Hi everyone! Looking for feedback on how you’d handle this situation ... A guest sent me an email today that she couldn’t stay at my condo because there was a heavy cigarette smoke smell, and that her family member has a medical condition and is extra sensitive. I don’t smoke and I don’t allow any guests to smoke. I just stayed at the condo myself 2 days ago and I noticed a very slight secondhand odor when I first walked in. Like MAYBE someone had come in with smoke on their clothes. But I thoroughly cleaned and vented the space - seriously from top to bottom; it was a deep clean since I’d just had a longer term guest - and didn’t notice a smoke smell afterwards. Well this lady who cited the “heavy smoke” smell wants a full refund and says she had to book a very expensive hotel room at the last minute because of this. I contacted Air Bnb support and they’ve passed me onto another level of specialist for a THIRD time now, and I’ve been waiting several hours for a reply. I’m inclined to not do a refund since I don’t agree at all that there’s is a heavy smell that makes the place uninhabitable. If there was, I wouldn’t have stayed there myself this week.
I’ve already been in contact with the previous guest and asked her point blank if she smoked in there. While of course anyone could lie about it, I tend to believe her when she said no one in her family smokes but one night her son and girlfriend went out to dinner with the girlfriend’s parents who do smoke.