cancelations

[Frank93]

I had a guest book a reservation through the instant booking feature.  Within the hour the guest contacted me and said his travel companions can't make the dates requested and due to the high cost to him (non-refundable fees) of this cancelation he asked that I cancel the reservation from my side.  If I do this the guests gets his fees back.   I figured OK - I can do that - however, after seeing the fee(small) that I will pay and the other "punishments" from AirBnB (no superhost status for a year plus a notification on my review page stating that I canceled the reservation) I now wonder if I should cancel from my side.  This is the first request from a guest to have me cancel so that the guest is not monetarily punished.  How have others hosts handled a request like this?  I have had to cancel one other reservation request so my superhost status is already compromised.  Thank you.

[Matthew285]

@Miss2, you can try.

Contact AirBnB directly and tell them you are a new host and that the guest is the one who wanted to cancel. Tell them you thought you were doing the guest a favor and did not realize what would happen.

Say please.

Also, show them the messages from the guest requesting the cancellation.

Best of luck!

[Umaya0]

Hi i have guests booked our place but our place still renovation . So we have already close our calender from july until september but we have a problem when we close an allotment in july . It does work and august too. But when we tried to close on september does work as well but why the guest can to bookour place so could you please help us to make cancel the reservation with out fee . And give back money to the guests. 

We are looking forward to hearing from you soon. Best regards,

Kadek

[Denise588]

The question I'd like to ask is why is it all so very scary for anyone to cancel? Whether it be the host or the guest - everyone's trying to get everyone else to cancel, regardless of what the issue is. AirBnB are making it difficult for anyone other than themselves to have any control over any emergencies that may crop up from either party. Then,  if like me , you have to spend over an  hour on the phone on a Sunday morning explaining yourslef like a naughty high schooler inorder for them to decide to do you 'a favour on this occassion' and waive the penalties!  Not on! - Its my intention to try and understand why it is that a guest would be petrified to cancel a booking within an hour of having made a reservation, and having to plead with me to cancel it - somethings not quite right!

[Wendy45]

Agreed. Or, how about AirBnB pocketing $125 in "penalties" 3 months after a guest said she saw cockroachs. The guest had used AirBnb only twice before, the host was SuperHost with over 100 stays, AirBnB was copied on all communications, including those from the guest who "laughed so hard about it," and the host who offered to release her without charging. I have long maintained that AirBnB, like Ebay, Uber, etc. are really unregulated banking operations, because they control our money without accountability or transparency.  In your case - AirBnB pushes and berates Hosts to do Instant Booking, and Guests to "Hurry up and book" to ensure their fees and cancellation penalties will roll in even when no service has been provided and both parties are mutual on arrangements.