Host cancelation

Answered!
Tomislav3
Level 1
Zagreb, Croatia

Host cancelation

Hi,

 

This is my first time that I had to cancel a reservation. I thought that my calendar is updated and that I turned off Instant booking. As soon as I got a booking, within a minute, I called the traveler, appologised to him and told him that, because of some issues with the house, I'm not able to host him.

 

So my question is why is that immediatelly written as a bad review for me?

 

My best,

Tomislav ***

1 Best Answer
Victoria57
Level 10
Strathpeffer, United Kingdom

Being unaware of the penalties when you cancel is no excuse, you need to understand the rules and your responsibilities. The penalties are published and are here.

View Best Answer in original post

12 Replies 12
David126
Level 10
Como, CO

Because you cancelled, bad for the brand.

David
Victoria57
Level 10
Strathpeffer, United Kingdom

Being unaware of the penalties when you cancel is no excuse, you need to understand the rules and your responsibilities. The penalties are published and are here.

As if... AirBnB doesn't even follow their own policies but hosts are supposed to have them memorized?  AirBnB says clearly "no cancellation for unexpected injury" yet they allow cancellations by guests for that excuse all day long.

Robert78
Level 10
Suzhou, China

I wouldn't worry about the automated "negative" review. It's something most people pay little attention to, unless they are highly Airbnb-literate guests (or experienced guest-hosts, who are more discerning.) Most prospective guests focus on the detailed reviews, not so much the auto-generated ones which really have very little in the way of content. I screwed up once with my calendar, and as luck would have it got instant booked 10 seconds after I'd realised my error. Happens to the best of us. Best of luck!

Agnes50
Level 2
New South Wales, Australia

Airbnb does not make things easy for hosts.  Their cancellation policy is not helpful at all; there are circumstances where guests violate house rules, yet Airbnb still penalises hosts if cancelling.    

 

 

Rachel97
Level 2
Rochester, NY

I had an instant-book a year in advance!  This is before I even KNEW it would 'work' the following year. So now, with several months' advance notice, I want to CANCEL this person (2 nights) but then I'll lose my Superhost status 😞

 any ideas???

@Rachel97 "any ideas?"

 

Not sure what you are asking, but the obvous one is to not cancel and accomidate the guest.

 

Other options are to negotiate, like have the guest cancel but you'll pay their expenses out-of-your-pocket.  You could also see if guest would be willing to stay in another vacation rental or hotel. You pay for that out of your pocket, don't cancel your reservation but the guest knows that they will be staying elsewhere. You could call AirBnB and plead your case for an extenuating circulstance or no-penilty cancellation. Finally, you could just cancel and not have Superhost for a year.

Agnes54
Level 2
Hong Kong

Hi all,

 

Please help me this is urgent! I am trying to cancel a booking supposed to arrive next week. but the Airbnb page said there's an error. what can i do!!??

 

How can i contact someone from airbnb>?!!!

 

Thanks so much

Agnes

I have the same issue.  I see nobody replied, did you ever find the answer?

 

@Dan298

 

A Host should never ever cancel, contact AirBnB if you have an extenuating circumstance.

 

David
Olga6
Level 5
London, GB

Same as Tomislav,

I had to cancell withing minutes after I accepted the booking. And the booking was done weeks in advance.

There is a bad review + some sort of penalties that reflect on hosts status.

I called Airbnb to clarify, we are talking couple of minutes. Such a glitch can happen!

I actualy recieved a warning that there will be water works in the street....lasting several hours over 2 days. Booking was for a week or over but still. No water, no guests.

But no luck, robotic responce.

Of course, I had an option to copy the anouncement. We did not have one...asked neighbours if they kept theirs, they didn't....and so on. I just did not have time no will to call cauncil or whoever and get started on gathering paperwork so that I would not have "bad rep". This whole thing, for genuine private hosts, I don't know about pros with 10 propertis....it is very, very time consuming.

I never cancell!

Once we had to relocate guests + cancell next as the gas pipe was leaking: National Grid business ....lasted about a month and we were acording to National Grid LUCKY!

So....all sorts of things are happening in London. It is an old city. Part of the charm I suppose.

I believe that in  Tomislav's and my case Airbnb responded in usymphatetic, rather militant way.

Far from initial ethos of "oh, we are all sharing here". Also, this was a platform of friendly hospitable amateurs, we are not boutique hotels! Or are we? (acording to a recent BBC documentary about a 1/3 of London properties on Airbnb are advertised by professional multi property  owners and agencies.

 

 

First I must apologize for the cancelations.  This was my first acceptance of a guest.  Unfortunately, I got sick with the flu, and could not respond to the many inquireis that I had received on time, one requested for a refund, when I was able to speak I reached out to him and apologized.

I was also not aware of the cancelation policy (no excuse, I take full responsibility), the question at hand is, how do I get back on line in being a host.  I would appreciate if someone would respond with some advise on how to overcome this error.

Thank you!