Cancellation Questions

[Francoiz0]

I had to cancel a reservation after I noticed that I had not yet updated my pricing for December 2016 - peak season of course.

I now tried to update my pricing, but Airbnb has blocked the dates - as if the cancellation was because the house is not available, when in fact it is. Who can help please?

[Dede0]

@Francoiz0 Unfortunately, that's how it works. If you cancel for any reason other than a very narrow set of "extenuating circumstances" (death in the family, natural disaster, and so on), then your dates get irrevocably blocked and you're also penalized in other ways. As a host, you should *never* cancel an existig booking. And now you should hop over to AirBnB's help center and do some reading about the way this and other things actually work. Seriously. Save yourself a lot of grief and confusion in the future by doing a little homework.

[Francoiz0]

Thanks for the patronising.

That is SO UNFAIR, have you taken notice that the booking was 222 days AHEAD, how could I have guessed that I had to maintain my calendar 8 months in advance? So far I have never cancelled anything, mistakes happen, and as I said before, the price was incorrect, the house is available.

[Dede0]

@Francoiz0 If you don't want to "maintain" your calendar 222 days in the future, do what everyone else does and set your listing to be available only 3 or 6 months ahead at all times. AirBnB will open dates on a rolling basis, and everything beyond that will be unbookable. On the other hand, if you leave your calendar open into infinity, it's your responsibility to set your rates, etc.

Again, I suggest that you spend some time reading some of AirBnB's documentation. It's far from perfect, but there's still a ton of helpful information there. If you don't, you're leaving yourself open for a lot of other surprises.