A renter "forgot" he booked

[Nicholas1011]

I am relatively new at hosting and have run into a problem with a guest that "forgot" that he booked my place.

I have a moderate cancellation policy and we are 2 days away from his stay when he finally told me that he "forgot."

I am wondering what others would do because I only have 6 reviews at this point and a bad review would kill my rating.

If I cancel them, it looks like I would have to pay Airbnb their fee which would really stink due to the lost revenue already.

I am hoping that there are other hosts that have run into this.

[Andrea6232]

Buongiorno @Nicholas1011 ,

if I were you, I would ask the guest to cancel the reservation himself (if you cancel it yourself you will incur a penalty) and then I would refund the money via Airbnb (better a happy guest 😉)

Andrea

[Karen114]

@Nicholas1011  Do not cancel the reservation; you will be penalized. 

The guest can cancel and it's up to you if you want to refund them.  Even if it's outisde the cancelation window, you can instruct Airbnb to cancel with a refund if that's what you would like to do.  I have done this many times without issue but the guest must initiate the cancelation.