Guest request to shorten stay 5 days before check in

[Mihai17]

Hello,

I would like to ask your opinion on the following matter: a guest booked a 14 nights stay 4 months ago and today, 5 days before check in asked to alter his reservation and shorten the stay by 7 nights. I’m not in a very touristic place and 99% I won’t book those nights, therefore losing money.

What do you advise? I don’t want to be rude and cancel his request, resulting in a negative review from his side, but I can’t afford to lose 7 nights of income.

Thanks!

[Helen3]

I would decline the request and say that unfortunately it is too late to amend the booking at this stage. Suggest to the guest that if they want to cancel the rest of their stay to do so, and that if you are able to rebook any of the days, you would be happy to consider a pro rata refund for any days re-booked @Mihai17 

[Sarah977]

@Mihai17  He booked 4 months ago and only 5 days before his check-in, he suddenly only wants it for 7 days?  Be careful- he may be trying to get out of the reservation altogether and get a full refund. There are some guests who do this- I see you have a moderate cancellation policy- so if the guest sends an alteration request and you approve it, he can then cancel the new dates altogether and get a full refund.

I don't think it's rude not to accept the alteration- what was rude was blocking your calendar for 4 months and then trying to cancel half his stay 5 days before check-in.

[Mihai17]

@Helen3 @Sarah977  Thanks for the replies!

I will cancel his request and I hope he will understand and won't leave a negative review. As you also said, keeping my calendar blocked for 4 months and changing his mind in the last minute is totally in my disadvantage. 

[Helen3]

Just to confirm, please don't cancel anything, just decline his request, explaining your reasons. @Mihai17 

[Mihai17]

Hi everyone,

Back when he first asked me to amend his stay, I told him that I've never done it before and I don't know how, but he can contact Airbnb and try to do it himself. He replied that we shall stay with the 14 days booking for the moment and he will see what he will do.

He didn't mention anything about this until yesterday evening, the 8th day of his stay. I texted him to ask if they need anything and if everything is ok and he replied later at night saying that the keys are in the lockbox and that their long stay apartment was available. And that he shall see how to amend the stay and shorten the booking if that's ok with me. Two minutes later I get the request.

I didn't reply yet, because I have to think how to proceed. First of all, he knew before arrival that they will stay less than booked, he kept my calendar my calendar blocked for 4 and a half months and now he expect a refund for the rest of  the stay. All in all it doesn't seem fair to me, as I will not rebook those night for sure, because the business is rather slow around here.

I'm only afraid of a negative review, but in the end I don't think I will accept his request.

What do you advise?

[Anonymous]

bonjour @Mihai17 , refusez , je suis d'accord avec @Mihai17 

il savait très bien ce qu'il faisait et maintenant qu'il a consommé et ne se préoccupe pas de vous.

passez aussi en stricte votre annonce, car beaucoup de voyageurs sont des habitués de ce genre de comportement tout pour eux et rien pour les autres .

nous avons eu un débat sur un sujet identique . le lecture est intéressante.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Aide/Conditions-d-annulation-Strictes-je-ne-comprend-pas/td-p/11...

[Mihai17]

Merci beacup!

[Sarah977]

@Mihai17 Decline the alteration. That's it. If he contacts Airbnb and they refund him, there's not much you can do about that except spend a lot of frustrating time with them trying to get them to reverse the decision.

And hosts need to get away from the mentality of trying to avoid a bad review by allowing guests to get away with unreasonable demands. The truth is, that nice people leave good reviews, assuming your place is as advertised and that you're an attentive host. Nice guests don't leave bad reviews simply because one of their requests wasn't catered to. And they don't make unreasonable demands or expect the host to take a loss just because their own plans changed. I've had a few guests who missed the first day of their booking because of flight delays or airline overbooking. As all those guests had made a 10 day-2 week booking, I offered to refund them the day they missed. Their responses were "No way, it's not your fault."

Those who would leave a bad review simply because they didn't get refunded, when in fact they didn't deserve a refund, would probably have left a bad review anyway.

[Mihai17]

Thanks Sarah! I will do that.