Sometimes no matter how hard we try, there are just some times when something out of our control goes wrong and our renters will complain.

Whether the complaint is about something in our home that breaks down, something we messed up, or a ridiculous complaint, it's always in our (and our home's) best interest to attempt to appease the renters.  Once we get that rental payment, it's tough to part with any or all of it.  So below are some innovative ways to insure happy guests without offering them a refund.

Lunch or dinner on you— Call a local restaurant and buy your guest a $25, $50 or $100 gift certificate (amount depends on the severity of the problem). Tell your guests that they have a gift certificate waiting for them. Just be careful, don't buy a $25 gift certificate for a restaurant where everything on the menu is expensive. You wouldn't want the gift to end up costing them a lot out of their pocket. Smaller amounts work great for breakfast restaurants, ice cream parlors or the local burger joint.

Extend their stay—For problems that cause a moderate inconvenience to your guests, you might want to tack an extra night or two for no charge (assuming you have the night after their scheduled departure un-booked).  Extending their vacation can turn an unhappy guest into an ecstatic one.    Free future stay—For major problems offer your guests a free stay during a time when you are generally not booked.  Your guest might enjoy a free vacation and you'll enjoy the chance to win your way back into their good graces. For example, say you're always booked in the summer, but the fall is dead.  Let your guest come back in the fall for free.  This won't cost you much out of your pocket, except for power usage.  Whether you ask the guest to pay the cleaning fee is up to you, but if their original complaint had to do with something your housekeeper forgot to do, you might want to ask your housekeeper to comp that clean for these guests.

Free tickets—Buy them free tickets for a round of golf, movie, theme park, or other attraction. Contact the local attraction offices and see if they will offer you any sort of a discount. Having these things on hand is great. You can also offer them to attract renters during the off-season. Advertising a free round of golf might just be the tipping point that makes a renter choose your home over the next.

Offer a discount on future stay—Offer them a percentage off a future stay. You can even target the offer so hopefully they'll use the discount during a time when you would have a harder time booking your property. For example: 10% off peak season, 20% off shoulder season, or 40% off low season.  Send food or wine—A basket of fruit, a bottle of local wine, box of local specialty chocolates, or a full catered meal might be just the thing that would turn your guests' frowns upside-down. Of course, the extent to which we try to appease a renter depends on the severity of the complaint/problem. For instance, if your housekeeper was 2 hours late getting your property cleaned and caused a delayed check-in for your renters, that might warrant a smaller gift than if the housekeeper never showed up which caused the new renters to clean the house themselves. If your air-conditioning goes out on the hottest day of the year, that might warrant a much larger gift than if the fireplace was inoperable in July. Whatever you choose to do I am sure your guest will appreciate it.