Guest Caught In A Lie

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Guest Caught In A Lie

Josh Ball
Real Estate Agent · Louisiana · Member since 2017 · 214 posts · 146 votes

Curious to get everyone's opinion on what this guest was trying to accomplish as my co-hosts & I are torn.

Guest last minute books property, one hour before check-in. Good rental record, 8 solid reviews with previous trips to our market. 3:45 checks in, 4:15 asks us to call as they have to cancel. Co-host calls & they say house is dirty, smells & rotten food in fridge. We immediately tell them that we can get cleaning lady over there & have it resolved within an hour. They say they'd rather cancel all together as the  kids are on a strict schedule & need to be fed & put to sleep. We comply & tell them to send cancellation request. We still send cleaner over to the house, she arrives, no smell, no food & house is spotless.

We ended up submitting the cancellation through Airbnb so we didn't get penalized & didn't issue a refund. If they had of just been honest with the reasoning for wanting to cancel, we would've issued refund but the fact they lied & we had to send someone over there to check everything we didn't bother.

I think they were hoping we would point blank give them a free night or credit back on their stay but wanted to get others opinion?

Not sure what the end game would be & did they not think we would send someone to take a look?

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John UnderwoodPro Member
Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
7mo

I would not refund them any of their stay. I would preemptively make sure Airbnb knows the full situation and send them pictures to document everything. 

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  • John UnderwoodPro Member
    Investor · Greer, SC · Member since 2014 · 13k+ posts · 17k+ votes
    7mo

    I would not refund them any of their stay. I would preemptively make sure Airbnb knows the full situation and send them pictures to document everything. 

    3Reply
    • Josh Ball
      OP
      Real Estate Agent · Louisiana · Member since 2017 · 214 posts · 146 votes
      7mo
      Quote from @John Underwood:

      I would not refund them any of their stay. I would preemptively make sure Airbnb knows the full situation and send them pictures to document everything. 


       Exactly what we did. Airbnb initiated the cancellation so we could avoid penalty.

      4Reply
  • Rosston Smith
    Investor · Warner Robins, GA · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 490 votes
    7mo

    You handled it correctly! Always ensure the guest or airbnb initiates the cancellation to avoid the penalty, and in this case you definitely deserve the booking revenue. 

    2Reply
  • Andrew Street
    Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 292 votes
    7mo

    Sounds like they were fishing for a penalty-free cancellation or free night by claiming a cleanliness issue. The giveaway is that you offered an immediate fix and they still refused—most reasonable guests would at least wait an hour. You did the right thing by verifying and protecting yourself. If there was a legit issue, it would’ve shown when the cleaner arrived. This feels more like buyer’s remorse on a last-minute booking than anything else.

    0Reply
    • Josh Ball
      OP
      Real Estate Agent · Louisiana · Member since 2017 · 214 posts · 146 votes
      7mo
      Quote from @Andrew Street:

      Sounds like they were fishing for a penalty-free cancellation or free night by claiming a cleanliness issue. The giveaway is that you offered an immediate fix and they still refused—most reasonable guests would at least wait an hour. You did the right thing by verifying and protecting yourself. If there was a legit issue, it would’ve shown when the cleaner arrived. This feels more like buyer’s remorse on a last-minute booking than anything else.


       Yes, it was fishy when they mentioned "kids are on strict schedule. We need to get them fed & to bed". I was thinking, so instead of an hour wait to have a clean place that you're already at, you're going to find a new place, get it booked last minute, get there & unpacked.. strange. My theory is that they were hoping we wouldn't send anyone & we would just offer them a free night. We would never know if it was clean as we wouldn't see it until we cleaned after their stay.

      0Reply
  • Lauren Kormylo
    Rental Property Investor · Phoenix, AZ and Rehoboth Beach DE · Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7mo

    It sounds like after they booked yours, they found somewhere else cheaper. And instead of asking you to cancel, they thought they'd check in and make up some excuse to get out of the booking.   I would have known they were lying, because there's no way my cleaner would leave a fridge with food (much less rotten and smelling) in it.  Well, their "8 solid review streak" is now ending, since they cost you the money for the cleaner's extra trip. 

    1Reply
    • Josh Ball
      OP
      Real Estate Agent · Louisiana · Member since 2017 · 214 posts · 146 votes
      7mo
      Quote from @Lauren Kormylo:

      It sounds like after they booked yours, they found somewhere else cheaper. And instead of asking you to cancel, they thought they'd check in and make up some excuse to get out of the booking.   I would have known they were lying, because there's no way my cleaner would leave a fridge with food (much less rotten and smelling) in it.  Well, their "8 solid review streak" is now ending, since they cost you the money for the cleaner's extra trip. 


      They ended up paying WAY more for their weekend in the long run. Oh well.

      1Reply
  • Andrew SteffensBusiness Member
    Tampa, FL · Member since 2022 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7mo

    At scale this happens all the time - I get this about once a month.  I manage an 8 unit multiplex on Treasure Island.  A woman rented a 1 bedroom apartment for a month, then leaves after about 20 days.  She told us at booking she was here to start a new job, and upon leaving told us that the job wasn't for her and she was going to go back to OH.  She asked if she could be refunded her unused days and when told no did not make a big deal about it.  2 days later and we have a request through resolution center for about the amount of the unused days saying the unit had mold etc and that is why she was leaving.  We rejected and made a trust and safety case against her.  This is a very common tactic to get refunds on Airbnb.

    [email protected]813-563-0877
    Vacation Rentals of Florida53 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    2Reply
    • Josh Ball
      OP
      Real Estate Agent · Louisiana · Member since 2017 · 214 posts · 146 votes
      7mo
      Quote from @Andrew Steffens:

      At scale this happens all the time - I get this about once a month.  I manage an 8 unit multiplex on Treasure Island.  A woman rented a 1 bedroom apartment for a month, then leaves after about 20 days.  She told us at booking she was here to start a new job, and upon leaving told us that the job wasn't for her and she was going to go back to OH.  She asked if she could be refunded her unused days and when told no did not make a big deal about it.  2 days later and we have a request through resolution center for about the amount of the unused days saying the unit had mold etc and that is why she was leaving.  We rejected and made a trust and safety case against her.  This is a very common tactic to get refunds on Airbnb.


      Wow, some people are crazy. First time this has happened to me in the 18ish months I've been doing this across 5 units but certainly had me on my toes for about 30 minutes thinking "how on earth did I not send a cleaner after our last guest".

      1Reply
  • Ken M.
    Investor · Get yourself trained before doing something inadvisable. · Member since 2024 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7mo
    Quote from @Josh Ball:

    Curious to get everyone's opinion on what this guest was trying to accomplish as my co-hosts & I are torn.

    Guest last minute books property, one hour before check-in. Good rental record, 8 solid reviews with previous trips to our market. 3:45 checks in, 4:15 asks us to call as they have to cancel. Co-host calls & they say house is dirty, smells & rotten food in fridge. We immediately tell them that we can get cleaning lady over there & have it resolved within an hour. They say they'd rather cancel all together as the  kids are on a strict schedule & need to be fed & put to sleep. We comply & tell them to send cancellation request. We still send cleaner over to the house, she arrives, no smell, no food & house is spotless.

    We ended up submitting the cancellation through Airbnb so we didn't get penalized & didn't issue a refund. If they had of just been honest with the reasoning for wanting to cancel, we would've issued refund but the fact they lied & we had to send someone over there to check everything we didn't bother.

    I think they were hoping we would point blank give them a free night or credit back on their stay but wanted to get others opinion?

    Not sure what the end game would be & did they not think we would send someone to take a look?

    For Shame! Somebody lied?
    1Reply
  • Collin HaysBusiness Member
    Property Manager · Gatlinburg, TN · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7mo

    We had a guest one time call and give us a sob story about how gramps had died. Wanted a refund even though the arrival was only 5 days away.  Since it was my personal cabin, I gave them a refund. Within 30 minutes, they booked another cabin on VRBO - managed by me.  ;)

    I guess gramps got to feeling better.

    [email protected]806-672-7102
    SMOKY MOUNTAIN FALLS INC.51 Review
    WebsiteView Page
    2Reply
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