Guest cancels 30 day reservation after staying two nights

[Charlie19]

At 8:30 pm I receive an "urgent" request for a 30-night stay.  I accept and a very nice young man (no BnB history) arrives about 11:00 PM.  He has just accepted a summer job in a nearby city.  On his second night, he says that the commute to his job is too long (we live out in the country) and he leaves work too late and too tired to drive safely on the roads.  I have an Air BnB report that the $1033 payout has been recorded and sent to my account - but has not actually arrived yet.  He has no problem with the room or us as hosts, and I understand his request, but since this is my first Air BnB experience, I am not sure how to procede.  The daily rate for the room is $100/night +tax, but the monthly fee is more like $34 per night.  Should I charge him the daily rate for two nights and refund him the rest of my payout money?  Should I have him send a request for cancellation to Air BnB, even though the cancellation time is obviously past due?  I don't want to have any bad feelings on his part and say, "too bad, buddy, you made a mistake and you have to eat it."  What is fair and equable?

[Cat8]

Hi,

****Do NOT send a cancellation request! *****

I can't stressed this enough.

That would count against you on airBnB record, you wou be penalised.

It is for the guest to send the cancellation request via airBnB system.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Ask the guest to cancel - you should not do it as you will be penalised.

Then depending on your cancellation policy you will receive a payout. 

It's completely up to you as to what you do after that - my personal view would be to tell him you will give a full refund on any nights you can sell. There will probably be a bit in the middle, shortly after he leave that you may not be able to sell, so maybe some partial refund would be in order on those nights as he is not causing any wear/tear etc.

[Marshall1]

I think charging him 2 nights at the full rate, and refunding the rest, is very reasonable on your part.  It's cleaner than trying to calculate at some point what you were able to rent, and what went unused.

In some respects, being the host (I think) means taking the higher road and moving on.  What you've considered seems to be reasonable for both sides (2 nights full, rest refunded).

[Charlie19]

Thanks you all for responding (Cat was the first, shortly after my early morning call for help).  Based on your advice and after looking at the info on Air BnB about this issue, I was able to speak with the young man about the options.  He though that I could just give him back his money.  I told him that I haven't been given any money yet and that he would have to complete a cancellation form.  It is the only way that the room would show availability on the BnB calendar.  His fee would not be returned.  I would offer him  the room for the $100/night +11% room tax that we normally charge for that room at our B&B for the two nights he stayed.  He explained that he got a very restful night's sleep in the bed and he wants to give it a week and see how it goes.  This was not a stressful conversation.  I was able to show him the cancellation process outlined in the Air BnB section.

I think what set me straight from the getgo was the clear advice that in this case, the guest requests the cancellation.  I am hoping that this very nice kid (I'm 69, so they are all kids), will be ok through the month.  We'll see.  Again, thank you for your helping me through this glitch.  It the first time I have had to use the host community, and it really works.

Charlie

[Gabriella40]

I've had this happen myself. I've made it my policy to refund the nights I'm able to rebook the room. However, I don't do so until I've been paid for the new reservation. Seems fair all around...