guests cheat the hosts !

[Alexandros87]

Good evening ! The guest yesterday requested a changes in the booking, a request to postpone the booking date, I made concessions to the guest and confirmed the changes! The guest canceled the reservation today without penalty. It turns out that the guest deceived me, knowing that when he will cancel the reservation before the day, he will not receive a refund, he went to the trick and deceived the owner by requesting a change in the booking date for a whole month so that when canceling, he will receive the full cancellation amount!
I think this is wrong, the owner can be deceived in any booking by moving the booking date! It turns out that the cancellation policy for guests has a chance to cheat the host and the Airbnb platform. Most likely, I would go to a meeting with a guest and return the money, as I have done more than once.
But the fact that there is such a possibility of deception depressing me!
In similar cases, when guests ask to change the booking in the dates of arrival, I will already be guided by this case, and I simply will not make concessions to the guest, the precedent created and the existence of this loophole through deception of the host casts doubt on the cancellation policy.
It seems to me that a separate case should be brought up by the Airbnb team as a potentially dangerous loophole for hosts when canceling a reservation. And the cancellation rules should be expanded.
If the guest requests and the host confirms the transfer of the reservation a day before the arrival for a month, and when canceling the reservation, he cannot be guided by the cancellation rules without the consent of the host, if the guest wishes to cancel the reservation, he must pay penalties in any case!

[Ann72]

@Ute42  That should not have happened if the guest made the change!  I thought that only happened when the host makes the change.

[Lee3594]

Yes, it isn't fixed at all!

[Ann72]

@Ute42  Yes, I'm saying that the postponed booking should still have the original booking date.  Any cancellation policy should be tied to the booking date.

And it looks like the booking date here is February 11th - that was Thursday.  @Alexandros87 was that the date the guests originally booked?

If it is not, did they make the changes when they postponed the reservation, or did you?

[Alexandros87]

@Ann72  they booked 11 of February, yesterday 12 of February he send me request for changing  dates from 13/02-14/02 to 5/03-6/03.  So I accepted , I asked him what happened, he told me that his friend couldn’t come . I didn’t thought that it’s was just a manipulation to me to get this change in reservation.

[Alexandros87]

@Ann72 

 

[Mary996]

@Alexandros87  I'm sorry this happened to you. It was a mean Guest. However you might be lucky with Support. Surely worth a chat message with the info from your perspective?

[Mary996]

Many thanks for posting @Alexandros87 its been enlightening and there's more to understand (another day... brain warped here). It has read like a rushing page turner ...I couldn't wait for the conclusion but am still not sure that I've got it! Many thanks to @Ann72 and @Ute42 for thrashing this out and getting nearly to the bottom of it and being so helpful with all the information xx

[Ann72]

@Alexandros87  In other words, he cancelled within 48 hours of the original booking, so he is entitled to a full refund.  Unfortunately, that is the loophole:  the cancellation policy is tied to the booking date, unless the check-in date is less than 48 hours away.  This guest realized that, so he moved the check-in date but still cancelled within the 48 hours of booking.  Really, really annoying.  I don't think there's anything you can do about it.  If you frequently get last-minute bookings like this, I hope you get a replacement.

[Alexandros87]

@Ann72  in the rules for the cancellation of my accommodation, it is worth 5 days before arrival, the guest has the right to cancel the reservation with a native refund. he knew it, and therefore went to manipulation . Any ways thank you a lot for your time and help , will try connecting with support team , maybe I will prove this manipulation.

[Debra300]

@Alexandros87, @Ann72, @Ute42,

There are written Airbnb help pages regarding reservation changes.  Unfortunately, since they are not on the same page, hosts must do Google searches on the topic, and piece together the whole policy.

Airbnb recommends that hosts do not make reservation changes on behalf of guests:  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1504/how-does-it-work-if-a-guest-wants-to-change-their-reservati....

If a host makes a change to a confirmed reservation, the cancellation policy will be applied to the new dates (resetting the cancellation period): https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/50/as-a-host-how-do-i-make-a-change-to-a-confirmed-reservation.

[Ann72]

@Debra300 yes, aware of that, that's why I asked @Alexandros87 if he had made the change.  It turns out he just had a very slippery guest.  I hope he can prove to CS's satisfaction that the guest gamed the system!

[Mary996]

@Ann72 Great turn of phrase. He gamed the system...!! Thanks for that xx

[Ute42]

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@Ann72 @Alexandros87 @Debra300   

So if I understand everything correct here's what happened:

1. On thursday, feb11th, the guest books a stay for check-in feb 13. The guest cannot cancel this reservation for free under the 48hrs grace period, bc to do so the check-in date must be a minimum of 14 days in the future
   
   

2. On friday, feb 12th, the guest requests a date change and the host agrees. As Alexandros87 's screenshot shows, the original booking date remains the same. New check-in date is march 5th. And that is more than 14 days out in reference to the booking date.
   
   

3. On saturday, feb 13th the guest cancels the new reservation for a full refund

As it looks, Ann is correct, the original booking date does not change if there is a date-change in the reservation.

But the issue of this case is not if the booking date resets due to a change of the reservation, the „old“ and „new“ booking date are only one day apart from each other anyway.

The guests problem was, that with the original booking the check-in date was too close to the booking date and therefore he couldn't cancel for free. So he moved the check-in date to march which allows him to cancel for free under the 48hrs grace period. Clever.

Alexandros, You made a mistake, You should not have agreed to the date change.

[Ann72]

@Ute42  Your understanding is correct.  But now now now, let's not blame @Alexandros87 for a sleazy guest's underhanded behavior.  Although that does remind me of one of my favorite lines from "Animal House":

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[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ann72 @Ute42  I am not hosting for almost a year so I just discovered that the host's cancellation policy (flexible, strict etc...) is not written on the listing anymore. Is it true or am I missing something? I just pretended to book and I had to enter the dates first, to be able to read something like:

Cancellation policy

Free cancellation until 2:00 PM on Feb 28

After that, cancel before 2:00 PM on Mar 5 and get a 50% refund, minus the first night and service fee.

And there is no mention of 48-h grace period at all.

In the same time, the cancellation policies are still explained, (and named) on ABB page as before:  https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#flexible