A double booked reservation

[Christine1695]

Hi all I need your help please.  I am a host with HomeAway and recently also with Airbnb.  I thought I had synced my 2 calendars correctly but obviously not as I now have 2 bookings for the same dates in August. I have contacted the guests, explained the situation and asked if they could move their dates but this was not possible because they have booked their flights.  Not wanting to incur the penalties with Airbnb I have taken it upon myself to find one set of guests new accommodation and the guests are delighted with what I have found.  The problem for me is that the new accommodation is not with Airbnb, as there was nothing suitable with them but with a private company instead.  So where do I go from here?  How can I get the money paid to Airbnb transferred to the new company and am I still going to incur penalties?                                            

ChrisCalheta

[Qier-and-Philippe0]

Hi@Christine1695 

Could you cancel the booking with homeway without penalites?

Airbnb typically releases your payout about 24 hours after your guest’s scheduled check-in time. The time it takes for the funds to arrive in your account depends on your payout method.

I don't think you can transfer the money paid by AirBnB to the new company. Anyway, you should pay the new company before the arrival of the guests.

If you don't cancel the booking with AirBnB, you are not going to incur penalites from AirBnB.

But you will surely lose money. You should pay tax and service fee for the rent got form AirBnB. It also depends on how much you pay for the new accommodation. The guests won't pay you the difference.

[Christine1695]

Hi Qier & Phillippe,

I appreciate your advice, thank you.

[Isabelle623]

Why don't you explain to Airbnb to cancel this once without penalties and be honest about the mistake? I have found them to be pretty helpful and recently helped cancel a reservation without penalties in that manner....of course for a different reason 🙂

[Christine1695]

Hi Isabella623, 

Many thanks for you advice , I may well do this.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Christine1695 

if your guests agreed about the relocation and you have it in writing on Airbnb message thread then you could contact Airbnb and explain the situation and ask if they could cancel this reservation without penalties to you and to your guests and to refund the guests. In this case, your guests will have to pay the agency for their new accommodation and you will or will not cover the difference if any.

Or...

you can talk to your guests and if they agree you can keep the money for their reservation and use it to pay the agency for their stay in another unit. This is a simple solution but be careful, if your guests are sneaky opportunists they may ask Airbnb for a refund and get it.

[Christine1695 · Accepted solution]

Many thanks for your reply Branka & Silvia, I appreciate your advice.