Help! I accepted a reservation and then realised it had the low season rate

[Belen0]

Hello, I just accepted a reservation for the summer and 10 minutes later realised that Airbnb had filled in all future dates with my low-season rate.

I changed the reservation with the new rate and sent a very apologetic message to the guest explaining what'd happened. This happened 10 minutes after I'd accepted their reservation.

How does it work now? I understand the guest needs to 'accept' the change - what if they don't? Would I need to cancel the reservation instead?

Thanks for your help. I realise it doesn't look good to do this but it was a long booking and this mistake would cost me £500.

[Ed-and-Hugh0]

A contract is a contract. If you accept a reservation at the wrong rate, I would just eat the loss and learn from the mistake. Airbnb doesn't set rates, so it's not clear how it could have been their mistake.

[Margaret0]

Are you sure its Airbnbs mistake. If its a long booking and you have a weekly rate set for low season that is overriding your daily rate for high season possibly. The only way out of that is to custom set weekly and monthly rates for particular dates. If you havent done that that is where the rate is coming from...

[Shirley1]

Oh my, the same thing happened to me although it didn't hurt my wallet as much as it will yours. I didn't do anything to their reservation as I still had three other weeks in the month open (She booked over a year in advance).  And I also know how easy that mistake can happen without doing the math to verify the nightly rate charged on a long-term booking. 

What would I do? Confess that the mistake made in booking at the low season rate seriously affects my ability to cover summer rental expenses and there's no choice except to cancel the reservation right now if they don't accept the rate increase. 

I'd be very tempted to offer a discount for affecting their plans (like removing the cleaning fee in my case). I'd be doing it out of pity for them, but I'm not sure I'd really make any favorable points with a guest by making the offer. 

I made this mistake when a guest with a larger group booked dates during the summer. I did cancel the booking with a very sincere apology. They could have rebooked at the higher rate and didn't. I did get a longer booking for a smaller group for slightly more than if the cancelled guests had rebooked.

It's a gamble .. you have to trust your judgment on what's best for you.  

[Murri0]

Thank you for your response

My problem is I have pre approved and sent a nice response to them confirming we have availability but only noticed after sending this that the figure quoted by air b and b was 1000 euros lower than it should have been

I checked my listing on the air b and b web site and the rates are correct for August

Air b and B have made the mistake but I do not know how to tell the client or the company that their site has wrongly calculated the cost to the client

Any suggestions

Thanking you for the help and interest

Best wishes

Murri

[Murri0]

how did you change the reservation with the new rate?

Murri

[Murri0]

The same issue has just happened to me potentially costing me 1000 euros less than it should have

How do you tell the client and Air B and B it is wrong

They seem impossible to contact

Thanks

Murri

[Shirley1]

If the space allowed for entering the reason for the charge limits how well you can explain the additional billing, can you send the guest an email or text message or perhaps attempt to phone them? 

I don't know if AirBnB would agree to cover the cost of the difference for the mistake. If the guest won't pay the additional billing request, I have no idea if their terms & conditions would compel you to accept the reservation at the amount you agreed to by mistake.

How rates are maintained in the calendar is ripe for a data entry/maintenance error, IMO. Working with AirBnb customer service might work in your favor, or might take too long to finally get a response that's not in your favor. In the meantime, your guest is waiting it out and probably getting frustrated.

What I'd do would depend on how comfortable I felt setting up this particular guest for a potential conflict.  Cancelling the reservation altogether and taking a ding for it on your stats, might be the least hurtful for everyone involved. 

Am interested to hear from other hosts about their experiences in this situation. 

Edited to add: @Belen0 Apologies .. wrote this reply and posted it before I was able to read your update that AirBnb was potentially at fault in creating the error. I'm a U.S. host and not sure what phone number you'd use to call customer service. Would definitely try to call or tweet AirBnb to have them get back to you quickly. 

[Murri0]

Hi if I could find any phone number it would be great

Can you supply the US number or the Twitter addess please

Murri

[Belen0]

Hi Shirley,

Thanks for your reply. In my case it wasn't Airbnb's mistake. That was Murri's post. I have replied to the guest explaining what happened and offering a full refund if they don't want to continue at the new rate but I didn't realise it's down to them to accept this new price and I don't know what happens if they don't. I haven't heard back from them. I'll give it until tomorrow and then I'll have to cancel the reservation and see what the consequences are. It seems Airbnb block those dates from your calendar and don't allow you to book them but as it's in high season I'm confident I'd be able to book them anyway.

@Murri0 - it's so easy for this to happen, isn't it? If you go to your reservations, you can click on 'Change reservation' and you can change the details there.

Belen

[Andrea9]

 Belen, just wondering if before just cancelling the reservation you wrote to tell them the problem and say that if they can't accept your summer rating price (in order to properly cover your expenses) that you would see yourself having to unfortunately cancel their reservation. That leaves them the option to accept, but at the same they would know that they'd lose their reservation if they didn't.

[Belen0]

Hi Andrea, thanks for your reply. I did write to her immediately explaining the situation and said I wouldn't be able to accept the booking at that low rate. I later sent her a text message apologising again and asking her to have a look at the message I sent her through Airbnb. I didn't specifically mention cancelling. I'll send her another message first thing tomorrow explaining that if I don't hear from her by midday I will need to cancel the booking. I feel terrible doing this but it's too much money. They sounded like a very nice family so I hope they'll understand - they probably thought they'd got a bargain...

[Helga0]

@Belen0, before you cancel, contact customer service (number on the booking confirmation). Otherwise you will face the penalties for cancelling AND the dates will be blocked, you can't book them for someone else. (But you can create an extra listing for the weeks)

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hello @Belen0, @Murri0, and @Shirley1,

I have been following this post and have not had a chance to respond until now.  

@Murri, I am curious how this was Airbnb's mistake?  YOU, the host, set the base price and when dates become available on your calendar, the "Base Price" YOU set is the one which will be filled in on your calendar.  In the future I would change the section "How far guests can book" and/or also block out the dates on the calendar OR set your base price to your summer rate and change the slow times on your calendar.  

I think you all need to fully understand the implications of cancelling on a guest and I would highly recommend you pay more attention to your listings so these mistakes don't happen.  Not only does cancelling on a guest affect you and the guest but it also affects the Airbnb image and the image of other hosts.  Just take a look at the daily complaints to @airbnb and @airbnbhelp feeds on Twitter of guests who are frustrated with hosts who cancel.  There have been several guests who have had this happen time and again and it really hurts ALL hosts and the chance of Airbnb getting returning guests.

@Murri0: You may want to check out the following two links: How to Use Search or  How to Contact Airbnb

In answer to @Belen, if the guest rejects your change, they will get to stay at your listing unless you cancel their reservation.  Here are the penalties to you: https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/how-do-the-cancellation-penalties-work

This reply may sound harsh and it really is not meant to be.  As hosts though, you need to take some responsibility and understand how the "Basic Price" works and if you do not stay on top of it, your issues may happen again.

Happy Hosting!

Dave

[Shirley1]

@Dave-and-Deb0 As far as AirBnb standards go, in my book if this is Belen's first and only cancellation in her entire hosting career, give the woman a medal. 

I recently researched rentals in the U.K and Netherlands. Look at enough properties with photographs that show you an unmade bed, favorite plants and collectibles, and missing photos that show all the sleeping accommodations, even I started to wonder if AirBnb really gives a cr&p about the overall impression of the AirBnb image as far as here's what we can offer y ou in lieu of a hotel. Far too many 1 bedroom listings, accommodating 4 people, and no information about where 4 guests actually wind up sleeping. There is absolutely standard by AirBnb to maintain a photograpic minimum standard of rental representation.   

During my search I also noted lots of AirBnb potential guests on some listings with the repeated statement "Reservation cancelled by host".  There were enough rentals listed to just move on to the next possibility and I didn't think twice about it. 

Another standard I wish were enforced by AirBnb is to not allow hosts to let their calendars stay dormant for 'x' months without any updating. Granted some listings are slow on bookings, log in tweak the calendar to bump the last visited date and at least it appears the host is actively maintaining their listing. 

As a potential guest I find both of these situations a much poorer reflection on AirBnb than an isolated cancellation by a host. Hosts who show repeated cancellation notations on their listing should be reviewed by AirBnb to determine the cause and potentially have their listing suspended. 

Whew .. I am now stepping off my soapbox. 

[Deborah0]

Definitely, Shirley, an isolated cancellation by a host is something that can happen to anyone -- however, I think it is difficult for guests, when this happens with many hosts, because it actually may end up happening to them that they are that host's one isolated cancellation.  So they may pick a host who has no cancellations (yet) and find that now that host has a new history, and they are the unfortunate recipients thereof.  

So, although it is not always possible, I and Dave and Deb and other experienced hosts try to advise newer hosts to strive to avoid cancelling on guests, just as one way to make Airbnb more reliable for guests in general.  We have seen hosts cancel on guests for more trivial reasons than mentioned in this post....

Your other points about other problems with listings are well made, Shirley -- and I think it's a wise guest who looks carefully before booking and avoids a host whose listing says, "calendar last updated 7 months ago" or the like.   

[Deborah0]

Ditto @Dave-and-Deb0

ANyone who wants to be a host, it is a good idea to do some reading and research before you start advertising and go live with a listing. Know fully how the Airbnb system works before you start hosting, know how to run a small business, know how similar businesses in your area are doing.   Know what you are doing, know how to set house rules, know how to screen prospective guests, know how to set your prices.  Since asking to be paid more after someone books could be viewed as dishonest/false advertising, try to make sure your prices are correct -- at the very least double check them before you allow someone to book -- an incorrect price on an inquiry is still correctable, but after a booking has been made, you are basically out of luck.  And as Helga nad Dave and Deb say -- please dont' cancel on guests.  Responsible hosts should only need to cancel a guest in the case of an  emergency -- eg family, health emergency, plumbing emergency, natural disaster, weather emergency.  Hosts should not be cancelling a guest "because I made a mistake."