Weather/guest cancels

[Kandis2]

Hi! So I’m wondering how others have handled a situation like mine- my place is in a ski resort town, the guests were from out of state but I let them know road conditions, weather conditions before their arrival date. They couldn’t drive the canyon pass to get to my place the first night, and didn’t even try the second night. They just messaged they are canceling the reservation- (I have a 24 hour policy) I feel like it isn’t totally their fault they couldn’t get there the first night, and thought I’d refund part of the charge. But to not even try the second? I had other prospective guests that wanted to book this weekend and am just not sure the best way to stay positive but not get walked on. Suggestions?

[Sarah977]

@Kandis2  Maybe instead of refunding, you could tell them that they could stay 1 or 2 nights without charge sometime in the future? 

[Lisa723]

@Kandis2 you have a cancellation policy and here is where it comes into effect. I would let them cancel and get whatever refund they get-- if it's less than you would have been willing to refund for their first night, you may choose to refund more, but it is up to you.

[Gaz-and-Aileen0]

Hi Kandis2, you answered your own question in away. Get guests who want to cancel, cancel. Tell the guest if you receive another booking for those days you can give them a full refund. If not 50% refund is always fair less the first day and cleaning fee if apply s.

[Brenda328]

I hate to tell you this, but most likely your guests will contact Airbnb and claim extenuating circumstances and receive a full refund.  My guests over Thanksgiving were supposedly coming from multiple states for a family gathering.  The reservation was made months ago with a strict cancellation policy.  Several days before their scheduled stay they contacted me with several special requests such as early arrival.  I agreed to accommodate their requests. 

They then changed their minds several times about when/if they were arriving due to weather forecasts in the various areas where they lived.  They did not cancel their reservation, but also did not show up at any time during their reserved three night stay.  They were scheduled to arrive on Wednesday and check out on Saturday.  Several hours after their scheduled CHECK-OUT time they contacted Airbnb to cancel under the extenuating circumstances policy (yes, they asked to cancel a reservation that was completely in the past). 

Because they never cancelled their reservation prior to their scheduled arrival or even made a definitive decision about whether they were coming,  I was unable to book any other guests into the property.  

Airbnb cancelled their reservation and gave them a full refund for dates that were in the past citing the extenuating circumstances policy.

 I will be removing this listing from Airbnb as it is in a skiing/winter recreation area where it snows - sometimes every day.  The reason guests come to this location is for the snow.   I cannot have Airbnb arbitrarily granting guests full refunds whenever guests change their minds or whenever it is snowing somewhere but my home is still fully accessible.

Airbnb only provides about 40% of the bookings on this property and I will be able to fill the majority of those dates through other platforms and through direct bookings and not have to deal with Airbnb's extenuating circumstances policy that is completely unfair to hosts.  The few extra bookings I might get though using Airbnb are not worth the financial loss incurred when high season stays such as Thanksgiving are arbitrarily cancelled.