Guest said he cancelled and is still on his way here? ( in process )

[Lucia135]

YESTERDAY : Check in time after  6pm and the guest told me they would be here at 9pm. The 9pm arrival then was changed to later and because he said his  flight arrived at  11pm.  Then he said he landed and instead of showing up at my house after telling me he was on his way...

He txted at 1:30 in the morning :

"Well,my family, is really bugging out. They want me to stay with them, sorry. I will pay for tonight, but will canceling the rest of my reservation."

I said "Go to airbnb now, cancel your booking and do what's best for your family.".

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Then at 3 am this morning,  he texts :  " Was able to cancel, so you be see me tomorrow..."

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Since my cancellation policy is set to strict.  I told him to contact airbnb,  I had no intention of arguing with anybody on their way to my house at  2am while explaining my policy which is clearly stated on the listing page and on the airbnb payment agreement.

So now :

Do I loose out on 5 days rental?

Do I let him show up the next day after he didnt check in  yesterday and hand him the keys?

Its a bit confusing because he is telling me he got  a refund but my policy is set to strict and you dont get your money back if you cancel the day of and in this case the day after.

Its now 11 am the NEXT day after check in and the person is still not here.

What would you do? I feel hostage in my own house with this mysterious drama.

Thanks kindly for the advice.

[Marit-Anne0]

Sounds very, very odd indeed.  The thing is that this guest already has your address and contact details, which is a bit worrying given the circumstances.  

Is the booking still showing in your calendar ?

[Lucia135]

Yes I feel the same way. Its odd, weird and shady.  It  is still showing up on my calendar and my policy is set to strict.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

I'm thinking he meant to write, "I was able to cancel and you WON'T be seeing me tomorrow."

If he hasn't showed up yet, I dont think he will.

[Charles88]

Have you checked your calendar and reservations list?  I had a cancellation and the calendar was update in less that 30 minutes.  Also you should have received an email from ABB telling you how much money was refunded.  If you didn't get these, I suspect he left out the "not" in I did NOT get a refund.

[Lucia135]

I did not get any cancellation info from airbnb overridding my strict policy,  while he claimes he was refunded.  I did get " payout of ... sent " text from airbnb instead. Proving the hunch that the guest has def lied to me about getting a refund whe instead his reservation is still on calendar and the payout was sent to me.

Honestly I know things happen.  More guests, odviously more experiences..? My question is do I open the door at this point and in good faith just take what ever shows up, with a grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

There's clearly a miscommunication in there somewhere. The fastest way to resolve it would be to call your guest directly to clarify what's going on. 

If you're unable to reach the guest by phone or come to a resolution, contact Airbnb and relay the correspondence you've received. I've had a couple occasions where CX manually cancelled bookings on the guest's behalf (no penalty to host); they just needed sufficient evidence of the guest's intention to cancel. The 1:30 AM text would fit the bill, though it would be preferable if the correspondence happened in the Airbnb platform so that it's visible to CX.

[Lucia135]

So a strict cancellation policy means absolutely nothing?

[Lucia135]

So they get refunded, I am unable to book those days last minute that were blacked out by said reservation correct.

[Helen3]

I haven't seen anyone suggesting that @Lucia135

In your situation, I would contact the guest through BNB messaging and say that further to his texts you understand that he wants to cancel as he has changed his plans and decided to stay with his family. However you have no record through BNB that he has cancelled his reservation.

Confirm you are happy for him to cancel in line with your cancellation policy.

Then you have a record on BNB about what has happened.

As there are no extenuating circumstances your cancellation policy should stand.

[Carol90]

Save the text and take a photo to send to ABB.