Guest has altered reservation twice.

[Ashley583]

I have a guest that was originally going to stay over the 4th of July weekend and sent me a message that she could no longer stay because her job was sending her out of the country and needed to cancel. I told her it would be no problem but she needed to cancel on her end. She said “ok”. Two weeks go by and she never cancelled. Now I get an alteration request to change her booking from July to the end of August. I questioned this but eventually accepted. It only changed my payout by a little. Now she asked to change it again by asking to leave one day early. Now we are 2 weeks away and I will be losing out on more money and I don’t think that’s acceptable. What happens if I decline her request? Will this negatively affect me as a host? I don’t know if she realized she wouldn’t get all her money back if she cancelled completely and now trying to see how much she can get away with. Thought?

[Anonymous]

@Ashley583 I don't quite understand how the guest was able to "change dates" after the booked dates have already passed?  What happened to the 4th of July weekend on your calendar? How were you able to get a replacement booking when the dates were occupied by this guest's booking?

[Ashley583]

When I typed “now” I didn’t mean today. My mistake. I meant she changed her July reservation to August back in May so I accepted it. And then eventually I got the July days covered by someone else. So all the original alterations made were done back in May. But.now she wants to change her reservation again 2 weeks before she’s supposed to come which means I will lose money and now it will be harder to find someone to book those days being last minute.

[G-C-R-M0]

@Ashley583 - I realize this is 2 months after you needed the info, but better late than never. I was looking for other input and ran into this.
So you declining her request shouldn't/wouldn't negatively impact you in anyway. This is why airbnb put that measure in there so if there's a change in the terms of the original agreement, both parties need to agree to it. You have the rights to decline it or accept it, it all depends on you, your financial situation (this is income, so it's all business), etc. 
On the other hand, after reading so many posts about sneaky/clever way to avoid cancellation fee/charges by altering dates, I myself am weary about alteration. We haven't had many guests requesting alteration, but it just irks me reading other hosts who have been "fooled" by guests requesting to alter and then just cancel minutes after.

Whatever you are going to do here onwards, I wish you good luck and all the best with your airbnb hosting.

[Geni4]

I wonder if this is a ploy where if guest alters, you accept, then they can cancel within your free cancellation parameters. I am on here to find out if this happens. I never said no to someone but this weekend I'm losing money if I agree to alter..its unlikely anyone will book tommorow ( Friday).Its a requests because of weather.

[Colleen253]

@Geni4 Yes and no. It depends on a few variables. Here is an interesting thread on the topic:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/guests-cheat-the-hosts/m-p/1407957#M16047

I would not agree to a date change, especially for something like 'weather'. It's short notice, very little chance of rebooking the abandoned dates, so you will be left holding the short end of the stick. The guest should cancel if they don't want to deal with the weather, and be held to the cancellation policy they agreed to, or arrive as scheduled, prepared to deal with the weather.