Last minute cancellation advise

[Jamie720]

Hello everyone, 

This is my first post with this community, and I am a very new host! I have had my first last minute cancellation, and I was hoping I could receive some advise on how to handle the refund in this situation. My cancellation policy is moderate, and these guests cancelled tonight at 10pm, and their check in is tomorrow afternoon. Their reason for cancellation is the expected snow in our area on Thursday and Friday. There is supposed to be snow but it looks like only a few inches. 

Air bnb obviously sent me the customary email stating I would receive the payment for the booking minus the cleaning fee, and that give full refund button option is at the bottom. My guess is that the guests who cancelled will ask for a full refund, although they haven’t yet. I definitely will not be able to re-book the room tomorrow night.

I was hoping to learn how more experienced hosts handle these situations when they come up. 

Thank  you in advance! 

Jamie 

[Michelle2475]

Sorry, I thought it would give the host pause to thought about her plans.  Perhaps not.  I think we're all wavering between seeming like a good host or a "B".  I wish Airbnb would allow us to do some host to host comments on guests rather than having us choose between the lesser of two evils!

[Colleen253]

@Michelle2475 That review suggests only a lovely, trouble free guest. One thing to be aware of is that only hosts who use instant book can see a guest's star ratings. This is why the written review is important. Even if you can see them, the stars don't tell a thing really. They're quite useless. Airbnb should do away with them on both sides.

Leaving someone's house unsecured, whether the door is wide open, or unlocked, is a huge concern. It speaks to a lack of attention, care and respect for another person's property. 

[Michelle2475]

@Colleen253 The problem is that I only knew about it because of the camera.  I clear off the alerts but tend to peak at what's going on and saw her standing in the doorway talking to someone inside.  I can't really say to a guest "hey I was stalking you and saw..."  Tough situation!

[Colleen253]

@Michelle2475 The way I read it, the guest vacated the house with the door left open. But in fact the guest stood with the door open while talking, letting all the heat out? That’s a bit different.

[Michelle2475]

@Colleen253 yes, she stood in the doorway.  Literally everyone leaves the door wide open while they chat, go to their car to get things, etc.  It's quite frustrating - especially when I get a $400 propane bill for three weeks and there have been only weekend renters.

[Elisabeth40]

You cannot have enough experience with this case. I even had a case where the guest booked, requested an early check in, never checked in, pretended after 5h waiting that she is on her way, next day pretended that she is still coming soon, never checked in, wasted my time with waiting 3x, never canceled, couple days later asked for a full refund, her excuse was, she booked 2 different airbnb's and a hotel at the same time and couldn't attend any of those and was actually staying with her friend. I even never had a chance to try to get a new last minute guest. she also gave me a bad review, as if she was staying there. 

in my opinion, you cannot do anything, apply your terms and conditions and take the review and that's it. That's life, don't try to be perfect, otherwise you will lose your mind and believe in humans as an intelligent species. Speaking out of experience, you can try to be perfect as much as you want, it takes only one stupid person to destroy your effort. I do not believe in people anymore, I just go for money in those cases.