Thoughts

[Christopher1189]

I am reaching out to see if anyone else has cancelled a guest due to a relaxation of restrictions? I had a booking in the diary from a guest whilst we were in lock down. The government allowed us to have overnight stays on the date the guest was due to stay. I notified the guest that I would need to cancel their trip as first time of being able to check on the property for issues etc . This was roughly 8 weeks before their trip was due. Now they are in touch stating they would like compensation for having to pay for a more expensive property (twice the amount that I was charging) and they will look to pursue me for this amount. Air b n b say I am liable but I am wondering if anyone else has experienced being chased for compensation outside of air b n b? Thanks Chris

[Christopher1189]

sorry air b n b have said I am not liable but anyone else insight would be appreciated

[Helen3]

No you are not liable if the booking was through Airbnb @Christopher1189 

I don't really understand your reason for cancelling the guest though - why couldn't you have gone up earlier to check your listing . If I was the guest I'd be upset if I had a long time booking you cancelled for this reason . 

[Christopher1189]

Thanks Helen I appreciate your response. Can I ask why you are confident I have no liability if booked through air b n b? Have you been through the process? @Helen3 

In terms of cancelling the guest I agree the pandemic scenario was not great and living a distance away with three young children I did not have the ability to visit the property for an overnight stay to check on whether it was suitable for a paying guest.  I would have been upset too but gave the maximum notice I could (20 minutes after Boris' announcement) and offered alternate dates so what can you do? 

[Helen3]

In answer to your question - no I have never cancelled the booking of a guest who had been booked for a considerable time just so I could get my listing ready -  you could have just travelled up a few days before our Covid legislation allowed us to reopen to get the place ready.

Or do what many remote hosts do and have a local co-host who could prepare your place for you @Christopher1189 

I say you wouldn't be liable for the additional fee the guest will likely have to pay to fund accommodation because it doesn't say in Airbnb's T&C that you would be.

airbnb does say it can impose cancellation penalties on you though

[Dale711]

Hi @Christopher1189 

You make a good point. I agree with you.

@Elena87 advice is much appreciated.

[Lawrene0]

There is no cancellation notice showing in your reviews, @Christopher1189 , which would say to me that Airbnb was on your side with this one.

And, no, you don't owe an Airbnb guest a cheap stay in a more expensive place. That is a misconception by some guests: that because your less-expensive place is unavailable, you somehow now owe them that price somewhere else. 

I'm with @Helen3. I can see why the guest is upset. I've been in their shoes -- you think your accommodations are all sorted, then you have to start from scratch for a flimsy-sounding excuse like "I haven't had a chance to check the property." It's disheartening.

But you know that, and will have tried everything possible to make the stay happen. We have see-sawing regulations here, too, adding layers of difficulty.

If the guest persists about the money and gets belligerent, you may have to block them. I'm not sure about the blocking procedures these days, so it will be something to look up. 

One thing to know is that Airbnb likely provided the guest with a bit of a credit for their trouble. So they will have applied that to their new booking. Sounds like it wasn't enough to cover the difference of course. But you don't have to cover the difference, either. 

[Elena87]

@Christopher1189 

You'd be best trawling through the airbnb 'terms of service' and examining the 'guest refund' policy.

In brief, if a host cancels then a guest gets either a refund or rebooking assistance.

Generally the rebooking assistance is for last minute cancellations and airbnb solely decide if the guest qualifies for this help. At this point, airbnb state they may decide to claim back other costs incurred by them against the host.

Anyway, in your case, if it was 8 weeks out, the guests would be refunded and that is the end of the matter albeit there may be host cancellation penalties applied.

As far as you underwriting extra costs incurred by the guest, you aren't liable via the terms of service all hosts and guests have agreed to.

I see the guests point, but it seems wholly speculative rather than based on merit.

The learning point is perhaps to snooze a listing during uncertain times, rather than attract unpleasantness from the consequences of cancelling.

[Lisa723]

@Christopher1189 like others I am also baffled by your reason for cancellation-- due to relaxation of restrictions??? But regardless of the reason there's no scenario in which you are liable for any payment to the guest outside of the refund of their original payment.

[Sarah977]

@Christopher1189  The guest's notion that you have to reimburse them for the increased cost of another booking is ridiculous. If I ordered an item online, and then the company told me they were out if that item and refunded me,  I couldn't then go buy it elsewhere and tell the first company they needed to pay the extra cost because the second company had the item, but it was more expensive. 

[Christopher1189]

Thank you all the insights are extremely helpful and valuable. This has been an extreme learning curve and what makes this a little more sour is the guest is a friend of a friend who booked through the platform.  Couple this with the fact that he did not respond to my personal email to apologise for 9 weeks (offer of discounted stay another time, he believes this is the start of the compensation offering) then turns around after this time looking for compensation has spun my head a little.   Thanks again all and I wish you a profitable/smooth running summer and I will do better, Chris  @Helen3 @Dale711 @Sarah977 @Lisa723 @Elena87