AirBnB support???

Melissa781
Level 1
Port Elizabeth, South Africa

AirBnB support???

Hi

 

I have a moderate cancellation policy, which the guests agrees to when the reservation is confirmed and paid in pull. A day prior to the guests arriving they wanted to change their two nights stay to one.

On amending the reservation, AirBnB automatically amends the price!?!

By doing this the platform put the ball in my court to decline the amended reservation, as I was not willing to sacrafice an evenings booking income, based on PRINCIPAL. 

I was only willing to do a full refund if someone else booked the evening they were cancelling, which I felf was more than fair.

I was very polite about it and the guest understood my reason for not allowing the refund, However, they marked me down in my review.

 

This could have been avoided IF the platform stuck with the agreed upon cancellation policy and didn't make room for a refund. (The host can do a refund by sending money if they chose to, but then atleast the guest doesn't have an entitled expectation to the refund)

 

The cancellation policy is there for BOTH guest and host - the platform needs to support us on this.

 

Regards

Melissa

Melissa Lee Bezuidenhoudt
4 Replies 4
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Melissa781,

The changing process, especcially when done by the guest, should include the attached cancellation policy. It must not be possible for guests to sent a host a change on a reservations which is overruling the cancellation policy. So in this case the guest should only recieve a message like: change not possible due to cancellation policy. For the host the changing process should include a warning to be confirmed: "do you  want to overrule the cancellation policy ? "

So some programming to do for Airbnb....

 

Please note: if a host changed the cancellation policy in he listing after the reservation was confirmed, the new cancellation policy will be applied based on the new dates:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/50/i-m-a-host--how-do-i-make-a-change-to-a-confirmed-reservation

 

best regards,

Emiel

 

 

Melissa781
Level 1
Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Hi Emiel

 

I appreciate the response - However this was not the case, the cancellation policy was not applied when the changes were made and the price was amended to one night's stay instead of two, which I  declined.

As a host I amended it on my side to one night, but I also amended the price to what they originally would have paid.

I told them that I would only refund them, if another booking stayed the night they were cancelling.

 

AirBnB should recode and program it like you mentioned above - How do we make them aware? I tried calling to a number that I found on line, but unfortunately the number was discontinued. 

 

Regard

Melissa

Melissa Lee Bezuidenhoudt
Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hi @Melissa0

 

I think it's absolutely fine to just decline the amendment and explain to the guest that you won't be able to accept it as you are unlikely to get another booking for the night at this late stage.

 

You can also explain to them that if you are able to get a replacement booking, you are happy to consider a refund of the host fee for this night.

 

I don't agree that Airbnb needs to recode their programme for this situation as it is fairly unusual.

 

If you want to call Airbnb have a look at the Contact Airbnb post at the top of the Help Forum - it will give you all the phone numbers for customer services.

 

Did you decline their modification request?  I had a guest cancel and Airbnb automatically deducted the penalty for the cancellation. Because she was a repeat guest I called Airbnb to offer a full refund (weather related).

 

If a guest amends the reservation the host has to approve the request in order for it to take effect and if the price isn’t right, then decline the request and send a modified reservation request with the penalty applied (or call Airbnb to get help).