Cancelling a booking

[Tors0]

Hi, I need to cancel a guest for two reasons, one we are now going to be away and the other is we are likely to have builders starting earlier than thought. I would never normally do this and feel bad doing it but wondered what happens if I did? Do we both get charged? Thank you, any advice welcome. 

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

I would HIGHLY advise against canceling any reservations unless absolutely necessary.  There are a variety of PENALTIES you will be hit with.  The guest will receive a full refund, but  you will have adversely affected their travel plans, which always sucks.

[Lawrene0]

@Tors0, another host had some really good advice about this. It is here in the forum somewhere. She said she asked other hosts nearby with similar spaces whether they would be willing to take the guests at the same price and time, then she offered the guests their choice of those hosts who had said yes. They picked one. Then she phoned Airbnb and explained and asked them to rehouse the guests with that host. She was not penalized for the cancellation. In fact, Airbnb admin were happy that she had done the work and everyone was on board. All was well. 

I don't know whether this will work for you, but it is a route to try. Bit of work, but worth it in the end to have everyone happy and you un-penalized.

[Tors0]

Thank you that is really, really helpful. I really don't want to do it and there may be a way around it if I get someone to do the changeover/check in for me but just needed to know in advance before I do anything. Thanks again, I am fairly new to airbnb so not sure of how things work with everything. Best wishes, Tors