Guest Wants Refund | Unsatisfied with Apt.

[Conner1]

Hi!

I just got a Reservation Alteration Request from my guests to leave 1/2 way through their stay. They say the apartment is too hot to sleep. (The AC for the building has not been turned on for the summer months. It has been fairly cool in the city, and knowing Utah, it could snow at any second up until May. I offered to bring over a window AC unit but they declined.) 

I do not want to refund their request, as we typically don't take short term bookings of only 2 days, and I will not be able to rent the apartment out for this weekend knowing the demand in the city. I am worried that if I deny their request to change the reservation and give them a refund for the 3 days they won't be staying, they may give me a bad review. 

Any advice? 

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

You cannot be held hostage to the potential of a bad review.  Even under the best of circumstances, there is no guarantee of a good review.

So this is a case of the lesser of two evils.  You have options.  One you've already listed which is to accept their reservation change, lose the remaining days from them in the HOPE that you are able to re-rent their days.  They are happy, they get their money and you potentially get nothing.  However, they may still choose to give you a bad-ish review for forcing them to find other accommodations in the middle of their stay, but less likely 

You could tell them that they need to cancel as you will not be able to accept a reservation change at this date.  They will be held to your cancellation policy which entitles you to 50% of the remaining days.  They will not get to review you if they cancel but will likely be angry.  They may not cancel so they don't lose the money, trash your place and still leave you a bad review.  Again, no guarantees here.   They also could reach out to Airbnb and try to get an exception to the cancellation penalty by claiming the apartment is not habitable at the current temps.  Since you offered a window unit, Airbnb might side with you, but you never know, I guess it's going to depend on how hot it is in there.  They would probably get a 100% refund of the remaining days.  Sort of like the first option.  

Personally, I get that you don't feel like you should be financially burdened because they don't want the window unit and they are hot.  You might get lucky if you let them go and karma will be on your side and a better guest will come along with the newly opened dates.  While my heart says make them cancel since not being cool is because they don't want the air unit (um, it IS March and it's not even that hot in the South yet, so maybe they just have the thermostat turned all the way up or there is a technical problem??), my head says that logically they are asking to leave so you should let them.  

[Linda108]

Hi @Conner1.  Your space is lovely and your pictures are great.  You have a beginning of very positive reviews.  Rather than make a decision about what to do based on your concern about a negative review, think about what you want to stand for as a host.  You could look at the situation from the traveler's point of view but you also need to realize you are running a business.  So, my take on this is that you listened to the guest's concern and validated it by offering a solution.  None of us has control over the weather, but you tried to do the right thing.  Since the guest was not willing to participate in your offer, let the "system" take care of it.  That is, advise the guest to proceed to with the alteration and let your cancellation policy stand.  Keep us posted.

[Annette33]

@Conner1,  sorry you have to deal with this disappointment so early in your hosting career. But anytime a guest is not happy, it gives us hosts an opportunity to learn from it and to refine our offering.
For the future: message and ask guests after the first night if everything is satisfactory, then you can immediately go about making a positive change, if needed. 95% of the time that will **bleep** potential problems and discontent in the bud, the guests will feel well taken care of, and all end up content.
@Alice-and-Jeff0 have outlined your options for right now. I agree: rise above it, give the guests what they want, take pride in your offering, better guests will come along. Don't get your ego involved or count the $$ that you would be losing.
consider this: last week I had a woman tie up my calendar for 3 straight days with a 2 day booking request that remained "pending" because her payment could not get secured, then finally automatically canceled by Airbnb. she then messaged me that her payment issues are taken care of and requested our place again , I accepted again... only to go through the whole charade again. my calendat was finally unblocked very late Friday night . As I don't accept same day bookings, I thought the weekend was shot. But what happened? The nicest guy booked for 4 days, commencing on Sunday - so there!
One more thing, just playing devil's advicate here: you do have AC listed in amenities, not stipulating anywhere that it only goes from ... to ... . these guests might get ornery and approach Airbnb for a full refund, stating that your listing "lacks promised amenities" and that would be their "travel issue" to successfully supersede any cancellation through Airbnb's "guest refund policy". Airbnb might side with them, as usually Airbnb is very guest friendly...do you want to go through a long harangue to end up there?
consider that it also was indeed unseasonably warm the last few days, here in Prescott ( 5500 altitude,) my last guests pulled out the fan at night as I also had not yet the AC going , but I had asked them after first night if all was okay ...and they left me my usual 5 star review 🙂
about the potential review, if it even comes: you can post a reply to it, apologize, and briefly say you are sorry they were not agreable to the solution you offered, that will speak for itself

[Annette33]

@Conner1 , do you  know why one cannot message you via the platform  here? Not that I want to, I just noticed this issue, made a post bout it, but have not gotten an answer that would explain it. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Annette33 you should log in to be able to send a private message to another host.

@Conner1 it seems to me that their travel plans changed so they just made up an excuse to leave earlier. I always let my guests to shorten their stay and leave earlier if they want to and then I rely on good karma to fill my empty days 🙂 If not, I just use those days for myself.