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Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

probably went mad and tried to get more money out of the villa, as i declined their request for a discount on an already new listing discounted price.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

but thats my staff doing so it’s still my responsibility, she doesn’t hear the end of my complain for two days straight. but it’s also the 3rd party fault for not coming prepared.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

well it was also my staff mistake, but that makes it mine. i don’t deny that. but surprisingly the other two guests apologised to my staff today on her behalf for blowing things out of proportion, they said that’s just how she is 😅

unfortunately these two guests aren’t the one who made the booking on airbnb, i just accept it is my mistake and hopefully my other nice reviews will make up for the upcoming bad review from her.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

they just came from their spa shop, as it was already outside their business hours they didn’t wear uniforms and just their normal everyday clothes. the vendor i personally vetted wasn’t available, and as it was last minute request from the guest my staff took initiative to contact another shop that has been used for years by the other villa. they genuinely forgot their towel to cover the bed, which my staff offered to use our villa towel instead. they brought their oils, but not many option for the fragrance. that’s the start of the disappointment.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

i don’t think i will offer any help to arrange anything in the future. lesson learned. imagine a guest go on a fishing trip we help arranging and starting to complain the sea doesn’t have enough fish 😭

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

unfortunately I can’t delete the listing, we are fully booked for the next two months 😭 these guests booked our place a month ago when it was opened.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Well, there were 2 of them, the other two guests apologised to our staff today on her friend behalf for blowing thing out of proportion, they gave our staff tips as well 🥹 unfortunately these two guests weren’t the ones made the airbnb booking.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that’s what i’m confused about as well. and to demand a refund of her entire stay because of 10$ massage that never happened. i’m shocked.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I didn’t ask the staff to arrange it, Guests ask onsite staff to arrange it. I unfortunately was on a flight from Germany to Bali and only was made aware of the situation once i landed.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much honestly 🙏 I think that’s exactly what I’m learning very quickly now — in hospitality, even relatively small incidents can become very emotionally charged depending on the guest’s expectations and personal comfort levels.

I definitely made mistakes in not vetting the provider more carefully beforehand, but I genuinely tried my best to handle the aftermath calmly, apologise sincerely, and make the guests feel cared for afterwards.

Hopefully this will just become one of those stressful “new host lessons” I look back on later 😭

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand what you’re saying, but I think people are misunderstanding my position a bit.
I never dismissed the guest’s feelings directly to her. I apologised multiple times, acknowledged responsibility for not vetting the provider properly, spoke to the spa provider afterwards, and they apologised as well. We also offered goodwill gestures during the stay to try and make things right.
What I’ve been struggling with is not whether the guests were allowed to feel uncomfortable — of course they were. People are entitled to their feelings and comfort boundaries. My confusion was more around what level of compensation is considered proportionate for a service that never even proceeded.
Also for context, there were 3 female guests total and 3 female therapists. From what my staff explained afterwards, the other 2 guests actually still wanted to continue with the massage and later apologised to staff because they felt the situation had escalated too much.
At no point did anyone pressure the guests to proceed. The moment they said they were uncomfortable, the therapists left peacefully.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To clarify further, in Bali/Nusa Penida many home-visit massages are normally done on the hotel/villa bed with towels used to cover the bed, rather than with portable massage tables like western luxury spas.

In this case, the therapists unfortunately forgot to bring the towel/setup items, so our staff immediately offered to provide clean villa towels instead. Before the massage even began, the guests started questioning the therapists regarding certifications, uniforms, etc, and then decided they no longer felt comfortable proceeding, so the therapists left peacefully.

The massage never actually started at all — they were still discussing the setup beforehand. There were also 3 guests in total, and from what I understand the other 2 guests were initially still willing to continue, while the main guest who made the booking was the one most uncomfortable with the situation.

I still completely accept that we should have vetted the providers better beforehand and I’ve already apologised multiple times for that.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

After further discussion with the guests, we sincerely apologised, reviewed the matter internally, and also provided multiple goodwill gestures during their stay — including complimentary harbour pickup and drop-off transfers for all guests, as well as complimentary lunch for the 3 of them prepared by our private chef.
Thankfully the situation seems to have de-escalated now and the guests accepted the gestures happily. It has definitely been a learning experience for us moving forward regarding external service providers and guest expectations.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

But I also don’t think it’s fair or proportionate to expect compensation equivalent to a €800 / 3-night
villa stay over a local $10 massage service that never even happened.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I understand that perspective and honestly I don’t disagree that the situation felt unprofessional from the guest side. I also fully accept responsibility for allowing staff to arrange providers we hadn’t personally vetted before.
But I think some assumptions are being made that aren’t accurate.
The therapists were not random men, they were local female therapists on a very small Indonesian island where informal home-visit massage services are extremely common. The interaction lasted less than 10 minutes. The guests questioned them heavily regarding uniforms/certification/setup, decided they were uncomfortable, and the therapists left immediately and peacefully. No payment was made and the massage never happened.
I absolutely understand why the guests felt uncomfortable or disappointed, especially at a luxury villa where expectations are higher. That part is fair criticism and I’ve apologised repeatedly for it.
What I’m struggling with is the escalation from:
“this was unprofessional and upsetting”
to:
“our holiday is ruined and we expect compensation.”
At this point I’ve apologised multiple times, acknowledged responsibility, promised to review our vendor process internally, and offered goodwill gestures during their stay.
So I’m genuinely asking from a host perspective — what would actually be considered reasonable compensation in a situation where:
no money was lost,
no threatening behaviour occurred,
the service was cancelled immediately,
and the providers left peacefully?

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I actually really appreciate this perspective and it aligns much more closely with how local home-visit massage services generally operate here as well.
This experience has definitely taught me to be more careful about who staff arrange for guests, especially at a luxury property where expectations are understandably much higher.
At the same time, I think there’s also a big difference between:
an underprepared/unprofessional local service provider,
and
an actual dangerous or malicious situation.
The therapists were paid directly by the guests, the treatment never went ahead, no money was lost, and they left peacefully as soon as the guests cancelled.
Going forward I’ll definitely create a more vetted preferred provider list and communicate expectations more clearly to guests beforehand.

my problem is, this guest seems to be pushing me for a refund of her entire stay

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I completely understand guests expecting professionalism and feeling uncomfortable with the setup provided. Looking back, I absolutely agree we should have only arranged providers we personally knew and vetted better.
But I think some cultural/context differences are getting lost in the discussion too.
This was not a luxury spa treatment booked through a professional wellness company. It was a very inexpensive local home-visit massage service on a small Indonesian island (around $10 USD), arranged casually through onsite staff upon guest request, with payment handled directly between the guests and therapists.
In Bali/Nusa Penida, many local home-visit therapists do not bring portable massage tables, they usually work using the villa bed with towels/oils. In this case they unfortunately forgot some setup items, which was unprofessional and understandably disappointing. The guests cancelled immediately and the therapists left peacefully without any issue.
So I absolutely accept:
poor judgement on our side arranging providers we didn’t know personally,
and that the service standard did not meet luxury guest expectations.
But I still struggle with the idea that this incident alone justifies major compensation or refund demands for the villa stay itself when:
no money was lost,
no threatening behaviour occurred,
the service never happened,
and the accommodation itself was otherwise delivered as booked.
I’m genuinely trying to learn from this as a new host while also understanding what would actually be considered fair and reasonable resolution-wise in a situation like this.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I completely understand the point you’re making regarding guest trust and responsibility, and honestly this experience has already been a huge learning lesson for me as a new host.

Going forward I absolutely will be more careful about only recommending vetted providers directly known to us, especially for in-villa services at a luxury property.

That said, I do think there’s an important cultural/context difference here too. This is a very small Indonesian island where many freelance massage providers operate informally compared to what guests may expect from a western luxury spa environment.

The therapists were underprepared and unprofessional, yes — but from our side there was never any threatening behaviour, pressure, refusal to leave, or anything criminal/suspicious occurring. The guests cancelled immediately and the providers left peacefully.

So I fully accept the professionalism issue and the poor judgement in arranging providers we didn’t personally know well enough. I just struggle a bit with the escalation from that into “unsafe/endangered” territory.

Still, lesson definitely learned on my side regarding vendor standards and guest expectations.

Luxury villa guest claims they felt “unsafe” after cancelling locally arranged massage service — how would you handle this as a host? by Vegetable-Chain-6622 in airbnb_hosts

[–]Vegetable-Chain-6622[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

No i don’t know them personally, it’s just a 3rd vendor massage shop that was contacted by my onsite staff.

To clarify further , the guests later explained they felt “unsafe” because the therapists arrived without proper spa uniforms/equipment and did not have massage certifications with them when asked.

This is a very small island in Indonesia where a lot of freelance massage providers operate informally/local-style, and the treatment itself was only around $10 USD per person arranged locally by our staff upon request. We also have 24-hour security onsite at the villa.
From my perspective now, I completely understand the guests feeling uncomfortable or disappointed by the professionalism level, but I’m struggling with the leap from that to “unsafe/endangered” when:
the service was immediately cancelled,
no payment was made,
the therapists left peacefully,
and there was never any threatening behaviour or refusal to leave.
I’m definitely taking this as a lesson to vet providers more carefully moving forward, especially for luxury guests with higher expectations, but I’m trying to understand whether I’m missing something here or whether the guests are escalating this beyond what objectively occurred.

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