The heating broke mid-stay. What to tell the guest in the first hour

Things break. A boiler that's been fine for six years picks the coldest night of the year to stop. The router dies the day a guest has a work call. You can't stop it happening, but you can decide whether the guest remembers a broken boiler or a host who sorted it out.

Reply quickly, even with nothing to report

The first message matters more than the fix. A guest who reports a problem and hears nothing for three hours starts to feel stuck, and that feeling is what ends up in a review. A guest who hears back in ten minutes feels looked after, even if the problem isn't solved yet.

Something as simple as this is enough:

"So sorry about that, thank you for letting me know. I'm calling the heating engineer now and will update you within the hour."

Give a time, and beat it

"I'll get someone out" is vague and invites follow-up messages. "Someone will be there between 2 and 4 tomorrow" gives the guest something to plan around. If you don't know yet, say when you'll know: "I'll have a time for you by 6pm."

Then update them before that time runs out, even if the news isn't good. Missing your own deadline is what turns a patient guest into an annoyed one.

Bridge the gap

While you wait for a fix, think about what would make the next few hours bearable. A plug-in heater dropped off at the door. A mobile hotspot, or simply telling them which nearby café has fast Wi-Fi. Extra blankets. The kettle if the hot water is out.

These cost very little and say more than any apology. A guest who was cold for one evening but got a heater within the hour rarely holds it against you.

Ask for a photo and a bit of troubleshooting

Before calling someone out, a quick photo or short video from the guest often saves a wasted trip. A boiler showing an error code, a tripped switch on the fuse board or a router with no lights tells you a lot. Ask politely and keep it simple: "Could you send me a photo of the display on the boiler? Sometimes it just needs a reset." Many problems turn out to be a switch, a pressure top-up or a plug that's been knocked out, and the guest is usually pleased to have fixed it in two minutes.

Talk about money before they do

If an essential like heating, hot water or Wi-Fi for a remote worker was out for a large part of the stay, consider offering a partial refund for the affected nights before the guest raises it. It shows good faith and almost always costs less than a formal refund request through Airbnb. How to handle a refund request covers where to draw the line if they ask for more than seems fair.

Make the next breakdown shorter

Every breakdown is a chance to prepare for the next one. Keep a short list of trades who'll come out at short notice: a heating engineer, an electrician, a plumber, a locksmith. Keep a small box at the property with a spare heater, a spare router power supply, bulbs and batteries.

It also helps to give guests the basics up front, so they can solve the simple things themselves. A clear page on how the boiler resets, where the stopcock is and how to restart the router saves you a lot of calls. Our appliance instructions template is built for exactly that, and the emergency info card puts your number and the key safety details where a guest will find them quickly.

Note it for the review

If you handled it well, it's fine to mention it briefly in your reply to their review, without making excuses. "Thanks for your patience when the boiler gave up on the second night" reads well to future guests: it tells them that when something goes wrong here, it gets fixed.