agree with @Miki5 that your nightly price is far too low - I keep my price at the higher end for my area, and while I may get booked a little more last minute than the cheaper options, I am still booked solid (as much as I'd like to be), and feel I get a better quality of guest.  When I first started, and had my prices low so that I could get in a bunch of bookings, I got a lot of guests who had unreasonable demands and expectations, and were constantly haggling about price.  

A couple of comments on your listing - I notice that you have two separate listings for what seems to be the same space.  I think that's in response to this situation, but I still think it would be confusing for guests, who would be wondering what the difference is between the two listings.  I would delete, or snooze, one of them.  I read through your listings twice, and didn't see any mention of your cats.  I finally found it in your personal bio, but not on the listing.  I know you mentioned it to this guest before she arrived, but I would still suggest being very clear about there being cats in the house in your listing - even including a picture of them.  I have a dog, and her picture is the 2nd or 3rd pic in my listing, and she's mentioned multiple times in the description.  If nothing else, it saves you from having to waste time responding to inquiries that end up going nowhere when the person  finds out you have cats, and decides to choose a different place. You also mention that your basement also has storage as part of the room - I would suggest including a picture of what that looks like, as it may be hard for guests to picture it, and would discourage them from booking.  If they see that it is a few neat and tidy shelves, they'll be more likely to book than if they're just imagining a bunch of messy storage.  

I know these suggestions aren't specific to this situation (I agree with everyone else that you should not give them a refund!), but I thought they might be helpful.