Cancellation of booking by (current) superhost. Loss of status?

[Anke-Beate0]

Hi fellow Airbnb hosts

I just received a booking for a night which I thought I had blocked on the booking calendar. I will be away on that day and don't have a cleaner available. 

The guests does not want to cancel as she would received a travel voucher from Airbnb if the host (that's me) cancels. If she cancels, she would lose the booking fee which I can't seem to refund to her. 

The guests appears to be new to Airbnb (no reviews yet). I am a superhost (until now) and I would really like to keep my superhost status. 

Is there anything I can do? 

Anke

[Susan151]

@Anke-Beate0  Unless you can show the CS folks a screen shot of the calendar with the date blocked, I suspect that they will be hard to convince not to penalize you. You can certainly tell them that you did block the date and didn't reopen. Perhaps they will give you a pass. I think you do best giving them a call and then hope you get someone with some tenure who has some latitude to "go against policy."

[Mike1034]

@Anke-Beate0 You can refund the guest all money paid in booking your place by using Send money button. And ask the guest do not check in and find some other place to book. Please note that the money guests paid are more than what is shown on your booking confirmation page because there is a service fee charged on guests by Airbnb.

This is all in the guest’s hand and needs their cooperation.

[Mark116]

@Anke-Beate0  If it's just for a single night, why not suck it up anb find a cleaner/person who can clean it and do the greeting, etc. rather than lose your super host status for an entire year?

[Anke-Beate0]

Yes, you totally have a point. Thank you, Mark. 

[Anke-Beate0]

When I asked the guest to consider cancelling the reservation, I was really surprised to be told that she'd rather receive the promised Airbnb compensation for host cancellation than let me refund the service fees to her. 

For a guest who has no reviews - so far - I found this quite cunning. 

I now find myself rather 'uncomfortable' with this type of guest. 

I am going to ask a friend to do a quick, no thrills and most certainly 'no wine, no bagels, no milk, no chocolate and no flowers' changeover for this guest. 

Thank you, all hosts out there, for being so helpful and supportive. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mark116 

your guest can cancel within 48 h of booking and be refunded in full , including ABB service fee.

[Anke-Beate0]

Thank you for letting me know. I felt quite helpless when the guest stated that she would not be interested in cancelling herself due to the incentive of being compensated by Airbnb if I (as a host) cancelled her booking. 

It teaches me to be more careful with opening up my calendar in future. And maybe I'll stop instant-booking in order to regain more control. 

Thank you for your comment. 

[Donald28]

what do u think superhost status actually does for you? 

[Anke-Beate0]

That's a good question.

I am led to believe that my property has increased visibility because of it and therefore more bookings. I hope it instills a sense of 'trust' amongst guests. They think that a 'superhost' goes the extra mile. 

What do you think? 

Does it do anything for you?