A cancellation in the middle of a reservation

[Mitch68]

I am a new host with a dilemma. My guest is reserved for tonight and tomorrow night, and she just messaged me and is requesting cancellation and a refund for tomorrow night because she said her plans have changed. My chances at this point are slim to none on rebooking the room for tomorrow night. I have tried to be fair with cancellation requests up until this point, but I don't think this guest is being fair to me. I am worried about property damage if I decline her (they are kids)and a bad review--and I am 4 days away from becoming a superhost, which we all know can be trashed with 1 bad review. How does the smart, experienced host handle this? What happens if I just ignore the refund request?

[David6]

In these cases, I just telephone Airbnb. Ask them to amend  the reservation - they can see the request from guest in message thread. This opens your calendar immediately.

 And you could  offer a (part) refund  ONLY if you receive another booking for the cancelled night. Airbnb do sometimes offer a travel voucher to a guest in these situations. They will then liase with guest and it kind of means you do not have to be the one seen making the decision. This can help when it comes to the review.

Then a frustrated guest can rant at Airbnb and not you. I’d discount the night a little and just offer a refund (based on the  discounted  rate) if you secure a booking. 

Hotels, Airlines do not offer refunds in these  kind of situations; honestly why should we? 

[Mitch68]

Thank you, David, very helpful!

[Mitch68]

David, I did what you suggested, and it turned out great.  Airbnb has reopened my calendar for the night (no cancellation penalty), and I have agreed to issue a full refund to the guest through the resolution center if I get a new booking.  A support person called the guest and explained it all to her, and she was actually very pleasant about it, and understood that I wanted a new booking before she got the refund.  Thank you so very very much for the help!

[Ange2]

@Mitch68     Why do you think she would trash the place?

Do not click anything. Stay neutral and extricate yourself.  Maybe tell her she needs to contact Airbnb, that they deal with that aspect of a reservation and the payments (have you been paid?)  and that you cannot cancel a guests reservation.  But, I would also contact Airbnb and send them the documentation saying that her only reason for canceling was that she changed her plans.

btw: If you get an email from airbnb asking you if you agree to cancel do not click yes, that is interpreted as you cancelling and you will be banned from Superhost for a year.

[Mitch68]

Thanks for the answer and the info!  I guess the trashing part is just my own over-reaction.  The guest put in a request to Airbnb to change the reservation, and I have not yet accepted the change.  I have not been paid yet.  So, what happens if I just ignore the request?

[Ange2]

@Mitch68    In my experience it remains unanswered, (although who knows as there seems to be no consistent policy, other hosts may have had different experiences.). Then, what happened to me was that Airbnb called me and asked me  if I wanted to give a refund.  I said no,   (the guest had changed her reasons  a few times from "change of plans" to increasingly dramatic, fictitous and damning reasons and it had all been recorded via message board and texst (I took screenshots and sent to Airbnb).

Eventually Airbnb said they would pay my guest a refund out of their pocket and I would get paid in full.   But,  I would definitely send the documentation about the guest  leaving because her plans changed, or Airbnb may well just go ahead and refund her without getting your side of the story, especially if the guest starts adding fictitious complaints.

[Mitch68]

Ange, thanks so much for your input, you deescalated my overreaction.  I talked to the guest before she left, and she was actually quite pleasant.

[Sandra856]

@Mitch68 You must not accept a request to cancel from your guest EVER. Then it looks like you made the cancellation. The guest has to do the cancellation from her side and you should get a message that says she cancelled. It is a common mistake that host's thinks that the guest cancels when receiving a "request to cancel" message. But infact it is then the host that cancels, getting penalized by airbnb with fees to pay. Just so you know. Never accept a request to cancel 🙂 

[Mitch68]

Sandra, thank you for your information, I did not know that, you have possibly saved me from a big mistake! 

[Mitch68]

Thank you Ange, you have been most helpful!

[Cormac0]

@Mitch68 

Just tell your Guest Mitch, your plans haven't changed and that it’s not an al a carte booking service you’re running.

Forget about the super host status you will come to realise that it’s a stick to beat your own back with, and remember you can give her a thumps down and an appropriate review for her unreasonable behaviour, this will be enough to muddy her pitch with other Airbnb hosts.