Why won't Airbnb release my reserved week after the guest cancelled?

[Erin443]

I'm new to this, so I'd appreciate your help. A couple from Texas reserved our place for a full week. Two days in, they had a family emergency and left. The guest told me she kept trying to cancel and got an "error" message. I spent over an hour on the phone with Airbnb support three times over the space of two days. They assured me the reservation was canceled and the dates opened back up. Three days later, they haven't been released despite additional emails. They told me they read the file on this issue and then asked questions that made it clear they had no idea what was going on.

Everyone has been very nice- but I've missed out on three days of potential bookings during a really busy festival weekend. Is there a step I'm missing? Is there a more effective way to get this cleared up? It's five days later and the week is STILL blocked out!

I appreciate any advice you can offer, thank you.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Erin443 

The guest should have contacted Airbnb CS immediately and directly asking for a guest cancellation of the remainder of the stay. No mention of the error is even needed. You (host) calling won't help move things along because Airbnb needs confirmation that this is indeed a guest cancellation directly from the guest.

[Erin443]

Hi Jessica and Henry, thank you! The problem was, the guest kept attempting to cancel on her app and got an "error" message each time. That's when I started calling and asking them to go through our conversation so they knew it was mutual.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Erin443 

Yes...... and the fastest way for Airbnb to confirm is if the guest calls and requests the cancellation.

The guests would be expected to pay for 3 (or 5) nights the room was empty but dates were blocked since the guest failed to proceed with a timely "official" cancellation. If the guest is due a refund and wants their money back, then this is the guest's responsibility, not yours. They should have been the one's on the phone.

You could try contacting Airbnb thru twitter - I'm told the response time is pretty fast. But it seems you are already near the end of the booking in question. Airbnb is known to NEVER *get back to you* in a timely manner. If you can't get something resolved on/during that phone call. Say thanks, hang up, and call again, hoping for a different CS person who knows what their doing to pick up.

[Sarah977]

@Erin443  Just so you know, Airbnb doesn't have anything acknowleged as a "mutual cancellation". Just because the host and guest were on the same page, no hard feelings, all agreed, it still has to be either cancelled from the host side or the guest side. They do sometimes do what some refer to as a "neutral" cancellation, meaning the host will not be penalized for cancelling in some instances.

[Erin443]

Thank you, Sarah! None of the 5 different customer service people I've spoken to explained that. That helps me to understand at least why this is so wonky. The frustrating thing is the guest is still expecting most of her fee as a refund, when it's looking now like she never canceled. I really appreciate your explanation.

[Sarah977]

@Erin443  You're welcome. It's so frustrating that CS reps don't ever manage to just explain something in simple terms that could clarify a lot.

If I were you, I'd message this guest to explain that while you understand that trying to cancel via the app wasn't working, it was her responsibility to call Airbnb to get assistance with cancelling, in which case she would have been refunded the unused nights automatically according to your cancellation policy. But that because she didn't do that, all the nights she didn't stay remained blocked on your calendar and therefore couldn't be rebooked, meaning you lost out on all that income. Maybe suggest you split the difference with her so that you don't both lose out entirely?