Guest transfer between hosts

[Yumnah0]

Hi all, I recently had an issue where I had to cancel reservations due to unforeseen circumstances. It would have been great if I could contact a few hosts if there place was available and transfer the guests to them in the safest, legal way possible. What do you think?

[Anonymous]

@Yumnah0  This is not possible on Airbnb:  all bookings are non-transferrable, and breaking a rule like this could result in being de-listed or permanently banned from the platform.

Of course there's no reason you can't recommend other listings to your guests when you cancel on them, or help them get a replacement booking through quickly. But they will have to make a separate booking - their reservation with you can not be applied to a stay with another member.

[Yumnah0]

I understand. What I’m saying is would such a function be beneficial to hosts if it led and provided by Airbnb themselves. Because in a situation where a host cannot accommodate some guests, it is more honourable to say that they have secured another place for that guest than to cancel and hand them over to Airbnb. Just my thoughts 

[Helen3]

Hello @Yumnah0 

I understand why Airbnb doesn't offer this.  It's too open to exploitation from hosts who fail to keep calendar/pricing  up to date. 

it's very rare that hosts should need to cancel unless exceptional circumstances.

what I have done the one time it happened to me is to do a quick search and send the guest a shortlist of  available places.

Airbnb then helped the guest transfer their booking to the new listing .

[Elena87]

@Yumnah0 

I'd fear this idea would  fast become a loophole for bait and switch collusion.

[Anonymous]

@Yumnah0  As a guest, I would not find it honorable for the host to transfer my booking to a different property. If someone tried this on me, I would assume that the listing was a scam and report it to Airbnb. I've had to do this in the past, and those hosts' profiles are no longer on the platform.

If I had booked your specific listing, I would have carefully selected it for its unique combination of location, amenities, price, and other factors that you may not be privy to. If you were no longer able to accommodate me, what I'd want you to do is process the cancellation as quickly as possible so that I could get my refund and choose my own alternative accommodation - which will probably not turn out to be an Airbnb if it's at the last minute.