A cancelled reservation - sort of?

Rod1399
Level 1
Fox, AR

A cancelled reservation - sort of?

People who make reservations with us do so because of the bison - after all we are a working Bison farm.  When guests arrive, the very first thing they want to do is see the bison and get close.

 

These guests (husband & wife) arrive and have no interest in the bison ("We saw them from the road"), Strange. They came in, looked around, and then said they were heading to town to meet some friends. We gave them the codes to get back into the farm, my wife had thawed out sausages and prepared things for their breakfast (because we are very remote, we give our guests breakfast).

 

About 4 hours after "checking-in", I get a text stating that due to an unexpected medical situation they will not be coming back.

 

Whether there was a medical situation or they were invited and decided to stay with their friends is really irrelevant. They did not and have not notified airbnb of their "cancellation", I was paid by AirBnB, and am asked to write a review of the guests who didn't stay with us.

 

The question is, what do we do? Do I notify AirBnB? Do I write a review (they are first time AirBnB users)? What happens if they write a review when they didn't actually stay with us? Should I refund their money and to whom (them or AirBnB? Do I wait to see what happens? etc.

 

Any thought & experiences would be grateful. Thanx

2 Replies 2
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Rod1399  At this point, I'd say do nothing. How long was their reservation for? If it was just a night or two, you likely don't have a chance to rebook the dates on such short notice anyway. If it was for longer than that, and you think you might be able to rebook the dates if they opened up again, you could message them asking them to officially cancel, as the dates will be blocked, preventing you from taking another booking until they cancel. You could tell them that if you do get another booking for any of the dates, you would refund them for those dates.

Otherwise, since you got paid, just be happy you got paid for people you didn't have to host and who used up few amenities in 4 hours. Hopefully they don't contact airbb demanding a full refund, due to some medical "extenuating circumstance".

As far as the review, just wait on that as well. If they haven't left a review by day 13 and a half after their official check-out time, I wouldn't bother to review. If they do leave a review before then, it will probably be a good idea to submit a brief review, indicating that the guests checked in, stayed a few hours, went out for dinner, then messaged to say they wouldn't be returning due to an unexpected event.(no need to say medical, might be too personal for a public review). 

It's weird- I live in the countryside, and most of my guests have been interested in walking around the area, taking a stroll up the arroyo, which has awesome jungle views, etc. But I had some good friends come to stay, they are total city slickers, they went out every day and night, rented a car to see various areas around here, then after 3 days said they'd "done" the town, were bored, and stayed the last few nights until they had to fly back in the city an hour away. They never once even walked the 50 meters from my house down to the arroyo. Just had no interest.

Thanx for the input. That is what I will do: nothing and wait to see what happens. They were only staying one night, but it was the weekend during beanfest - one of the busiest times in the area.

Who would come to stay at a bison farm and not want to see the bison?