Guest keeps requesting a date alteration the day before check in

[Elle13]

Hi fellow hosts,

I have a guest who booked my place for 2 months (mid-Jan to mid-Mar). The day before he arrives, he requests to postpone the check in day for 5 days because he has family reasons. I accepted. The day before he is supposed to arrive again, he requests another date alteration quoting the same reasons. This time he wants to arrive 3 days later. Again I accepted, but I wasn't happy since I'm already losing out so much already. Tomorrow he is supposed to arrive and he requested to change the date for the third time for 9 days later, which will be the end of January. The guests says he is going through something very difficult. I am really at a loss as to what I should do at this point. Please help.

[Robin4]

@Elle13

Immediately get onto Airbnb and get them to have the guest cancel or relocate. You cannot continue to be mucked around like this and Elle, I can promise you this will just be the start of it. When he does arrive, this will be wrong, that will be inconvenient. there will continue to be road blocks as to why the hosting cannot seemlessly take place. Guests like this do not improve, experience here on this forum suggests that they only get worse.

Ditch him Elle, but do not cancel yourself! You will be penalised if you do. State to Airbnb that the guest continually changes the terms of the reservation and you do not feel comfortable proceeding with this booking. Airbnb will accept this and you will not be resposible for the cancellation. When the 'guest' finds out that the reservation is to be cancelled they will instruct Aibnb to have you do the cancelling because Aibnb will have told them the only way they can have all the money returned is if the host cancels the booking! Don't fall for it, calmly state that you were prepared to host this guest but they kept on changing the hosting terms causing you considerable inconvenience and loss!

Hope this helps...

Cheers.....Rob

[David126]

Just decline the change of dates, no need to do anything more.

[Robin4]

@David126

Technically yes, but as @Alice found out a couple of months ago that path ended up with her receiving a host cancellation!

Cheers.....Rob

[Elle13]

May I know the details of Alice's situation? Is there a link or some search words for me to look for it? I am curious as to what would happen if I were just to decline the date alterations. 

Thanks for your response! I am very concerned right now... I want to empathize with my guest for what he is going through, but it is the third time he is changing the date and it's always right before he is supposed to arrive. 

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Elle13 You can decline the next amendment - but don't under any circumstances accept a request to cancel. Let him cancel if he wishes. 

[Robin4]

@Elle13

Sorry for the delay in answering...other duties intervened.

The post I am refering to was about 9 weeks ago and I will search back the older posts, and when I find it I will post the link. It is not a post that I responded to at the time, so there is no short cut I can directly head to, to bring it up.

But I do remember the case was similar to yours Elle in that the 'guest' kept on wanting to make alterations to the reservation dates, something about family small business matters,  and this is the important part....it was not a series of enquiries, It was a confirmed reservation.

In the end the host refused to make any further concessions to the booking as it stood and about 4 days later she received an official email from Airbnb that looked like this.......

Having not seen this before she thought it had been all taken care of, but, the clever wording of this email meant that Alice assumed responsibility for the guests decision..."The reservation will be cancelled on your behalf if we don't hear back", is the crux of it!

Because she did nothing other than refuse to further alter the reservation dates the guest requested a cancellation and was informed by Airbnb that the best way out for the guest was to have the host cancel the reservation. That way the guest would not be responsible for the booking fees.

Now granted Elle, your situation may be completely different, the guest is a nice and genuine person with a serious occurence, and you really do want to help the guest in any way that you can, but will this keep happening for the next two months prohibiting you from taking another booking!! As it is you have already put 17 nights up the spout trying to be accommodating!

As @David126 says you can just say Nah,that's it....but Airbnb will not automatically take your side....particularly if the guest hops up and down about money. 

We have learnt over the last couple of years doing nothing where Airbnb is concerned is a short cut to trouble! Cover your bases!

Cheers.....Rob

[Lilian20]

Help yourself : Stop accepting what doesn't suit you. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Elle13 maybe your guest wants to cancel his whole reservation. So now he is making alterations to shorten his reservation as much is possible before canceling. That way he will get more money back and pay less Aibnb fee .

So, contact ABB and do what others told you to do.