Guest requested cancellation. I cancelled. Now those days are blocked in my calendar.

[Andrew147]

This is not my fault! And the girl was going to stay for two weeks. Now those days are blocked out completely. Help!

[David-and-Fiona0]

Lesson learned. You should never cancel. 

[Sandra126]

If you read the rules for running an Airbnb place, you will see that there are several penalties in place for cancelling hosts. The guest should have cancelled themselves. They may get a small payment from Airbnb as consolation for you having cancelled, whilst you will get a fine. You will also have a blocked calendar and not be eligible for Superhost for 12 months. Rule number 1: DO NOT cancel. Unless there is civil war or earthquake or similar, in which case you will get Airbnb to cancel for you.

[Helen3]

Hello Andrew

Unfortunately it sounds like you have been caught out by a guest who knew the system, so you have been penalised rather than them.

I would give BnB a call and explain that you are a new host (I presume) and that you cancelled on the request of the guest - show them copies of any messages through the BnB system, texts or emails which back up your story.

Hopefully they will reconsider.

You are running a business and it's really important that you familiarise yourself with how BnB works. This will ensure that things like this don't catch you out again and you enjoy the experience.

Good luck

[Melanie33]

This is such a recurring theme especially for new hosts that I wonder if it should be spelt out even more clearly when a new listing is published!

Mel

[Helen3]

Agree absolutely

The information is there but unfortunately too many hosts don't take the time to read through before becoming a host.

Having said that, I would suggest before a host cancels there should be a reminder that flashes up telling them that they will be penalised financially, the time blocked from their calendar and not have superhost status. This is a simple bit of coding that BnB could easily implement and would save a lot of heartache for new hosts.

[David126]

Agree, they have things that flash up which do not interest me, this would not be that difficult.

[Ginger10]

Hey I did the same thing and they even charged $100 bucks. But I called and they went through our messages where she clearly stated she wanted to cancel. Just call them and show them texts or they can look at the messages on here