Guest cancellation history should appear on their profile - LIKE if you agree!

[Susan1188]

As a host, if you cancel, an indelible mark appears on your reviews and in your statistics.

As a guest, you can block a host's dates and cancel as many times as you want, it does not appear on your profile.

I have had several guests hold my calendar for months, only to cancel at the very last minute, despite knowing full well in advance they were not coming.  In the hopes of getting out of the cancellation policy that was stated when they booked.  Or trying to get out of paying the service fees. Or pressuring me for a refund.  I recently had a guest who booked months ahead and admitted, they would hold the dates until close to arrival when they would shop around and try to find a better deal and cancel if they did.

Do you think a guest's cancellation habits/history should be visible to hosts, just like his host reviews and star rating?

Like if you agree!

And make a feedback request asking for it!: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

All the best everyone!

[Colleen253]

Yes, of course this should be a thing. Except it would require Airbnb holding guests accountable for something, so I won't hold my breath.

[Pete69]

I'm not really that bothered by guests canceling. When guests cancel I always refill the dates. If you tend to have trouble refilling the dates then have a more strict cancelation policy and enjoy the free payment if they cancel. Also, having a more relaxed cancelation policy (whether 24 hours, 48 hours, or perhaps 72 hours) has VALUE to guests. It's like traveler's insurance. Explain this in your listing and raise your prices.

[Susan1188]

Just mentioning that @Pete69 had a short lived life on Airbnb and is no longer on line.  so take his advice as you wish!

[Anonymous]

@Susan1188  I also never had a problem with normal guest cancellations, as long as they accept the terms of the cancellation policy. But I'd take it as a red flag if the guest had a history of trying to use Extenuating Circumstances.

[Susan1188]

@Anonymous 
Exactly!  So how can you know if the guest cancelled before or tried to introduce an extenuating claim?

IME, guests almost never agree to leave any kind of fee or deposit even when cancelling outside the window.

On the contrary quite a few have held my dates hostage while trying to negotiate a refund of their service fees with CS, others thought they would have some benefit cancelling closer to the stay so holding the dates for weeks or months while knowing they won't travel.

[Laura2592]

We don't get a ton of cancelations but have had a few that were irritating enough to change our policy to moderate. I agree that chronic cancelers should be noted on guest's profiles. 

[Ray1844]

I have had a booking for several weeks. I had sent a few messages to the guest and got

no response or reply. They were supposed to arrive today 8/11/22 and canceled yesterday afternoon 8/10/22 again with no reason or messages. They had my calendar blocked from any other booking for over 2 weeks and now I am out the revenues. No messages and loss of revenues should be noted on their profile somewhere.

[Diana-And-Lando0]

The guest should not be able to block your calendar until they book.  I don't agree to block my calendar when I get an inquiry and so your calendar should not be blocked.  Put in your cancellation strict policy.   I am not against showing people's cancellations, but I recently went to Puerto Rico and 4 out of 5 of my stays which were $300.00 a night places I had to cancel because of filth like food in the microwave from the last guest, covid masks and fake eyelashes in the dryer, holes in the walls, ants all over and more. So I had to cancel all of these once I got inside.  Terrible hosts! So my cancellation would look as though I cancel a lot also but it was due to bad hosts and so tricky.

[Susan1188]

If you have cleanliness issues you can call customer support and get it cancelled by them, it wouldn't be on your profile.
There is clearly a difference between someone who holds dates for 8 month and cancels 1 week before arriving, or someone who actually shows up like you did and has legitimate complaints.

[Susan1188]

@Diana-And-Lando0 

For me, (and surely for Airbnb's AI), this is not tricky at all!

You showed up with the honorable expectation of fulfilling your reservation.  You had to leave or not check in due to property not conform to expectations.

This is clearly not a "guest cancellation" from someone who books 1 year out only to shop around and cancel the week before arrival.

And simply and easily detectable by all of Airbnb's systems

[Linda108]

I am of two conflicting thoughts on your recommendation.  On the one hand, guest cancellations can, for some hosts, be very unfair and directly impact the host financially.  Knowing there are many legitimate reasons for guest cancellation in addition to extenuating circumstances, it would be unfair to guests to be "branded" as a cancelling guest.  However, when a host cancels, even with extenuating circumstances, it can be both financially and emotionally/logistically difficult for the guest.  Additionally, there are hosts that scam with cancellations just as guests do as well.  

[BenkaandKeith0]

Explain this @Linda108 how the host can scam with cancellations? We are two whose imagination does not stretch that far to be able to understand your statement.

[Susan1188 · Accepted solution]

@Linda108 
It's not "branding".
Its simply transparency!
There are legitimate reasons for hosts to cancel too, and it's written in stone in our reviews after.
Why should it not be the same for the guest, and if the host questions it, he can explain the legitimate reason why he cancelled 5 times out of his last 6 stays...

[Susan1188]

@Linda108 
It's simply transparency; hosts can also cancel for many legitimate reasons these appear written in stone on your profile.  If I cancel due to legitimate illness, or for example my neighbor started renovations works without telling me, yes I can cancel and I would have no problem explaining this to future guests.

Knowing a guest cancelled 3x?  6x?  10x?  in the past would allow you to simply ask the question and call them out:
Hello, thanks for your trip request!  We offer moderate cancellation policy for legitimate last minute covid emergencies, but I see you have a history of cancellations.  Could you tell me some more about that because every cancellation impacts us deeply".

Then let the guest justify his 5 previous cancellations!

If they know they will be called out on it, they will think twice about doing it in the future