Wanting to cancel a guest without penalty

[Gillian60]

Dear All.

Really would appreciate some help with this.

A guest has just booked with us but after he booked he said that he also has 2 children coming.

This would normally be absolutely fine but they are already bringing the maximum amount of people that our house and staff can handle and he should have said this before he booked.

We said to them that they can come but they will need to pay an extra $30 for the extra work for the staff, elecricity, water etc.  I think that now they have accepted this.

However they are now asking us to provide an extra bed for their son and a baby cot for their baby.  We also have to push the 2 single beds together for a couple.

This all leaves me with a bad feeling and i do not think they will happy here after all this.

I said to him that i can help  him finding another place as  know some places and people.  Also i can return all their money (incuding fees) (How do i get all the money back to them by the way?)

Is there anyway i can cancel them with out incurring any kind of penalities of any kind?  Obviously i do not want this showing up on Airbnb that we cancelled a guest.

Thanks so much!!!

[Caroline318]

We are in a similar position, we haven't yet set rates for Christmas period this year and only want to take long term bookings over this peak period.  With instant book of course people hae booked a 1 night stay right in the middle of peak season.  We are within 24hours of booking and I have notified them, but how do you cancel without incurring a cost or losing super host status?

[Gillian60]

Dear Caroline

Oh dear!

Ive never had this before in the whole time i have worked with airbnb (4years for many properties) so i didnt know that it was 24hours after they booked to report a problem 😕

I hope someone replies to you and me soon!!

Good luck

Warm Regards

Emma 

[Ange2]

@Caroline318  I believe (you would need to check) you can cancel without penalty three times if you are using IB, within a set time-frame and other considerations may apply.  Best would be to use Airbnb Twitter or FB and ask for confirmation because the policy appears to constantly change.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Gillian60,

Welcome to the Community Center. 

Aw I can understand your concern, especially if you think your listing isn't a suitable size to host your guests. I would recommend contact the Support Team, because if you cancel you will be subject to the penalties for a cancellation. 

Here is a useful Community Guide (created by a host here in the CC) on the different ways to reach them. This guide can also be found in the Community Help board. 🙂

Let us know how you get on.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Gillian60]

Dear Lizzie

Thankyou so much for your help!!

Regards

[Hilary-And-Ed0]

 Hi Gillian,

If you cancel you will definitely be penalized.   I didn't check all your listings, but at least one of them says "not suitable for children".  If this is the listing that they booked, you can contact Airbnb to cancel, as bringing children will break your house rules.  Problem solved.

If the listing they booked does not state that it cannot take children then the situation is trickier.  The family should legitimately be able to come.  The listing can hold four guests, and that is how many will be coming, correct?  So the bed for the son must be somewhere, correct?  I would not buy a baby cot just for one family.  Perhaps they have a port-a-cot they can travel with.  I think it is perfectly reasonable to offer the space/beds you have, but you should not have to go buying a significant peice of furniture just for this.  Just state that you do not have one and that they will need to bring their own.  It might be enough for them to cancel on their own.

Hope this is helpful.

[Gillian60]

Dear  Hilary and Ed.

Many thanks for your reply and help! 
In "additional rules" it says its not suitable for young children.
The listing that they booked says 8 people and now they are wanting to bring 8 people and 2 children.

If they were to cancel could they get a full refund immediately?  I am happy for that to happen.

Regards 

[Lyn-and-Gavin0]

Hi Gillian We had a guest who booked for two people (our max) in one of our private rooms and then stated they were three people.  I called air bnb who agreed to cancel guest - no penalty to guest (they just hadn't read the description!!!) and No penalty to us hosts.  If they have exceeeded your maximum  then I think you have a case to get Call air bnb ASAP and get them to cancel without penalities.  Good luck. Lyn

[Shayne5]

Dear Lyn, How did you call or contact airbnb, to let them know of your extenuating circumstances?

Kind regards,

Shayne

[Andrea714]

I am new to hosting the last six months. I have had 21 guests so far. I absolutely love hosting and am trying to be the best ever. I have tried to keep my ratings all 5 star. I had a situation the last couple weeks with a wonderful guest.

He came from Massachusetts to here in California to started a new job and has been looking for a place to live. He has been exhausted and needed to stay longer. 5 days longer. I had another guest in between those days booked for two days that I went ahead and canceled rather than put out my exhausted lovely guest.

But that dinged me on my commitment rating? I would never cancel a guest otherwise. I am very committed to this. So I couldn't turn out a guest and he booked those 5 additional days so Airbnb still had the days booked.

My question is are there situations like this when you are trying to do the right thing for everyone that has a protocol to follow so I don't lose my excellent rating. I apologized to the fellow I canceled (I even offered a free day if he every came again). He saw my message and explanation and said back “No worries”.  Of course, I hope he found another Airbnb quickly and likely did. I want a perfect experience for all my guests. And a 5-star commitment rating.  🙂

[Ange2]

@Andrea714   Commitment in Airbnb-speak means non-cancellations.  I just cancelled someone because of extenuating circumstances, Airbnb said there were NO penalties because I had not cancelled anyone else within a six-month time-frame and thus I did even not have to prove the extenuating circumstances.

However, as concerns the 'no-penalty' part -  they did ding my commitment rating even though I found the guest three other similar listings, one of which they chose and  helped them navigate how to get their money refunded in a timely manner. The guests wrote and said they were very appreciative of my help.  BUT none of that seems to matter to Airbnb.  On top of that my listing all but zeroed out on views, inquiries and bookings in a time frame when I usually have more inquiries than I can accept -  coincidence or another penalty?

[Prudence1]

I have a similar problem. My calender opened up without my action or knowledge for the Christmas to new year period.  I am planning to change my listing to letting out the whole house and flat combined over this period between Christmas and mid January. However I received a booking for the flat only as per current listing. I cancelled the guest quickly so as to avoid inconvenience. In order to carry out these plans I ask for the undeserved penalty and the  following statement removed :- "To help avoid future cancellations, your calendar will stay blocked for the dates of the cancelled reservation" How do I go about this?

Can any one help me ?

[Sarah-and-Jean-Daniel0]

I have the same issue. I accepted a booking without realising immediately that it did not dit our stated Sat-Sat requirements and cancelled again immediately and informed the guests why. They then rebooked. I am now left with a full week in July (over 2 Sat-Sat weeks) which is blocked from anyone else being able to book. This is incredidbly frustrating and after 30 mins on the Airbnb website, I still cannot see any way of unblocking these dates. Can anyone help please? It would be great if Airbnb could actually respond given the fees we pay them!

[Ange2]

@Sarah-and-Jean-Daniel0   Your best bet would be to use Airbnb Twitter or FB.  Airbnb automaton automatically blocks days when a cancellation is made,  explain the situation and ask if they will unblock them for you. Good luck!