Re: Guest did not arrive but did not cancel

Ron291 · ‎17-05-2019

Hi, I had a guest booked for 14nights who didn't arrive day 1. I had messaged him before with entry details but had no response. I sent a text day 2 got a reply day 3 (today) to say - "had an emergency, not coming at all, if possible would like a slight refund, if not - understands". I don't really want to profit from his circumstances if it's a genuine emergency but 1) need the income, 2) don't know how to unblock the dates to see if I get new bookings without me having cancel his still live booking. Also, AirBnB paid me yesterday for the 14night stay!

Ideally I want to unblock the dates and offer to give him at least a 50% refund based on new bookings - which I will pay him after I host other guests? Unless that breaks some rules! FYI my cancellation policy is on a default/set-up setting of "flexible"

Any advice gratefully accepted.

Thanks

Ron

Sarah977 · ‎17-05-2019

@Ron291 You can't unblock the dates until the booking is cancelled. If you cancel it, you will receive penalties and it is the guest who wants to cancel, so ask him to cancel right away, explain that that is the only way the dates will become unblocked so you can hopefully rebook it. Tell the guest you will be happy to refund 50% (or whatever) if you can rebook the dates, also explaining that you won't actually get paid for any new bookings until the guests check in, so you'd send him a refund as soon as you got paid. He sounds reasonable, so hopefully he'll cancel ASAP.

But be careful- he could be refunded by Airbnb for the remaining dates of his booking and also if you get a message that the guest wants to cancel, asking you to agree or decline, you need to decline that or it will go down as a host cancellation. Make sure he understands that he has to cancel on his own.

Ron291 · ‎17-05-2019

Thanks Sarah

Just so I'm clear if I "get a message that the guest wants to cancel, asking you(me) to agree or decline" and I decline, will it still get cancelled?

Sarah977 · ‎17-05-2019

@Ron291 I'm not really sure. I believe the guest has options to ask for the host to approve the cancellation or to just cancel it on their own. You might want to contact Airbnb directly to get clear on that.

Ron291 · ‎25-05-2019

Hi Sarah

Just thought I'd let you know the outcome. After your advice I sent a message to the guest and he replied day 6 to confirm he had cancelled. At the same time I received an AirBnB message telling me the same. FYI, there was no request for me to accept or decline. AirBnB then revised the payout, reduced it by half, as if he was cancelleing the next (2nd) seven days. The calendar was unblocked and I was lucky enough to get rebooked for the missing week. On day 2 with the new guests I received a payment with the refund deducted from it. In the end, no harm done.

Thanks for your time and help.

Ron

Anita373 · ‎17-05-2019

@Ron291 Yes you will, but it's important to decline, otherwise it will be count as your cancellation!

Jennifer1421 · ‎17-05-2019

@Sarah977

Wait. What? If a guest wants to cancel, the host may get a message saying so, and if the host agrees to allow the guest to cancel, then the host is penalized? What kind of shifty logic is that??

Sarah977 · ‎17-05-2019

@Jennifer1421 It's Airbnb shifty non-logic. They prefer that the host get penalized- then they can take $100 penalty off your next reservation. It's heinous, to be sure.

Jennifer1421 · ‎17-05-2019

Well, well. Learn something new every day on these forums. I had no idea that was a thing. Wow. What a whacky, bass-akwards (and sneaky) set up.

You've likely just saved me $100 and a number of self kicks in the butt from future cancellation ignorance. Thank you!

Sarah977 · ‎17-05-2019

@Jennifer1421 Just paying it forward 🙂 I've never had a cancellation request like this, just read numerous times on these forums that that's how it works. And I've never bee3n a guest, so I don't know how it is presented from the guest end. I suspect there are some savvy guests who do this on purpose so they get a full refund, but I'm sure there's lots who are just unclear on how to cancel.

Lisa1831 · ‎18-05-2019

@Ron291

Hi Ron,

The guest needs to cancel by using the cancellation form or by contacting Airbnb. As noted in the links below the guest is entitled to a refund determined by your refund policy.

To see the situation from the Guest point of view - review the links below.

The last link is an old post with a somewhat similar situation.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1338/how-is-my-refund-calculated-if-i-cancel-my-reservation

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1320/what-is-airbnb-s-extenuating-circumstances-policy

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Cancellation-on-the-day-and-time-of-check-in/td-p/491287