For STR hosts · Mid-stay refund disputes
You know the policy. Rehearse what happens when they mention the review.
They checked in Tuesday. Saturday night they want $680 back — and the thread just got personal.
You’ve read the Major Issues policy. You have timestamped check-in photos, the smart-lock log, and a cleaner who was there at 11:42 AM. What you can’t picture is replying to “the AC is unlivable — we want a full refund for the rest of our stay” when the guest never reported it in the first 24 hours and is now hinting that your response will “affect our review.” Kommi puts you in that message thread first, with a guest who escalates the way real refund disputes do, so your Saturday reply isn’t your first take.
The refund playbook isn’t the hard part.
Every STR blog says the same thing: stay in-platform, lead with facts, cite the 24-hour reporting window, never match emotion with emotion. You have the template. What you don’t have is muscle memory for when the guest goes from “the AC isn’t cooling well” to “this unit is a health hazard and we’re contacting Airbnb” in the same thread where they just mentioned their star rating.
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What’s at stake
A $680 full refund on a peak-weekend booking isn’t just one weekend — it trains the guest, sets precedent for AirCover, and a retaliatory 1-star can drop your listing 30 spots in search for months.
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The review threat
Airbnb forbids tying reviews to refunds — but guests do it anyway. Hosts freeze because saying no feels like choosing a bad review over $680, even when the claim doesn’t meet policy.
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What templates can’t do
STR Specialist and HostProof give you copy-paste scripts. They can’t simulate the guest rejecting your partial credit and opening a Resolution Center case while you wonder if you sounded too cold.
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What a coach costs
STR masterminds and 1:1 host coaching run $200–$800. You need three reps before replying Saturday night — not a quarterly group call about pricing strategy.
Sample roleplay · 3 minutes
“The AC is unlivable. We want a full refund — or this review won’t be pretty.”
You’re Casey. The guest checked in 36 hours ago. You’ve offered to send maintenance. Now they escalate.
You (Casey)
“Thank you for letting me know about the AC. I dispatched my HVAC tech at 4:15 PM today — ETA is 6 PM. I’ve attached the service confirmation. Per Airbnb’s policy, major issues should be reported within 24 hours of check-in; I’m happy to work with you on a remedy once we assess.”
Guest
“We’ve been sweating since Wednesday and you’re sending someone tonight? This place is a health hazard. We want a full refund for the remaining four nights — $680. If you can’t make this right, I don’t know what kind of review we can leave. Other guests need to know.”
Your move
- → Acknowledge without admitting liability: “I understand this is uncomfortable — the tech is en route now.”
- → Separate review from refund: note the policy violation without escalating tone
- → Offer a measured remedy: one-night credit ($170) pending HVAC assessment, not 100% upfront
Each choice changes how the guest responds. The thread gets risky when you apologize in ways that read as admission — or when you offer 50% before hearing whether the unit actually failed inspection.
Then the coach reads you back to yourself.
Not a refund-policy quiz. Not a list of STR tips from a Facebook group. One observation about what you did, one adjustment for next time, one sentence you can carry into Saturday’s reply.
Sample coach debrief
“You cited the 24-hour policy and dispatched maintenance — strong factual opening. When the guest mentioned the review, you immediately offered $340 — half the remaining nights — before the tech arrived or you saw evidence the AC actually failed. That reads as confirmation the claim was valid.
Try next time: Pause after the review threat. Respond in two parts: acknowledge the discomfort, restate the remedy in progress, and decline tying refund to review without sounding defensive — ‘I’ve reported the review mention to Airbnb per their policy. The tech arrives at 6 PM; let’s assess before discussing credits.’
Carry into Saturday: ‘Maintenance is en route. I’m not able to process a full refund before we confirm the issue — I’m happy to discuss a goodwill credit once the HVAC report is in, documented here in the thread.’”
Questions before you reply to the guest
- Is this for property managers with a legal team?
- This page is tuned for independent hosts managing their own listings — the Saturday-night thread where there’s no co-host in the room and you have 24 hours before AirCover weighs in. PM companies with dedicated guest relations teams can use it too, but the pain point here is solo hosts under review pressure.
- I already have refund scripts from STR blogs. Why practice?
- Scripts tell you what to say. They don’t prepare you for the moment the guest rejects your partial credit, opens a Resolution Center case, and mentions their star rating in the same message. Kommi is where you hear yourself respond under pressure — and fix the preemptive 50% offer before it costs you a weekend’s revenue.
- What if the guest has a legitimate complaint?
- That’s one of the most common paths in the roleplay. You practice offering measured remedies — one-night credit, maintenance dispatch, documented goodwill — without issuing a full refund before assessment or letting a review threat dictate the number.
- Is $11.99/mo worth it for one refund dispute?
- One bad yes on a $680 refund — plus the visibility hit from a retaliatory 1-star — dwarfs a year of Kommi. You also get unlimited sessions across every scenario we ship: tenant disputes, client scope creep, hard conversations outside hosting.
$11.99 a month.
A coach with a calendar runs two hundred dollars an hour. Kommi runs roughly forty cents a day — and is awake when you can't sleep, which is when most of these conversations are actually being rehearsed anyway.
We don't have a free tier, a team plan, or a premium upsell. One price, no pricing page riddle. If we add tiers later, we'll do it because users asked — not because a growth deck did.
About forty cents a day.
- Two free sessions before billing starts
- Then $11.99 a month — about forty cents a day
- Unlimited sessions — any conversation you can describe
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One conversation you’d have talked yourself out of is worth years of this. Or just sleep better on Wednesday. Either way.
Run your first rehearsal — free →US only at launch. We'll get to the rest of the world.
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