Airbnb On Behalf Of Guest Wanting Me To Alter Reservation

[Tanya43]

Hello,

Today I received a call from an Airbnb agent asking me to alter the date of a reservation which I had declined to the guest. I politely declined, and then the agent asked me why am I declining it as the calendar next month is free. I was taken aback by his insistence and said it’s my right to decline as I know those dates will fill up. I was very firm. Can Airbnb make me change the reservation ?

The guest in question has tried all sorts of tactics even though I have told him to cancel the reservation and get his 50% refund before it’s too late. 

I already had declined 2 requests for the weekend he booked  as he insisted he wants to make it for his GF birthday. 

Then 2 weeks ago, he told me to speak to his GF and I said she can message me. The girl told me to cancel it the reservation and I said , I won’t and she can cancel it on the platform. 

Then after 4 days the boy tells me his GF grandmother is unwell and he wants to check in the next weekend of the booked dates . Their check in was still 13 days away. And I found it bizarre how he could predict the grandmothers health. Then he contacted Airbnb saying that there are Extreme Weather Conditions!

Airbnb didn’t have the weather  info as it was false. It snowed but that’s natural. I told Airbnb how can he predict weather conditions for the 25th Jan! And he is talking about snowfall on 7th Jan. 

All this started really annoying me. Then he called me at 11 pm and I declined the call. Told him to communicate on Airbnb messaging. 

I explained to him that I stick to my policy , don’t alter dates as guests then can cancel (in the past it had happened) and get their full refund and also February weekends fill up. 

I requested him to cancel. 

Now Airbnb is calling me and I declined. I found it surprising that Airbnb started asking me reasons as I thought it’s my right. 

[Rowena29]

@Tanya43 

Airbnb CS will go to some lengths to keep guests happy, as you have discovered.

I once had a guest who's booking was cancelled by airbnb because she did not have sufficient funds to make the second payment. They sent her 2 warning emails, which she ignored so the booking was cancelled.  Almost immediately it was booked by someone else. She rang CS in a temper. Cs then rang me, told me it was cancelled by them because of the guests' lack of funds and then asked "what can you do to make it right for XXXX?" Like it was somehow all MY  fault.

Stick to your guns.

I strongly suspect, the guest thinks that my making the date well into the future, they can then cancel with no financial penalty ( or at least a lesser financial penalty)

However it does sound as though they are trying every trick in the book - be prepared for a CS rep to give them a full refund, particularly if they try the medical extenuating circumstances line.

Other hosts with more experience might have other suggestions.

Regards

[Tanya43]

Thank you for your input 🙂 

I was very firm with the customer service and I think they were taken aback when I said it’s my right to refuse. There is no issue from our sides and we will provide the full experience. 

Also the guest admitted later on chat that the health of his gf grandmother was just a concern and the weather is their main issue. Of course he was talking about snow which happened on 6th Jan and I messaged back his check in is on 25th Jan! The weather gets warmer !

[Ute42]

.

@Tanya43 

This guest just wants to get out of his reservation as cheap as he can. Don't move.

[Helen3]

It's outrageous that Airbnb is pushing you to accept the alteration.

Stand firm @Tanya43 

[Tanya43]

Thank you everyone. I feel better with the support 🙂

[Linda108]

@Tanya43   I don't quite understand your concern that Air BNB CS would represent a guest request. I would want them to represent me when I am a guest.  However, that doesn't take away your stance as a host, so as others have stated, stand your ground. 😄 

[Tanya43]

I’m surprised because Airbnb has contacted me twice regarding this. While the first time I had declined as well. Also as I said my issue was with agent asking me a reason and saying “your calendar is free on the requested dates”. Why do I need to give him an explanation ? Just saying no should suffice. I didn’t like the feeling of explaining why I don’t want to accommodate in Febuary. 

[Jessica994]

You should let airbnb know that with all these issues and fishy stories that you are becoming very weary about this guest yet do not feel that you should be penalized financially.  You shouldn't!  This is the guest that will be a nightmare and leave a poor review because they didn't properly handle their reservation. Any GOOD CSR will cancel the booking without financial or status penalty to you once they read the transcripts.

[Greg1327]

I’m with you after reading your full story!

I had a guest who altered their dates the day before to a date a week later (I have a 3 day full refund policy). As soon as I accepted the request, they canceled and they got their full money back and I got nothing. I felt duped so next time a request is made a day before to alter dates, I will just tell them I will keep their reservation so I will get paid  and then they can just come in their new date and I will just manually block their new date in the calendar.

[Wendy684]

I don't understand why air bnb were pushing this. I actually phoned them once about a guest who was pushing me directly for a change of date into the future at short notice and I felt so uncomfortable about it I was certain that they were doing it only so that they could circumnavigate the cancellation period. 

So I said no. Ultimately after discussing with air bnb who totally supported me I opted to send them a discount offer should the choose to rebook in the future. But declined to either refund or change their existing booking. Air bnb agreed with me.

I was fortunate they did not place any review on me!

[Sarah978]

@Tanya43Always stand by your cancellation policy. Always. CS will often contact you when the guest requesting cancellation simply won’t accept your cancellation policy. I’ve had that happen many times. I’m always super polite and also always adamant that I will not change my canc policy for anyone. There are many guests who feel entitled; they think the rules don’t apply to them. They try to enlist ABB CS to make you change your mind after you’ve already told them your decision. I always view that as we have a contract that that guest is attempting to violate, and while they definitely have the right to cancel, they must do so per our canc policy. Period. CS has always respected that as long as I’m implacable. Best of luck with everything!!!

[Brian1617]

I have seen guests want to change dates and agreed to their change without changing the reservation. Essentially just blocking the dates they wanted  to change to., only for them to then want further changes to dates closer to the time. I now refuse to change dates at all as guests play the system and move dates to simply cancel and get their full refund.