Cancellation

[Rebecca735]

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice about how to handle a cancellation - a guest who was booked to stay 4 nights is having to cancel for a very genuine reason.  She was willing to change the booking to another date but we can't find a date that suits both her and our calender for 6 months.

Is there a  way I cancel the booking without her or me being penalised?  From what I understand, if I cancel I won't be able to (amongst other things) unblock the dates  to potentially take another booking and she says she will lose a deposit if she cancels.  My cancellation policy is set at moderate.

I would be very grateful for any advice!!

Thank you

Rebecca 

[Rachel177]

@Rebecca735 

You or the guest can either contact airbnb & ask them to cancel it without penalty - they can often do this if both parties are okay with it & the airbnb CS rep can see this in messages going between you (I'm assuming you've been contacting the guest through Airbnb so there is a record of the conversation).

The other thing you could do is tell the guest to cancel and if you manage to fill the cancellation with another booking you will refund her the remainder of her deposit. If you can't find a suitable date for her to book in the next 6 months there is a pretty good chance she won't be re-booking with you & you'll be out of pocket.

[Sandra856]

Hi @Rebecca735 🙂

One thing you must never do as a host is to cancel. Airbnb will penalise you. You won't be able to become a superhost for a year, it will say on your profile that you cancelled on a guest - not a good message to send to potential new guests, you will have to pay a fee 50-100 dollars. If you ever have to cancel because of extenuating circumstances contact airbnb and they will cancel from their side and you won't get penalised. If it were me I would ask the guest to contact airbnb maybe they can refund her. Or she must simply cancel from her side. (NOTE the guest can send a request to you, asking you to cancel. You must never do that as it then will look like you cancelled). The guest has to do the cancellation all by herself. 

Tell the guest that you haven't been paid yet and that airbnb are the onces who are taking care of cancellations etc. and you can't do anything from you side even if you wish too 🙂

Kind regards, Sandra

[Jeff158]

Hi @Rebecca735

1/ Your moderate cancellation policy gives the guest a full refund, if check in is more than 5 days away, service fee is not refunded.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/home/cancellation_policies#moderate

2/ If the checkin is within 5 days, move the booking to any dates more than 5 days away and the guest can then cancel for a full refund, service fee is not refunded.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/50/i-m-a-host--how-do-i-make-a-change-to-a-confirmed-reservati...

3/ If the genuine reason to cancel is illness or travel disruption, extenuating circumstances kicks in and they will get a full refund, service fee is refunded.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1320/what-if-i-need-to-cancel-because-of-an-emergency-or-unavo...

In all cases your guest has to do the cancelling.

[Rebecca735]

Thank you for your replies - they were all so helpful.

It looks like I need to get back to the guest ....

Kind regards

Rebecca 

[Donna240]

Tell her to contact airbnb, because with her compelling reason they will not penalize her. However, you will be penalized in several ways including lost income due to blocked dates, no possibility of being a superhost for within a year of the cancellation and with 3, depending on the circumstances, you can be bounced from the website.