Guest wants exception to house rules, later demands refund

Guest requesting full refund at time of checkout

I knew these guests would be a problem but I didn't want to be judgmental. First of all, there's a 2 night minimum and he asked if he could only rent it for Saturday and check in early. I wanted to accommodate him because he's a med student and I'm sure hospital hours are hard for him and his friends. By the way, my house is 2 hours away from me. It's a whole-house rental and a VERY GOOD value.

He called me upon arriving at the house (not before), and I didn't pick up because I was in yoga class. I felt awful about it. I took 40 minutes to answer him to give him the code to get in the house. I felt really bad about it, and gave him $50 to compensate for any melted groceries, and an extra $20 for beer.

Then the alarm sounded off, and he called and I gave him the code. The sheriff came anyway! I talked to them and they left. I thought that was the end of that. It's unfortunate, but it happens. I apologized profusely.

Based on those two events, the whole party was in a rotten mood all day. I'm sorry, but I can't help negative people. The grocery store is less than a 4 minute drive away so getting groceries (I doubt they bought $50 worth of ice cream) couldn't have been a huge issue. Most people would carry on with their day. But these guys spent the night there, used my amenities, towels, etc and then contacted me the next afternoon demanding a full refund.

What can/should I do? I'm very sorry about how things turned out, but I rectified everything I could, and their attitude is the problem, why am I sudden out of money and STILL have to pay my maid??

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What you should do is say no. Actually, I'd have to bite my tongue not to say HELL NO. You've severely overcompensated them already.

In the future, take this as an example of what happens when you accept guests who ask for exceptions to your restrictions and rules. So many hosts have posted stories about times when they made exceptions out of kindhearted sympathy to a guest's situation, and ultimately got treated as a doormat and confronted with unreasonable demands. The fact is, if a guest wants something from you that isn't part of your stated offering, that is THE #1 RED FLAG that they are not an appropriate guest for your listing. Period. Someone who needs a 1-night stay can choose a hotel, or a listing without a minimum stay. You are not the only option - and if you were, there's even less of a reason to do special favors. So when they come to you needing an exception, you need to know right off the bat that they're going to be people with an entitled attitude who demand the world of you and don't intend to leave you properly compensated for it.

Put your foot down and leave a candid review. These guests are horrible people and we'll all be grateful for a review that ensures none of us will find ourselves hosting them.

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I second what was already stated. I believe that you have already done for them all that you should and, in fact, more than you should have. I would have never given them any money. The burden is on the guest to communicate with the host, in a timely fashion such that arrangements for check-in can be made. It is not your fault that you received the call at a time you were unable to answer and by calling them back at your earliest convenience, you did all you could be reasonably expected to do. The alarm being set off is an understandable misfortune but was rectified in a timely manner as well. No big deal. Brush this off and move on, but please do not reward this type of unreasonable request with a finical incentive to repeat it with another host. These folks got what they paid for and more. They chose to stay and benefit from your listing but now want to enjoy those benefits for free? Utterly ridiculous.

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They spent the night. They had a special deal to begin with, and if they waited 40 minutes before getting in, that's on them for not communicating in advance. I'd just decline the request.

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What are they even basing the request for a refund on? Nope. Non. No. in every one of the languages you speak. You have already "made it right" with them and then they stayed. Get the alarm figured out so this doesn't happen again but the fact he had to wait for checkin when he hadn't coordinated a checkin time is tough noogies.

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Thank you all so much for your help! I feel better now. I thought maybe I should be embarrassed for everything that went wrong, but I'm definitely not. I drove up there today to see the damage, and not only did use EVERYTHING in the kitchen to be cleaned up by the maid (I mean every water and wine glass, every skillet, every bowl and every plate), they left the grill open outside uncovered (glad it didn't rain today), used every bed in the house, left crumbs and bits of pretzel all over the carpet, and left ALL of my lights on and some fans on. They are absoutely ridiculous.

I would have honored a refund if they were in such a rotten mood after the alarm and left. But they stayed the night, used everything, got $70 out of it, and want their money back. I'm just so upset, I almost want to close down my listing. Not worth it.

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Make sure you give them an honest review! If they start telling you they will give you a bad review if you don't give them a refund then it's extortion and airbnb takes it really seriously. DO NOT GIVE THEM A CENT BACK!