Change Fees??

[Jesse-Burton0]

I just had a guest the day before check-in send a request to shorten their reservation by one day to check in a day later. (She said they changed their flights but didn't say why.) I have a moderate cancellation policy set up, so I expected the first night to be charged anyway since it was less than 5 days notice, but it was not. I likely would have accepted the change in any case because I don't want to have unhappy people staying in my apartment with me, but I would also like an option to charge a change fee in the future for this sort of scenerio. Is there any way to do that? 

Also if I would have rejected the change request, what would have happened then when they didn't check in the first night? I am fairly new to hosting, (have only had a few guests so far) and couldn't really find this same scenerio anywhere in the forums. 

Thanks so much for any guidance. 

[Clare0]

Hi @Jesse-Burton0 this is probably the best suggestion I've seen in this Community!  While I haven't had but one alteration request (an extension, not shortening of a stay) I've seen situations where the original reservation was for weeks then a guest makes an alteration request shortening the stay to several days.  In the meantime the host's calendar has been blocked for the original reservation.  I've often wondered if this was a way to circumvent cancellation costs. Hosts should be compensated for shortened reservations in my view.  

Please note, however, if you accept an alteration, your cancellation policy doesn't go into effect.  Essentially you won't be compensated for the day that was eliminated.  You only get the benefit of your cancellation policy if the guest actually cancels, not alters, the reservation even though that is what they are effectively doing.  That's why you need to consider carefully whether or not to accept the alteration.  

Most hosts do accept, however, to be nice and accommodating, but you are not required to do so. 

As to your question about what would have happened if you didn't accept the alteration and they didn't check in on the original date, you would be compensated for all the nights they originally booked (assuming they didn't cancel) even though they checked in a day later. 

Please send your suggestion to Airbnb as this Community is not staffed by their employees..  😞

[Sheila22]

"Contact Airbnb" -- easier said than done.  Do your really feel they hear us?  I find that communication with Airbnb is not that easy or effective.  Additionally I'd like to point out: the biggest reason you MUST accept the "alteration request"  (which is really a partial cancellation), is because the guest will certainly leave a bad or lesser reveiw if you do not accept the request.  I actually have this happening to me right now and I would rather cancel the whole reservation now that the are requesting to reduce their stay -- which would make an awkward vacancy in my schedule.  But Airbnb doesn't give that option to cancel the whole reservation -- I can only accept or decline the "aleteration".  If I cancelled it, I'd be penalized. It's very annoying.

[Betsy-and-Greg0]

How do you send a message to AirBNB? I'm not seeing anywhere to send them suggestions...

thanks in advance.

[Clare0]

@Betsy-and-Greg0 I think the best place is the Host Voice here in the Community:  https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/idb-p/host-voice

I think the Host Voice is best since other hosts get to vote on suggestions. 

Otherwise you can leave feedback here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

[Michal8]

Suggestion, you can always ask a guest to send a request to shorten their stay by half, then it will work as a strict cancellation, 50/50.

[Glenn11]

I have the exact same situation. Guest is requesting to shorten her stay by 2 nights, bringing the total from 5 to 3 nights. 

I looked all over the AirBnB help center and there's nothing on it. As shortening a stay is essentially the same as cancelling 2 nights, I assumed the cancellation policy would apply, and the new reservation cost would include cancellation fees for those 2 nights. I suggested the guest submit a change request, and when I received it in my inbox, I was surprised that the changed reservation had a reduced amount without any compensation for the change/cancellation. 

At the time of the guest's message that she wanted to change the reservation, I had already suggested to the guest that she pay 50% of the fees for the two nights she is cancelling. Now that I have her official change request through AirBnB, it's awkward to go back to her and say: "Hey, it turns out AirBnB does not charge cancellation for the two nights you're cancelling. Can you pay 50% even though AirBnB doesn't require you to do so?". 

I agree that this is something to be suggested to AirBnB. I have already done so through the help center, but encourage anyone else to do the same. At a minimum it should be an option. 

[Andrée2]

@Glenn11,

There is still an option for you here. You could now simply send the resolution request that asks for the 50% with a message that says, "As per our discussion, this will cover the 50% of the cancellation that we discussed. Thanks again and I look forward to meeting you soon". Assuming that you have record of that discussion in your message stream, even if they decide against agreeing, you have the ability to take it up with Airbnb at that point. If it appears that the guest had agreed to pay, you will likely be "awarded" that portion of the fee.

The easiest thing to do in the beginning would have been to offer to remove one of the two days, splitting the difference. With this, you just explain that the dates are so close to the guests' arrival date that you will not be able to obtain another guest booking to cover those dates....assuming that it is close.

[Betsy-and-Greg0]

We just had a guest shorten their stay from 7 nights to 3, for a booking 6 months from now. Since it is 6 months from now, I accepted the change. However it brought up a good point about guests shortening their stay close to the check in date.

I'm considering adding to our listings in the "rules" that if the reservation is changed within "x" days of check-in we will charge a fee of $250.

Thoughts?

[Clare0]

@Betsy-and-Greg0 Since you would have to go through the Resolution Center to collect this fee, and the guest would have to agree (which I doubt they would) most likely Airbnb would not approve it.  😞

[Betsy-and-Greg0]

Good point.  Thanks for your input.

[Michal8]

I had a situation where a guest wanted to shorten their stay from 2 weeks to.. 2 days, and that happened right after check in. 

As a compromise , I offered to send an alternation request to shorten it to 7 days, thus we splitted up costs to 50/50.

[Ryan437]

If I need tio change my dates...keep the same number of nights but just shuft them by.a few days, does anyone know if I incrue any change penalty fees or whatnot? I am still staying the promised number of nights, just shifting the days slightly. Can't find an answer anywhere if there's a fee for this.

thanks!

[Letti0]

@Ryan437 So long as the nightly rates are the same there should be no additional costs involved.

[Darren124]

Aha, that is what you would think. I have recently had a guest want to change their booking by shifting it all a day forward. Same 7 nights, same price per night. While I was happy to change expecting it to be the same price for the guest. When I went to change the dates for them, the price increased for them. Guess what - unhappy guest! I am still waiting three days later for Airbnb to resolve this situation. They have said because it is a new reservation there will be extra costs. However I cannot see anywhere what that would be. Nothing is specified on the reservation change. I will post here if I get any decent plausible answer.