Guest Cancellation on Arrival

[Mark-and-Julie1]

Hi all.. 

What an evening !

I had a guest book 2 days ago..  From his email he seemed ok. I sent our welcome email including a few questions and also the code for the keysafe. Didn't get a reply.. 

Anyway today he arrived.. we didn't know what time he was due as he hadn't replied to email. Unfortunately we had 3 missed calls from him. (We are on holiday and phone signal isn't very good so we missed the calls by about 30 mins )  so he left voice mails complaining he had no key code, telling us we were very unprofessional, that he would leave us a bad review and get us delisted.. Very very upsetting.. I tried ringing him, nothing so I then text explaining about the email. He then replied saying miscommunication, the email had gone to his spam. Sorry that he'd said all those things, they'd head over to the apartment and have a pleasant eve. Great we thought. So I replied and asked him to let me know when they checked in.. 

Next we know Airbnb has got in touch because the guest had reached out to them. That they were going to a hotel and wanted to cancel the reservation..  So what can we do ? I've explained the situation  to Airbnb but I'm  beginning to realise it doesn't get you anywhere.. 

I did message the guest to ask If they could confirm this but typically they and Airbnb  have been quiet the last few hours whilst myself and my husband  have been sat not knowing what to do... 

Thanks for letting me ramble. 

Julie

[Andreas530]

Thanks very much for the additional input, I think I will tell him as you suggest that I have not recieved any funds yet since he cancelled, AirBnB has his money and is waiting for my confirmation that our cottage is "unclean or inaccurate listing", which is absolutely false, therefore I must contact AirBnB to clarify the facts, once AirBnB resolves the disputed claim, and any negative repercussions I will be glad to authorize a refund.  I will not agree to false claims about our cottage.  Thank you for your help

[Sandra856]

@Andreas530 Airbnb doesn't care about guests lies. And they won't remove a bad 1 star review. If you want to prevent receiving a bad review then don't provoke the guest. You will be out of money AND get a bad review. I would not write anything to the guest about false claims etc. I would apologize and play the game in order to prevent a bad review.

I once had a guest who thought he had booked an entire apartment and not just a room. He didn't cancel after he checked in and still asked for a refund. I denied a refund but were overly nice and understanding explaing to hime that he had booked, blocked and occupied the room so I couldn't refund him. He killed me with the stars he gave me but didn't write anything bad in the review. I think it would have been very different had I showed any anger. 

[Moira21]

@Sandra  The guest who cancelled on me yesterday In an earlier message after he'd booked over two weeks ago, asked if it was the entire place. I explained what the accommodation was (double room, en-suite, use of kitchen) and that I lived here plus have other guests here. So, using the App and the filter and searching for an entire place, my listing showed up. This could be the reason guests book the wrong type of accommodation.

[Andreas530]

@Sandra856 I seem to only have the options to "Offer a different amount", "Decline request", or "Send message".  How do I write to AirBnB, I cannot seem to find this link? 

Thanks very much!

[Sandra856]

@Andreas530 @ On the reservation page for the guest their is a "help" button that will lead you to a contact airbnb button. 

[Sandra856]

@Moira21 If they for instance arrive and the listing isn't there or it's not at all as described. Then they should be able to review in order to warn people. It's a huge  problem if you got a guest that cancels last minute and asks for a refund - don't respect the cancellation policy - because the host will then most likely receive a bad review and airbnb won't remove it even if it's certain that the host didn't do a thing but respected the cancellation policy. 

[Mark-and-Julie1]

Well since posting last night we have not heard from our guest that he has cancelled Nor has Brenda at support. So we're still none the wiser.. 

We asked our maintenance chap to check if there was a car or lights on but since the guest left at 6pm he's not been back.. 

I should add we're having a week away so are not there. Typical that it's happened now ! 

[Moira21]

@Sandra856  I've been looking for Airbnb s policy for reviews by guests who have cancelled on the day of check-in but can't seem to find anything.

If this guest is allowed to leave a review and is negative I won't be to concerned as I know 100% my accommodation is listed accurately and is clean. 

[Sandra856]

@Moira21 If you search in this community you will find one thread after another with hosts being frustrated about guests leaving bad reviews full of lies because they didn't get a refund etc. Unfortunately it is a known problem and guests are always giving the opportunity to review if they cancel within the day of check-in or during the stay. Airbnb doesn't remove reviews unless the review is considered discriminating, it got racist comments - things like that. They don't care about accuracy, lies etc.

Best, Sandra 

[Moira21]

@Sandra856 I'm curious to see what happens next, will know by Monday afternoon if they're able to review when I receive the usual email from Airbnb as their booking was for 2 nights.

This will be a first for me, all adds to the fun of hosting!!

[Mark-and-Julie1]

@Sandra856 

I think were both in a similar situation. 

Mu guest hasn't responded to mine or Airbnb support. 

He should check out Tuesday and we're due to receive his payment tomorrow.  

So we shall see.. 

[Mark-and-Julie1]

I think perhaps I should have included @Moira21  in my last reply.. 

Sorry I'm new to this ! 

[Sandra856]

Hi @Mark-and-Julie1 🙂

Sorry for messing up your thread 🙂

It seems that so many things can go wrong even if we try to prevent it as hosts. And the guest has the final saying and are able to leave reviews we can't do a thing about 😞

I hope everything will work out for you. There is nothing much to do than wait for the guest to reply. You can choose to refund if you like and try to avoid a bad review - or hope they won't leave a review. Fingers crossed that it will work out for you 🙂 

[Sandra856]

@Moira21 There is no doubt that your guest will receive the email review request - just like you will. On the day of check-out as usual. I have answered many, many, many questions from hosts in here who are surprised that they are asked to leave a review when the guest cancelled. The best advise is to not review unless you receive an email that the guest reviewed you. If you leave a review the guest will get a notification that you wrote a review and the chance they leave one is much bigger. So just ignore the request. 

[Sandra856]

@Moira21 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/27/airbnb-agrees-reviews-loophole-intervention-cma-r...