Cancellation by guest after rental was to begin

[Cris18]

This evening a guest wants to cancel a 4 days reservation that was supposed to start yesterday. There is virtually no way to find another guest to rent my place for even a portion of the rental period. And I don't know how to cancel the reservation at this point to open my calendar. Any thoughts about what to do next? These guests have been difficult from the very beginning of their contact, so I need to know ahead how I should handle this. Thanks much.

[Sandra126]

Do not cancel. The guest MUST cancel. Then whatever cancellation policy you have will come into effect. It is very simple, guest cancels, you get paid.

If YOU cancel, you will pay a fine, have a blocked calendar, be punished in searches and the guest will be paid in full with also a small reward for having a host who so cruelly cancels on them this late in time.

if the guest insists thay you cancel it is only because they will get their booking fees refunded as well if you cancel, so they can only win. Do not.

[Fred13]

It is they that want to cancel, let them.

[Chris67]

As the others have said, you don't want to be the one to cancel since they are the ones who decided not to stay. As a host, you are penalized for cancellations (for example, you cannot be a Superhost if you cancel even one reservation within a year's time). Once they cancel, whatever your policy is will kick into effect. Also, in case your guests ask about refunds, I've had guests cancel at the last minute and I simply tell them that when they booked the room, they agreed to the cancellation terms. I also communicate to them that it is difficult to get last minute guests once the calendar gets "unbooked" -- something that any reasonable person would understand given that last minute nature of the cancellation -- but that if I do find guests I will refund them. But this is probably more info than you wanted!

[Ange2]

Change your cancellation policy to 'strict' that way you are protected from this kind of thing. And again NEVER CANCEL a guest at their request, you will be penalized, fined and the dates blocked.