Guest cancellation

[Marie184]

I have a huge problem with a guest cancelling a rental with no notice and I need to speak to a Airbnb representative.  I cannot find the telephone number anywhere on the site.  Does anyone have the contact Airbnb phone number, or know where I can find it.    Thank you.

[Colin24]

I have a new booking for a room for two people. However, they emailed to say they are bringing their two teenage children too.
I want to cancel them but will get a penality when really they have booked giving misinformation . I dont know how to contact air bnb admin either ?

[Christine1]

@Colin24 If your accommodation can sleep the children, then send the guests an alteration request. This will put the children on the books, and afford you the extra tariff which applies for the extra numbers.  Can you accommodate them, is that possible? 

regards, Christine.

[Christine1]

@Colin24, Hi Colin,

What did you decide to do in order to manage this concern about the extra people [teenage children] that you mentioned? I sent the earlier advice as a short note due to my time constraints.

But on a longer note;

Occasionally if I have had concerns about booking numbers exceeding the capabilities of the room, I have sent a counter offer/ie. "Special Offer" which then includes the full tariffs for all the extra provisions/services or persons.

This action has had the effect of discouraging the potential guests because the new tariff then becomes the equal of similar listings once all inclusions are calculated.

Some guests tend to consider that they are "paying for the room" and therefore are keen to squeeze a few extra family or friends in..... lol.

Once these guests are offered the opportunity to pay for extra people, but still squeeze into the same room- suddenly it's not so appealing and they withdraw from the discussion. In this case they can be advised to withdraw/cancel their booking. 

You could perhaps write back with a suggestion such as

" Unfortunately the original booking is only for two persons and it is not possible to include extra persons in the accommodation or within this booking." " If you need accommodation for 4 people, my advice is that you cancel this booking and make alternate arrangements with another host who can accommodate your full guest numbers." You might even give suggestions about nearby listings that would suit them better.

If you believe that your potential guest is under the impression that you have extra rooms that will allow space for the overflow guests, then you can address this with statements about your own family members who are in residence.

In the case of a booking already being in place, these suggestions would hopefully encourage the guest to cancel the booking. Technically if your booking is for 2, then extra people can only be accommodated with the approval of both parties and an agreed reservation "alteration" in place. You are not obliged to proceed with the unauthorised change to guest numbers and it is up to the guest to withdraw the reservation request. 

If you become uneasy with any reservation request that has already been accepted, you can go into the section on your host site/dashboard and select "My Reservations" then for each reservation summarrised you will see red type options; one of them is "Report a Problem". select one of them and then type in your explanation of the issue.

I am sure that many readers will be interested to know how you resolved this matter of extra guests as it appears to be a common problem discussed across many of these forums.

It is not your responsibility to initiate a cancellation. It was and is, the responsibility of the guest to have sent through an alteration request. But because guests are also learning, then a diplomatic explanation of the relevant steps/procedures/options is helpful and reduces the likelihood of this guest repeating this behaviour with another Host.

Make it clear via correspondence that you will not be accepting any extra guests, and reiterate the need for these guests to withdraw their request/booking and seek an alternative forthe whole group of 4, or book an alternative for their children and thereby maintain their booking with you.

If they decide to book another venue for the extra persons/teenagers, it may be wise to send advice about how they are to conduct themselves during their stay- for instance how do you want them to handle getting together? Will your home become their de-facto meeting place?......anticipate; then state your terms/expectations.

I sincerely hope that this information is of some assistance to you, your guests and other hosts.

Regards, Christine.

[Ashley38]

United Kingdom +44 203 318 1111
United States +1-415-800-5959
+1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

I got these from another forum. I heard you can also contact on twitter.

[Marie184]

Thank you for your help.  Marie

[Cari3]

In the USA, I call 855 424 7262 and have had excellent service

[Christine1]

@Marie184  If a guest cancels, then your policy kicks in and all the admin is automatic. i am assuming they sent a cancellation through the site. If it's not a formal cancellation and instead it's just an email or no-show, then the system will treat that as a booking which is proceding and the payments go through as normal. 

If guests email you directly or sms/phone you etc to say they will be cancelling, then it's essential that you go on record [Airbnb email]and advise them on the correct procedure to cancel their trip; enact the cancellation policy and any subsequent rebate will be applied/forwarded to them.

Generally speaking it is not necessary to contact AirBnb for this "routine' event, any problems arising such as a dispute over the refund, can be dealt with via the "Resolutions Centre".

Sincere regards, Christine.

[Marie184]

@Christine1  This was not your normal, routine, cancellation and could not be handled through the "resolutions center". Perhaps if you had knowledge of all the information that happened between myself and my guests you would be better informed and would not have to ASSUME what happened. There are circumstances where the resolutions center does not cover the situation and therefore I had to call and get help and guidance on the issue. I thought that is what customer service is there to do - help and guide. I am sorry if you feel I bothered Airbnb representatives for what you have decided was "routine event". I resent the tone of your email and I am deeply disappointed at the resolution of the dispute between myself and my guests.  I am a super host and I take extra care of my guests and I dislike being taken advantage of and cheated by guests that I have gone over and above to make comfortable in my home.  

[Christine1]

When I write here, I do so voluntarily and based on the information/detail submitted by other writers. 

The information in your first note was "I have a huge problem with a guest cancelling a rental with no notice" No further information was entered, and contact details were provided by others. 

I therefore chose to assist with some general information that would be of assistance to a wide range of readers in addition to the original writer/s

Some advice I will preface with the words "assume ..." Only because I was filling in gaps. This is so that readers can see in what situation/ontext the information would apply.

Advice and information must always be given in context, naturally. I did so in this written forum to the best of my typing and time ability. 

"I assume" is not meant to be a superior phrase or expression of distain, nor was it shouted or meant to cause offence. It was so that advice can be applied if it fits and dismissed if it does not, and general information can be stored by others for use in the future.

Additionally I often attempt to round out explanations so that they hold something extra for readers other than the original writer so that these discussions are informative to all viewers. 

If writers to these forums wish for more information about contacting Airbnb then there are many excellent and pre-existing Communty Help Guides available readers can find them on the first page of this forum within Lizzie's welcome message. 

the latest updated contact details have been posted by Deb and Dave.

Please feel free to refer to the information below.

This thread is an easy place to find great community guides and helpful topics made by the Community for the Community. This board will be a continuous work in progress, so if you would like to start your own help guide or have useful content in the Center you would like to share, it would be fantastic to include it here. (Just tag me @Lizzie in your post)

If you can't find what you are looking for in the list below, use the search bar at the top of every Community Center page to see if there is already a discussion going on: Search The Community: A Community Help Guide

Adding a Cleaning Fee by Dave & Deb 

Adding a Security Deposit by Dave & Deb 

All About Reviews by Dave & Deb 

Blocking Off Unavailable Date by Dave & Deb

Breakdown of Airbnb Guest Fee by Dave & Deb 

Change Price, Number of Guests, Check-in/out Dates by Dave & Deb

Charging Extra Fees for Services by Dave & Deb (New)

Change Cancellation Policy and Check-in/out Times by Dave & Deb

Community Center Settings by Dave & Deb

Contact Airbnb by Dave & Deb (Updated)

Delete A Listing(Deactivate) by Dave & Deb

Delete Your Airbnb Account by Dave & Deb

Direct Messaging on the Community Center: A Community Help Guide by Dave & Deb 

Extra Guest Fee by Dave & Deb 

How Much Does A Guest Pay by Dave & Deb

Payments: How Do They Work by Dave & Deb (New)

Preparation Time: A Community Help Guide by Dave & Deb 

Protect Your Airbnb Account - Two Settings You Should Enable by Dave & Deb

References by Dave & Deb

Reservation "Inquiry" or "Request" - What's the Difference? by Dave & Deb 

Same-Day Requests: A Community Help Guide by Dave & Deb 

Setting A Discount For Weekly/Monthly or Custom Weeks/Months by Dave & Deb

Setting Minimum and Maximum Night Stay by Dave & Deb

Setting Price on Calendar for Single or Set of Days by Dave & Deb

Snooze A Listing by Dave & Deb

Syncing Airbnb Calendar and Google Calendar by Dave & Deb

The Resolution Center by Dave & Deb

Unlist Your Listing by Dave & Deb

Updating the New House Rules Button by Jeet 

Weekend Pricing by Dave & Deb 

Wrong Price Showing for my Listing by Dave & Deb

Why Can't I See My Listing in Search Results by Jeet 

This is fantastic content by @Dave & Deb and @Jeet, thank you so much for all the time and effort you have put into making these for all the Community. 

[City-Limits-Ranch0]

@Christine1 I think your answer was well put and appropriate.  Sorry others did not agree.