Double booking help

[Darcy28]

Hi all!

a few weeks back I booked a 3 night stay at a cottage for the first week of August - Confirmed reservation, paid in full.

I woke up this morning to a mesage from my host that she had accidently double booked the dates. She told me I could no longer have them and apologized sincerely. She has offered me a free 3 night stay in September to make up for needing to cancel my previous reservation, which is good by me. Now the problem is, I don't think she wants to be the one to cancel it because she will have it come up on her reviews she cancelled, as well as lose her superhost status. I would like to work something out where she is not penalized as I am still getting a vacation. However, I'm not sure the best way to do this. If I cancel the dates I risk her not returning my service fee, and I risk not even having a booking in September if she decides to change her mind - too much risk for me, and she gets off scott free with no penatly.

Is there a way for her to change the dates to give me a free stay that is still booked through airbnb? Hope this makes sense. Thanks all.

[Letti0 · Accepted solution]

Yes she can go to your reservation and select Change or Cancel then selects Change alters the price It has to be a minimum charge of $10 per night (She has to charge something for this to work) and she can also alter the dates at that time. She sends it to you for approval you accept the change and you're all set.  

[Darcy28]

Thank you, this was super helpful. Hopefully she can agree to this!

[John1080]

@Letti0, how does double booking even occur? I don't see how the system allows such a thing to happen.

[Letti0]

@John1080  It usually happens when a host is listed on more than one site and the bookings come in at the same time. It happens on AirBnB occassionally because of some strange glitch that unblocks dates on hosts that are manually blocked not synced blocks. If I want to do a manual block I head to HA for this reason and do it there. Also when blocking on either site you need to remember that blocking is from check in to check out time, so a booking the day before can be made because the morning is not blocked.  

[Steve143]

Hello Darcy,

I think you're being very kind not wishing to adversely affect the host.

It's the host's responsibility to keep the calendar up do date and hence this situation is her problem to sort out. It's not up to the host to return the service fee, Airbnb will keep that if you cancel. How much of the host's room charge you get back if you cancel depends on the host's cancellation policy. Hosts can return more than you would be due under the cancellation policy if they so wish but, of course, you're trusting them to do so if you cancel.

I would suggest to the host that either

1) she sends you a change request with the new dates which you must then accept to effect the change or

2) she contacts Airbnb support to inform them that she wishes to change your reservation to dates in September and that you're willing to allow that

You can also send her a change request for the new dates, which she must accept to effect the change, but I'm not sure what happens with charges in that case.

Steve.

[Jesselyn0]

Dear Airbnb,

This is Mrs. Jesselyn [surname hidden], your Host from Davao City, Philippines.

I just would like to complain on the several times ...of mistaken Double

Bookings done by your staff.  This is the 5th time your staff made a mistake of OVERLAPPING that irritated my guests. 

Please take note on this. 

This is an Urgent case. 

This would create a bad image on my my part and yours, as well.

I hope you would do something, expediate this matter in the soonest possible time!

Thank you for your kind consideration. 

God bless!

Sincerely,  

Jesselyn [surname hidden]

           ( Host )

[Letti0]

@Jesselyn0  This is a host/guest forum not AirBnB. You need to contract them direct. Try AirBnB's Twitter account #AirbnbHelp and send a direct message to them. 

[Tim571]

I had 2 parties pre-booking: Group A-32 days and Group B-30 days

Group A did a pre-book with questions. Had to go out on limb to accomodate, did not feel like it was a great fit-for either of us.

Group B came in a few hours later. Same money, but much better fit-for both of us.

I explaned to both groups that I was looking at both deals, time was of essence.

Group B responded first, then Group A 30 minutes later.

Even though I would lose a little money, Group B is prefered. I have to bend rules and make unsettling accomodations for Group A.

Group A's revervation is blocking me from Accepting Group B.

I need to decline the second group to respond-Group A, so I can accept Group B. And I don't want to take a hit. Group B responded first and is a better fit.

How do I proceed? I have to respond quickly. Thank you.

[Mike740]

The booking system works really, really well, until it doesn't -- I now have a double booking for my property that I need to resolve quickly. This is the result of a glitch in the syncing of the booking.com and Airbnb calendars. I've explained this to the second person to book. But how does she get her money back so that she can book elsewhere. And how do we both avoid the punitive Airbnb police on cancellations?  

[Zoltán14]

Hi Mike.

I see your cancellation is Flexible, so if there are more than 48 hours until that person's check-in then he/she can cancel without any penalties, provided he/she has not cancelled more than 3 times already this year. 

If none of the above apply i would suggest calling AirBNB - you as a superhost have access to phone support - and explaining the situation. When this mess with booking.com happened i was assured by an AirBNB representative there will be no punitive actions neither towards the host nor the guest if any double bookings should arise because of this software error.