A guest want to cancel one night, leaving me 'out of pocket', what would you do?

[Orla27]

The guest failed to communicate a time of arrival, kept me waiting all afternoon.

Then wants to use the kitchen and cooker and extra facilities, without paying the extra.

Then wants to cancel one night, having booked 3. I could have taken another booking.

What do you do?

[Emiel1]

@Orla27 

A guest has the right to cancel a reservation. The cancellation policy will decide about any refund.

if you don't want to be "out of pocket" in future, choose  a more strict cancellation policy.

Best regards,

Emiel

[Sarah977]

@Orla27  Unfortunately, this can be an occasional downside to hosting, and there's not much you can do about it, except, as Emiel said, change your cancellation settings. 

Although it's too bad you'll miss out on the $, as it's probably too late to get another booking, I'd say you are better off with a guest like this out of your home. Personally, I wouldn't mind taking a one night loss of income in exchange for not having to put up with an additional day of his entitled behavior.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Orla27 

Looking at your listings I would have expected that the kitchen was shared - so included and available for use? Is that not the case? You mentioned an extra charge so how does that work?

With the cancellation you would have to accept it in line with your cancellation policy. If you don't want to accept cancellations then adjusting your cancellation policy would be the best future option.

[Sarah977]

@Orla27  As @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  said, your listing says that guests have use of the kitchen. There is no mention of any fee for this. So the guest is not out of line in expecting to have kitchen access without paying anything extra- you are out of line for saying he can't use it when your listing info states the opposite.

[Orla27]

Thanks @Sarah977 , thank you so much. I checked the 'kitchen' box as that is where I serve breakfast. I didn't expect folk would want to cook evening meals for free! I thought folk wouldn't have the cheek to demand to cook in someone's kitchen, without contributing to the electricity bill!! Ditto re: washing machine, printer, etc.

How do I amend the cancellation policy?

PS. You are all wonderful, thank you SOOOOO much

xxxxxxx

[Sarah977]

@Orla27  Checking the kitchen amenity means that guests have use of your kitchen. Preparing breakfast for them which they eat in the kitchen is unrelated to the "Amenities" as guests understand them. I understand you were confused about this. I would apologize to this guest and let him know you made an error in your amenity list and allow him to use the kitchen if he likes if wants to stay (hopefully this may ward off a bad review)- he's only there for one more day- if he was booked for 3 weeks, it would be different.

Guests ar not "demanding" to use the kitchen for free if you list it in your amenities. So take that off your amenity list and when guests book, make sure to reinterate in a message that while you do happily make them breakfast, there is no guest kitchen use.

I host a private room in my home for 1 guest. They have full kitchen use and I certainly don't charge them extra for that- I factor the gas for the stove, etc, into my nightly price. Some of my guests cook, but most don't, although they may make themselves coffee or tea or a salad or a bowl of cereal and store some food in the fridge.

You amend your cancellation policy by going to "Edit listing" and then Booking Settings. But a new cancellation policy will only apply to future bookings, not reservations you already have. The same goes for the kitchen use- when you take it off your amenities list, that only affects future bookings- guests who booked when it was listed need to be able to use it if they choose.

[Orla27]

@Sarah977  thank you again. OK, I've amended what I can. What else do I need to do to tighten this up and keep some boundaries in place?

And sorry for all the questions, but the last guest was really difficult and has left me feeling a bit unsettled.

[Sarah977]

@Orla27  I find it's always best to reiterate in a message to guests when they book or request to book anything that you think could be misunderstood or a problem if the guest failed to throroughly read the listing description. These things will be different for different hosts.

In my case, I make sure they have read that it's a 20 minute walk to town from my place, and that I have a dog and a cat, so if they are frightened or allergic, they should look for a more suitable listing. Make sure that you indicate to the guest that you need confirmation from them that they understand these things about your listing. Even if they don't have the manners to respond, at least there is a record that you made things clear, in case they complain about those things during their stay.