Booking availbility

[Joanne50]

I have been telephoned by a guest asking me to cancel her booking as her family has booked her in with them elsewhere. I have cancelled the booking, but the dates are still showing up as 'blocked' on the calendar. How do I reopen them for other guests when I can't get past the cancellation sitting in there?. thanks, Joanne

[James1]

It was the guests mistake, the guest should have cancelled. You have been penalized for cancelling. Call airbnb and plead for mercy/novice ignorance. Good luck.

[Ange2 · Accepted solution]

@Joanne50   When you cancel a booking, it doesn't matter if the guest or even Airbnb asks you too, you are always the one who is penalized, the dates are blocked and sometimes you are even fined USD100 and  "Host cancelled this booking" appears on your review page, which makes you appear irresponsible!  If a guest wants to cancel ask them to do it, your penalties are far worse than theirs - they just lose their Airbnb Booking Fee.

Contact Airbnb and explain the situation and your misunderstanding and they might unblock the dates for you.  Good luck, many new hosts fall foul of this one.

[Nyoman1]

Perhaps first you can change the price of the reservation and request it to your guest or just message the guest to cancel the booking

[Sandra126]

When is it ok to cancel a reservation? Only if a disaster is happening, or there is a war or similar. Otherwise, never. Yes, fines, reduced ranking, all that serves to keep us honouring the bookings as we should. Your guest took advantage of you as they didn't want to pay the booking fee, also they may get a travel credit to use in the future to make up for the bad host cancelling.

[Robert78]

Joanne, I hate to see a fellow kiwi get suckered, and the circumstances irk me no end. Take this to Airbnb directly, show them the content of this thread (they can pull up your message history from your account) and make a claim. Inexperience is no justification for being penalised. This isn't a legal matter, but you have rights.