Cancellation by Airbnb

[Carol101]

I would be interested to know if anyone else has experienced this and could share how it was resolved. We are new to this -just a month into being hosts and things were great until this happened. It's left us wondering if we should bother! 

I got an instant booking for this evening early this morning at 7.45am and within twenty minutes I received  an email from customer care saying this person had booked by mistake and that they would be very grateful if I would consider allowing him a full refund simply as a gesture of good will etc. I was told that my calendar would be unblocked once the cancellation went through allowing me to get another possible booking.

I had absolutely no issues allowing this chap to cancel and emailed the customer care person back stating this and that he should recieve the full refund etc. 

However, after repeated checks of my calendar throughout the morning it never was unblocked and remained with the chaps face and booked message  on it all day.

I tried emailing several times to the customer care woman requesting it be done and also for a response to the fact that after my generosity in allowing this chap to cancel I was now being penalised.  I got absolutely no response and no unblocked calendar.  

Out of frustration I stupidly thought I could cancel him myself and release the calendar and did this mid afternoon - this cancelled his reservation giving him a full refund but earned me a cancellation review and a proper blocked calendar!!! 

I have contacted re trying to remove this review and have not heard anything back.  We also tried calling but the numbers given are not recognised. We have found today that process of contacting customer care and receiving a response is very poor. 

Because of this experience I have got rid of the instant booking and shall definitely not  be generous in the future regards to cancellations. I shall certainly now be more proactive to learning the ins and outs so we are not left out of pocket.    

Does anyone know if there is a way of removing the automated cancellation message?  Thank you.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Instant booking is a pain - and you will find numerous examples of hosts (particularly new ones) falling foul of the process. It is stacked against you from the start so turning it off is probably a good move. If people want to book they are more than happy to exchange emails with you. IB is a revenue generator for AirBnB as it encourages impulse buys.

That said...you have a really clear case that shouldn't be taking so long to clear up. The most successful way to get a response from AirBnB is via Twitter ( search for AirBnB help) - it is usually immediate as it is monitored 24/7. 

Good luck.

[Carol101]

Thank you 🙂  your advice is appreciated-It's nice to know there are people out there for support. We shall pursue the removal of the automated cancellation review -even though it was my fault ! And now that we're getting a clearer picture of the dynamics of it all we'll be more on the ball in the future 🙂  best, Carol and Jay

[Brittany1]

Hi @Carol101

You should definitely call Airbnb and explain the situation. In the future do not ever cancel yourself as you the host will be penalized.

1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

[Carol101]

Thank you for the advice 🙂 and I'll never cancel again! 😕  Will try the number you have posted.

Best, Carol & Jay.