Penalities in respect of change request by current guest

[Taryn7]

Hi everyone

I've trawled the community help pages, read just about all of Airbnb's fine print and tried contacting them on Twitter with no luck, so here is my question:

My current guest has had a change of plans and needs to leave early. He has sent me a change request / modification which I may then accept or reject.

As I understand it, if I accept the request, the dates will be changed AND my cancellation policy will NOT apply. As such, the guest will be refunded for all nights he does not stay.

Although not ideal, I am happy to accept the request on the above understanding (ie that I won't get paid in terms of my cancellation policy) but I just want to be sure that I will not be penalised in some other way by Airbnb for agreeing to the reduction in the days.

From other threads, it seems everyone always says that as the host we should not accept a modification and rather insist the guest cancels, which I assume is so that the cancellation policy still applies.

If I am happy that the cancellation will not apply, does anyone know if I could face any other penalty/ies for agreeing to the change? I should think not, but I don't want to make a rookie mistake here 😉

Thank you in advance for your help!

Taryn

[Marit-Anne0]

You will not face any penalties by agreeing to a reservation change initiated by the guest.  

[Taryn7]

Thank you @Marit-Anne0 for your response! Much appreciated! 🙂

[Leonie3]

Hi @Taryn, you will not be penalised if it a change and not a cancellation request. It is however up to you to accept this and lose out on your money or decline and receive your fees. If he has a very legitimate reason, then maybe accept, but guests should also learn that a booking is a booking and that they cannot disregard the cancellation policy that they signed up for. I take it that it will be a difficult call for you. Good luck. 

[Taryn7]

Thank you @Leonie3 for your response! I really appreciate it! I wouldn't say it is a particularly fantastic reason, but so far he has been a really pleasant guest to deal with and I am so new that I really don't want to be too harsh with guests and risk them taking it out on me in a negative review!

(Although, knowing Murphy's law, I will probably find the place has been trashed when I get there and then I will be super upset that I was nice in allowing the change request!)

[Linda108]

@Taryn7  I applaud your thoughtfulness in understanding this business and the Air BNB platform.  Both @Leonie3 and @Marit-Anne0 are correct of course but I did want you to be aware of a traveler tactic that has been reported here in discussion threads.  If the guest books for a week and receives the weekly discounted rate.  Later while already in the space, the guest requests a modification of the length of stay and reduces to below the week stay but keeps the weekly discount.  In your case the weekly discount is not substantial but just be aware of the full impact of your decisions.  With such thoughtfulness and great hosting your business will be a great success!

[Taryn7]

Thanks @Linda108 🙂 and thank you for responding to my query and your helpful advice!

I must confess that the thought as to whether this was all a ploy to have received the reduced rate did cross my mind when I received the change request as I had been reading all about the tricks some guests use to get the best rate or avoid cancellation costs!

However, for whatever reason, I am pleased to report that when the revised amount for the reservation was calculated, Airbnb reverted to my daily rate and not the discounted rate, such that the guest no longer had the benefit of the reduced weekly rate, so the amount I ultimately "lost out on" is even less than I was expecting! So perhaps Airbnb has addressed this little loophole!

[Linda108]

@Taryn7  You get the best new host award!  Good to know that  Airbnb closed the loop hole.

[Taryn7]

Ha ha! Thanks @Linda108 🙂 

[Shannon96]

I'm wondering if there is a functional distinction in how the guest initiates this. My guest just initiated a "Guest requests that you cancel" which I agreed to. Is this the same as a guest canceling?

If a guest asks me to initiate the cancelation, does this mean I am penalized? This feels overly complicated to me.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Shannon96

If you agree to that it is treated as a host cancellation with all the penalties that follow.

[Shannon96]

Thank you, @Marit-Anne0. This is ridiculous. If a guest asks you to cancel, and you agree, it is NOT the same thing as initiating a cancelation on a guest. I haven't received any email from airbnb confirming the cancelation and detailing the penalties that I'm apparently about to incur for having agreed to this.

I'm feeling very, very frustrated by Airbnb's lack of support for hosts around these matters.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Shannon96

And I cannot see the host cancellation review in your listings - maybe something has changed recently - for the better !

[Margaret-and-Nasser0]

It is like , how do you do ? I would reply ,How do you do.

You initiated the tought so please you request the cancelation,I promise you that i will accept it, ha,ha,ha,..