Dear Fellow Hosts,
I have been hosting for about 11 months and this is the first time this has come up. My guest made his reservation a month prior to his two week stay. When he arrived, later that same day, he said he wanted to let me know that, if he was approved for an apartment he had applied for, he would be leaving at least a week early. I told him that he would have to make the changes if he wanted to shorten his stay and he would have to do that through Airbnb. He said he didn't know anything definitive but he thought someone would get back to him soon. The next day he hadn't heard when I went up to bed.
I checked these message boards and there were many suggestions from experienced hosts, saying that I should not approve a change request because then my cancellation policy would not kick in. My cancellation policy is moderate and to tell you the truth I don't know that much about how it works as I have never used it before. A couple of days later, I see that he put in a request to change the reservation to five days shorter. I did not accept the change as it is doubtful I can fill those five days on such short notice. I didn't decline it either as I saw that some veteran hosts had recommended that those requests just go unfilled. In the meantime, the guest and I have hardly seen each other becasuse of both being so busy, but we have been friendly and cordial the few times we have interacted.
He wrote me a message today reminding me of his request and that he wants me to accept it. I saw him in person today and we talked. I explained that he will need to cancel the days he is not using, he needs to do that through Airbnb. He said that is what he did. I explained that he asked me to change the reservation, that is not same thing, and I would need him to cancel the unused days and then the cancellation policy would be in effect. (UNfortunately, I didn't know anything else about how it works to answer his specific questions)
Basically, he thinks that since he let me know, verbally, when he first arrived that it was likely that he was not going to stay the whole time that he shouldn't owe me any money for the days he does not stay here. Since I will be out money if I (likely) can't rent out those days, I don't want to accept the change request and want to get something in compensation. I told him that if I can get someone in the room on those days, I will gladly refund those days, that i will do my best to get someone else in there, that I will lower my price $10/night to get someone else in but that is the best I can do. He seemed frustrated and told me he has lots of friends who are Airbnb hosts and there is just a certain amount of vacancies to be expected. But, this is the end of the busy season and there are far few travelers looking for accomodation than there were a month ago.
I like my guests to be completely happy but I also run a business.
What say ye?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Diana
