"bob requests that you cancel"

[Donald28]

Why does Bob & airbnb want me to cancel his reservation instead of him just cancelling it himself or airbnb cancelling it themselves (as they have done in the recent past without even informing me)?

I cancelled and gave a full refund without knowing the ramifications to my superhost status. Did I just lose my superhost?!

Bob requests that you cancel

Bob Apr 25 - Apr 26 · 2 guests Tiny House & Huge Arcade just 5 miles To Six Flags

Still able to host Bob’s trip? If not, it’s important to cancel the reservation so that they can find a new space for their trip.

Cancel or Keep Reservation

[Mary419]

No they will let you keep super host status, but I do think they will not send you the 25% of your cancelation fee. I was talking about this yesterday. https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Guests-Wanting-to-Cancel-But-Stuck-In-the-glitchy-confus...

[Donald28]

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@Mary419 wrote:

No they will let you keep super host status, but I do think they will not send you the 25% of your cancelation fee. I was talking about this yesterday. https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Guests-Wanting-to-Cancel-But-Stuck-In-the-glitchy-confus...

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So, if I would have clicked the "can still host this guest" instead of clicking "cancel and give full refund", airbnb would have cancelled on the guests behalf NOT mine? And, I would have got 25% of the refund? 

[Pat271]

I have gotten several of these, and I don’t care what Airbnb says about current exemptions from penalties, I am not going to accept any of them!  I have seen too many people reporting glitches in which the software isn’t behaving the way it is supposed to.  It can all be straightened out later, probably, but I choose not to put myself through the misery.

[Donald28]

These  emails or messages are NOT from the guest who wants to cancel... they're from airbnb. Airbnb even made up the wording. Seems very sneaky. 

How do I know this? Because I msged the guest and asked why he wanted ME to cancel instead of him just cancelling the reservation himself . He replied...

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You asked me to cancel the reservation and I clicked the button requesting to cancel. That is all I know. I have no idea what or why airbnb does what it does.

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[Sarah977]

@Donald28 I think the guest has choices. One is "request to cancel" and one is "cancel". I can't say for sure, but I suspect this is the case. I had one guest left on the books as of a couple weeks ago- her booking was for April 5, but there is no way I'm hosting now in my home-share, and no way she could actually come, as she was from SF, which had just gone into lockdown. When I didn't see her cancel, as I was expecting, I messaged her, and she agreed it was the right thing to do. I told to just go ahead and cancel, she'd get the 100% refund, as she was within the dates, not to send a request to cancel. She must have had the option to just cancel herself, because the next day, the booking was canceled, and I never received anything to approve.

[Deirdre12]

@Sarah977 @Donald28 For whatever it's worth, I just had a guest tell me the same thing Donald's guest told him -- she clicked on cancel and she was guided to ask ME to cancel instead of her just cancelling herself. 

[Sarah977]

@Deirdre12  I guess my guest didn't get that because the date she booked and the date of her reservation fell within the original COVID "before March 14 booking and before April 14 check-in". So now they are probably sending that message to any guests whose dates don't fall within the old or updated poicy for full refund? Or it's a way for hosts to unknowingly give up their right to even the 25% or 50% payment- that seems quite likely and very much in keeping with Airbnb's favor the guest while sneakily or blalantly screwing the host practices.

[Deirdre12]

@Sarah977  Yes, same thing here, because I didn't receive cancellation emails like this one until this new policy took effect the other day.  So, yes, I 100% believe it is Airbnb's way of screwing hosts with strict cancellation policies out of the 25%.   I agree with you that it's in keeping with Airbnb's sneaky ways and I find it appalling.

[Susan17]

@Sarah977 

I've been trying to get a definitive answer to that  question for days, including tagging Aisling Hassell in a thread here relating to the issue on Tuesday. I've made endless phone calls to CX (most of which, I hung up on after being left hanging on the line for an eternity trying to get through). The twice the calls were actually picked up on, one agent said yes, you will lose your 12.5% as it counts as the host voluntarily cancelling, the other said no, that's not true. I've tried other contacts I have who work within Airbnb - they have no idea either. It's just incredibly head-wrecking, trying to get what should be the simplest answer, to the simplest question. I'm so frustrated with it all at this point, that if we weren't on lockdown and the Airbnb offices were open, I'd be heading down there and refusing to leave until someone in authority gave me a straight yes or no - in writing.

[Susan17]

@Sarah977 

The consequence of hosts' innate mistrust in even pressing a simple button on the site lest they be penalised, is that now you have everything in limbo - hosts refusing to accept, guests cracking up because they wrongly believe their hosts are playing games or messing them about, and social media sites flooded with guest complaints about how hosts are trying to scam them and cheat them out of their money by not accepting their cancellation requests. Another fine mess...

[Robin4]

@Susan17 

The little anomalies are coming so thick and fast we tend not to (in isolation) notice them Susan.

Another of my guests cancelled yesterday....and that is fine, I don't feel comfortable hosting holiday makers at the moment.

But the thing that suddenly struck me was, there seems to have been an increase in guest service fees somewhere along the line that I was not privy too!

For a one night stay I get $105 less the host service fee, and end up with $101.53......

But, have a look at what Airbnb claim they have refunded the guest.......

Now maths was never my strong point Susan but, the difference between $104.99 and $128.30 is a whisker under 19%.

Had this stay proceeded it looks like the total Airbnb services fees would have been 22%.

Greed, it appears, has no bounds, or was this just a slip of the computers 'finger'!!

Cheers.......Rob

[Susan17]

@Robin4 

The anomalies have always been there though, Rob - they're just massively amplified and much more apparent now, as the system creaks under the strains of the greatly increased workload. And the complex, convoluted, woefully executed response they've cobbled together in relation to the COVID challenges, has only served to highlight even further the many, many deep discrepancies between what Airbnb says and what Airbnb does, and the true street angel, house devil nature of the company. 

They'd do well to be careful, right around now. They do love to draw glory on themselves, and solicit maximum possible global media glare and public attention for their noble deeds and magnanimous, benevolent gestures - Airbnb Provides !00% Refunds, Airbnb Provides Free Housing" "Airbnb Provides $250M Bailout For Hosts".. we all know the drill, by now. 

With great glory, comes great scrutiny. Not so easy to keep getting away with systemic negligences and failures - be they deliberate, or unintended - when the eyes of the world are firmly fixed on your every move. Whether or not the legions of unexplained anomalies and recurring malfunctions are simply an endless series of unfortunate mishaps and/or the result of nothing more sinister than rank incompetence, remains to be seen. The fact is though, the anomalies and discrepancies are everywhere - thousands of hosts, guests and onlookers are picking up on them all day long, and they're starting to ask questions. Airbnb really need to get their house in order sharpish, or they may very well find themselves having to answer far more awkward and inconvenient questions from those with infinitely greater power and authority than mere hosts or guests.

[Sandra126]

While you are on the maths, @Robin4 , I just had the superhost notification come. It says I have 0,6 cancellations. In reality I have heaps, all virus related, but were not supposed to count. So ok, how 0,6? Can you cancel someone by fraction?!

[Sarah977]

@Susan17  Years ago, a friend of mine, who had been waiting for her UI check to arrive and kept being told that it was in the mail, for weeks, finally marched into the UI office and told the person who had been dealing with her case that if she didn't get her check by the next day, she was coming back with a chain saw and cutting her desk in half.