cancelations

[Ciara3]

HELP I am new to Air BNB and I am a host. I have a few people interested and pre approved for dates in August. But last night I cancelled one guys booking because I hadnt preapproved it and it overlapped with another guest who I was waiting to book. Now no one can book as that week is blocked out!! How can I unblock and free the week. ???

[David126]

 You do not have to pre approve, you have Instant Book on.

Cancelling a guest is a big no no and one ofthe penalties is that your calender is blocked.

[Samir8]

It may happen that as a host, a reservation is cancelled by mistake for exemple. The host must be able to reinstate a cancelled booking.

[Sara2]

@Ciara3 I would suggest that you don't put your babies photo as your profile .sara

[Helen3]

Hello Ciara

If you can (BnB has made it mandatory for some new hosts), I would suggest you turn off instant book. This will allow you to talk to guests through the messaging system to make sure they are a good fit, before confirming their bookings.

All the more important when you have young children.

It's unfair to cancel a guest's booking unless absolutely essential as they are likely to have made travel and other arrangements around this. BnB takes this very seriously  - will block the dates out in your calendar, stop you from having Superhost status for a year and it will be highlighted in your listing, which will put others off from booking.

I would give BnB a call and explain that as a new host you didn't understand the system and see if they can be flexible on this occassion.

Do spend some time to familarise yourself with how BnB works - you are running a business by letting out accommodation and it will really help you if you are familiar with how BnB works.