cancelations

Maria-and-Rian0
Level 2
Prescott, AZ

cancelations

I am about to publish my first listing in a few days despite all the fears of not being able to get in touch and not being supported by Airbnb if there is a problem???

I am browsing through some of the issues and I found this comment:
"Just don't ever cancel by yourself and if your guest wants to cancel and you get a message with a question "do you agree that X cancel this reservation on your behalf" - do not agree! 

Be carefull with scam messages that leads you on another websites which looks like Aibnb but don't have green padlock on the begining of url - do not log in!"

What would be the best way to Cancel for the host without getting penalties?
Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Maria

4 Replies 4
Louise0
Level 10
New South Wales, Australia

Just don't do it, ever.  ALWAYS make the guest cancel.  If they refuse and you have good grounds for insisting they cancel (eg indicating they intend to break the House Rules, it's a third party booking, they are rude or otherwise inappropriate in subsequent messages) then get on the phone to Airbnb and tell them the issue and insist that they cancel the booking on the guest's behalf.  They'll be sneaky and send you a confusing message indicating you should cancel, but just ignore it and get back on the phone.

 

Your biggest weapon in these kinds of disputes is a comprehensive and clear set of House Rules and a determination to keep every single bit of communication on platform.  Don't even let guests ring you until the day before.  Discuss NOTHING over the phone pre-arrival unless it's absolutely unavoidable.

Good advice and Airbnb on twitter always gets back in a few minutes for me @Louise0

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello @Maria-and-Rian0

 

Have you looked at Airbnb's help section and community posts on these forums. If not, it's useful to snooze your listing (put it in hold) while you become familiar with how the site works.

 

Under the Help section look at; 

 

1. Host cancellations

2. Deposits

3. Host cancelation policies

4. House rules

5. Instant Bookings (not recommended for new hosts)

 

and 

 

Look at the community guides at the top of these forums. The CONTACT AIRBNB post - 2nd post under Community Help has all the ways of contacting Airbnb.

Annette33
Level 10
Prescott, AZ

@Maria-and-Rian0, I'd be happy to meet up and give you a run down of the truly important things, but it's easier  and more effective to do it in person than typing here. Just let me know if you like that idea...