Secure a booking as a guest

[Niklas39]

Can I as a guest secure a booking, so that I don't have to be afraid of a late cancellation? 

- Niklas

[Emiel1]

@Niklas39 

It is allways possible a host (or even Airbnb) can cancel a reservation, allthough a host faces penalties from Airbnb (like the dates can not be rebooked) , so a host will not easy decide to cancel. But you can not protect yourself 100% from this. But in case it happens contact Airbnb and maybe they can help to relocate you.

Best regards,

Emiel

[Niklas39]

Thank you for the answer Emiel. But is it possible to make some kind of more secure booking. 

I'm looking at a house in Cannes, but we are some friend joining from around the world, so can a guest do something to be more secure that a booking dosnt get canceled days before? 🙂 

[Branka-and-Silvia0 · Accepted solution]

@Niklas39 

if you book super host listing you can be pretty sure your reservation will not be canceled. Superhost shouldn't have any cancelations in the last 12 months.

But, you have to understand that a private host is often just one person with 1 or 2 listings and he has to do everything. So if he gets sick or the property gets damaged or something breaks then the host has to cancel. 

Hotels have a lot of rooms and a lot of staff so they will always have one spare room or someone else to do the job. It is different.

[Sarah977]

@Niklas39  You may want to investigate getting travel insurance which would cover the event of a cancellation and having to rearrange plans. If you split the cost of this with your friends, it would probably be quite reasonable.

You should also be aware that guests routinely cancel reservations, sometimes at the last minute, leaving hosts in a bad position as well. Sometimes a host is re-imbursed partially for this, according to their cancellation policy, but often the guest manages to get Airbnb to give them a full refund, the host is not able to rebook on such short notice, so can be losing out on a significant amount of money, with no repercussions for the guest. So it works both ways.

But I do understand what a hassle it could be for a guest to have a booking cancelled. Most hosts, and especially Superhosts, won't cancel a booking- we are in the business of hosting, not cancelling.

It's also a good idea to start a dialogue with a host through the Airbnb messaging, which can set your mind at ease depending on how they communicate and whether they respond in a timely fashion.  Rather than just Instant Booking something for weeks or months away and assuming all will be fine. 

[Niklas39]

Good idea to check my travel insurance. As I understand it, if you use a strict cancelation you as a guest only gets 50% if you cancel after 48 hours and no refonds 7 days before. 

As are very secure to get atleast 50% of the total amount. And if you cancel you only get fined 100$

Have I got i right? 🙂 

I'm looking for a house in Cannes this summer with some specific requrements. The problem is that if the host cancels a week before our vacation will almost be inpossible. That's why im trying to find out if there is a possibility to be extra secure about a booking. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Niklas39 

it is not just 100$

If the host cancels then those dates remain blocked, super host status is lost for a year, we get an automated review that we canceled and our instant booking option can be removed which means very bad search result placement = rare or no bookings. We also lose priority status when we call customer service ( instead of 1 min waiting we have to wait for an hour for someone to answer our call). The latest is the worst,  waiting for an hour on international call is a big big problem, especially in the case of emergency 😞

In 3 years of hosting, I canceled just one time. It was last minute booking and our guest had very bad reviews so I didn't want to risk.  I asked Airbnb to cancel his stay and I wasted the whole afternoon by messaging with Airbnb back and forth. He was refunded in full.

[Niklas39]

Good idea to focus on superhost! What I have seen is the some host has the listing on several platforms. And in the calender on Airbnb it's booked but on another platform it's free but for a hight price. I'm a bit afraid that some of the agentcy hosts they cancel a resevation if they get a better offer.

I know from our friends in Cannes it's a huge problem. It's something Airbnb should look into, and try to find a solution. 🙂

- Niklas 

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  You may already be aware of this, but higher prices on various booking sites can be deceptive. On some sites the service fee is included, on some it is added on after you enter the correct number of guests and the dates. On Airbnb often the base price is shown, i.e. the lowest price for some days of the year, but that can increase dramatically depending on whether you are looking at dates during high season, holidays, etc. So the only way of knowing what the final price will be is to enter all that info, rather than just looking at the listing price. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Sarah977  that's true... but it seems you tagged me instead of @Niklas39  🙂

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0   Oops. yes, I did.

@Niklas39   My post above Branka and Sylia's here was meant for you, but it's too late for me to edit it.