Question regarding cancellation/alteration of booking

[Barbara83]

I received a booking yesterday (Sunday evening) with the arrival date of 15 October. However, this morning the guest changed the arrival date to 16 October, and so her stay will be one day less than the original booking. I have moderate cancellation policy. When she requested the alteration in reservation I saw that Airbnb would give her a full refund for the 15 October. But how can that be? There is only 4 days until the 15 October.. Shouldn't I have received 50% for the first night that she cancelled?

I contacted Airbnb support and they keep telling me that the guest's alteration was within 5 days, if it was this morning (11 Oct. 11am)... but it wasn't... Counting 5 days back from 15 October gives 10 October. Then Airbnb also says that the alteration of reservation is different from cancellation... But how? No matter how I look at it, the guest cancels one night, by arriving one day later...

Can anyone help me to understand how this works?

Thanks in advance...

PS. I have not had any discussion about this with the guest, I just accepted the change in reservation. I just want to know if I have understood the Airbnb rules correctly...

[Sarah977]

@Barbara83  If you accept an alteration, the date resets, so the new start date is what is used. So the guest's change meant that the 16th was now a new "5 days before" cancellation.

You have to be really careful about accepting alterations. While this guest may not have done it with anything nefarious in mind, some savvy guests know of this loophole, and will request an alteration, only to immediately cancel for a full refund.

[Barbara83]

Well, yes I accepted the new arrival date... But the original arrival date was 15 October. But I assumed that when the guest made an alteration today, 4 days before the 15th, then I would still be entitled to a 50% payout for the first night that the guest cancelled...

I know my guest genuine about this change because she wrote me beforehand about she wanting to change the arrival..

But good point about being careful... guest may be altering first then cancelling after... Thanks!

In the resources it says:

• Changes made to an existing reservation are subject to your listing’s cancellation policy... 

So this is why I don't understand how alterations work...

[Lisa723]

@Barbara83 in theory, at least, if a reservation's dates are changed by the guest the cancellation policy clock does not reset. So guests should not be able to change to later dates then cancel to subvert your policy. But when you accept a shortened reservation, that does not mean your cancellation policy guarantees you any payout for the eliminated dates. In my experience payment is as if the reservation was originally made with the revised dates. (Of course, you have no obligation to accept any date revision and your payout change is shown before you do.)

But your comment about the statement on https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1504/how-does-it-work-if-a-guest-wants-to-change-their-reservati... is a good point. I don't understand what that is supposed to mean.

[Barbara83]

"But when you accept a shortened reservation, that does not mean your cancellation policy guarantees you any payout for the eliminated dates." - It seems like it because the system did refund her fully for one night... However, it doesn't make sense that guests are allowed to make alterations 4 days before arrival and the moderate policy rules don't apply...

[Serafina2]

@Barbara83 Do you know if this applies to alterations on the number of guests. I have a rather suspicious alteration request where the guest wishes to change the number of guests but not the dates. If i approve under my cancellation policy, where he has 48 hource grace period to cancel after booking, does he have those 48 hours to cancel again? Without alteration he would have to pay a penalty to cancel.

[Sarah977]

@Lisa723 @Barbara83  Like much of Airbnb's policy wording, it is often ambiguous or confusing. While theoretically the original date should be used to determine cancellation terms, the reality is that there have been so many posts here from hosts saying the altered check-in date was used to calculate refunds, that it seems pretty obvious that Airbnb is following that method.

[Barbara83]

Yes, it seems like it and this is actually not okay... They should take the original date to determine refunds... Airbnb kept also saying that my guest changed the dates within the 5 day window... but it's not true. Counting 5 days back from the 15th gives 10th October and not 11th... So I have no idea what's going on.

[Lenore22]

I've heard of guests requesting an alteration the day before a booking started for day, 6 months out. The host approved and then the guest cancels with a full refund. It's a well known loophole. Because the host approved it, it is assumed that you are agreeing to the new dates, thereby bypassing your cancellation policy.  Lots & lots of posts on here about this happening, which is the reason for @Sarah977 's advice to proceed with caution when accepting alterations.

It sucks, but at least you are only missing out on 50% of 1 night's stay as opposed to the month-long stays that many hosts have been burned on. Consider it a lesson that costs you significantly less than it could have.

[Barbara83]

Thank you... I'm aware of this loophole now and will be more cautious of booking alterations. I don't mind the 50% of 1 night's stay... but would mind if the guest changes the day before and then cancels the whole booking! I don't even know how Airbnb can allow that... 😞 

[Lisa723]

@Barbara83 @Sarah977 fwiw see this discussion:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Guest-changes-booking-dates-what-date-is-used-for-cancel...

[Sarah977]

@Lisa723  So what do you think went on here? @Barbara83 says the guest made the alteration, not the host, yet Airbnb seems to have applied the "new cancellation date".

[Lisa723]

@Sarah977 I think

- cancellation policy has no impact on pricing of date changes; new price is whatever the price would be for the new dates if the guest rebooked "from scratch";

- date changes (initiated by guest) do not reset the cancellation clock and buy the guest a new free cancellation window.

But I concur that none of this is sufficiently documented, and I can't point to proof.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lisa723 Based on our experience, albeit with covid modifications, the cancellation clock does not reset when dates are changed.

[Barbara83]

My issue has nothing to do with price changes... the issue is that the guest changed the reservation from 10 nights to 9 nights by changing the arrival date... so basically she cancelled one night... However, the change was made after the 5 day window and she still got full refund for the 15th October... I find it very strange. She asked for the alteration and not me as a host. - That said I'm happy to have the guest for 9 nights, I just think there's a glitch in the Airbnb system...