cancelling to a gues due to a mistake

[Tamar19]

Hello,

I was just asked by the guest to cancel the reservation cus' it was approved without me knowing and unfortunately I will not be able to host.

I was talking directly to the guest and this is what we decided to do.

I am new here, please help me not to get punnished. thank you very much, I don't know who am I suppose to contact for this. 

[Birdie0]

If the guest will not cancel from their end, just call Airbnb directly.

I had a guest book once and then had a family emergency. I didn’t want them to be out money since I have a strict cancellation policy so I called Airbnb to explain. They were awesome and refunded the guest all of their money and I was not penalized for the cancellation. Hope that helps!

[Helen3]

Hi @Tamar19

Sounds like you have let your listing go live before you are ready. Do have a read of Airbnb's Help Centre and the useful guides here. They are a real help in getting you up to speed on how things work.

Please turn off Instant Book so you can decide which guests to host on a case by case basis until you are more familiar with how things work

@Birdie mentioned Airbnb let her cancel because of a family emergency so probably did this under extenuating circumstances. Normally they won't do this, if it is not extenuating circumstances - for example if you didn't keep your calendar up to date.

If at all possible I would try and host this guest. So for example, if you aren't going to be around, do you  have a friend that could check this guest in for you? If this isn't possible call Airbbb (all the ways of contacting them are at the top of this forum) and see if they can help but be prepared to be fined and have your dates blocked.