Cancellation penalties as a host

[Jean-Pierre4]

Hi,
I have a guest who confirmed his stay that wants to cancel the booking as they will be more occupants than originally, so the house would be to small. He asks me to make a cancellation as my conditions are strict. Could you please tell me which penalties I will have as a host? Do I have a number of cancellation without penalties?

Thanks for your answer!
JP

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Jean-Pierre4,

Here are the penalties: https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/how-do-host-cancellation-penalties-work

If the guest cancels, you can still refund them through the resolution center except for the Airbnb fee which is completely up to you.  The only way you can cancel penalty free is if it was an Instant Book AND you feel uncomfortable.  This is also covered under the link above. 

Dave

[Jean-Pierre4]

Thanks for your quick reply!
So you advice me rather that the guest makes the cancellation. And proceed with the refund via the resolution center.

If I make the cancelation, the dates will be blocked and I won't be able to take a new reservation for those dates? Neither the opportunity to have the superhost status?

Is that right?

Thanks for your advice!

[Dave-and-Deb0]

Hi @Jean-Pierre4,

Yes, I would have the guest cancel and under no circumstances would I cancel the reservation.  You are correct about losing the opportunity to host on the dates that you cancel and SuperHost status for 1 year.  Also, you could receive a financial penalty and you get an automated review for all to see that you are a host who cancels on guests and this is not the case.

Dave

[Erica5]

@Jean-Pierre4 be careful!!! Twice this week I had guests cancel on THEIR END and airbnb still charged me and refunded their money to them although I have a STRICT cancellation policy. I am still waiting to hear back from airbnb customer service, but they are really slipping these days. I am no longer canceling or refunding reservations because of this.

I can't depend on airbnb to have my back AT ALL!

[Alexander7]

 @Erica5, you mean Airbnb refunded 100% of the amount?

[M-Lou-And-Robert0]

My booking says NO KIDS'I had a lady with a baby book,

I cancelled the reservaton and now the dates are blocked and I cannot get SUPERHOST status?

That blows!

How do I contact aiRBNB to resolve this?

[Ames1]

Okay; now I'm really confused. When I read the cancellation policy, it sounded like we can cancel penalty free up to 3 times per year for anyone that booked used Instant Book. However, if it's anything else, we can cancel once every 6 months "penalty-free" meaning that won't affect our SuperHost status nor will we have a negative review written about us.

"Cancellation fees

More than 7 days before check-in: You'll receive one penalty-free cancellation every 6 months. Then, for every additional cancellation within a 6-month period, you'll be charged $50 per cancellation."

But yet, there shows on there "Other penalties" which leads me to believe if I've canceled someone that doesn't Instant Book 1 time in 6 months, that we would lose our superhost status and receive an automated negative review.

I just got off the phone with someone at AirBnB (it was their 2nd week working there) and they informed me (after they asked around) that again, 1 cancel every 6 months will be penalty free no matter if it's Instant Booked or not.

[Ames1]

OK. Now here is the email follow up from the AirBnB helpdesk:

"As discussed, you will not take the penalty because you have not cancelled on any guests in the past six months."

[Ralph4]

I'm still unclear.  So you get one "penalty free" cancellation every six months.  It is not clear whether "penalty free" just refers to the fee, or whether it also covers the other penalties (i.e. review, loss of super-host status)?  I'm much more worried about the other penalties.

[Ken-and-Moya0]

Hello, I have a guest who was trying to book a reservation for other guests.  We chatted via email and decided I prefered to have the actual guests book the room.  I had to cancel the booking, but now the dates are blocked on my calendar and i cannot rebook them. How can I unblock the dates?

thanks,

ken