Cancelling guests

[Linda1274]

My personal circumstances have changed and I am having to sell my house. From end of October I cannot host guests that have booked ( around 8 bookings into next year)

i have contacted Airbnb using their message service and been told that if the guest cancels then neither of us will suffer financially but as my cancellation policy is set to strict I was told to change that. Unfortunately a couple of my guests that have cancelled as asked have not received a full refund. How do I get them a full amount, they shouldn’t be out of pocket and I can’t afford to be.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

I'm sorry you're having to sell your house.

I don't think a change of cancellation policy affects current bookings.

If you are no longer going to be using airbnb can you just cancel the bookings? They can't fine you from future payouts when there will be none.

[Sarah977]

@Linda1274  I think the rep you were dealing with gave you incorrect information. The cancellation policy that was in place when the guest booked is the one that applies, changing it after the fact won't apply to already booked reservations. 

The way you could have gone about this (And the rep, if they were competent, would have told you this) was to apply to Airbnb for cancellation under the "extenuating circumstances" policy, as you are selling and won't be hosting anyomre, at least in that house. That would be a neutral cancellation, and neither host nor guest would be penalized.

I would contact Airbnb again (don't continue the conversation with the clueless rep you had, just start over, hopefully you'll get someone more savvy) and pursue this line, making sure they understand that the guests who went ahead and cancelled need to be refunded in full.