cancelations

[Mayte18]

Hi. I just put my apartment up to rent this week and have secured my first few bookings. Unfortunately one of the guests needs to cancel and they asked me to do it. I have seen that I may incur penalties if I go ahead and cancel so I have asked her to cancel from her end. I have received no response and now have the days she booked, in the middle of peak season, blocked out on my calendar so nobody else can book at that time. Is there anything I can do?

[Meytal0]

I have the same problem. Need urgent help!!

[Dee-and-Thomas0]

Hi - something similar here. My guest booked almost a month before their arrival date and though I sent messages to them asking for the estimated arrival time, if they had questions, etc. I received no responses. Their arrival date came and they were a no show. I sent off another message the day after their arrival date and suddenly I get a message saying that they didn't think the booking went through and they were worried they were charged for the stay. I said that the booking had been on my calendar for almost a month and I've sent several messages to them. I also told them that they would have to take it up with Airbnb as hosts have nothing to do with refunds or know if they were in fact charged. I read that I will still get paid even though they are a no show but what if the guest fights the charges? Also, can I put another booking on the same dates as the guest originally booked? It is peak season right now and we have a big jazz festival going. Thank you!

[David126]

Not really, one of the issues is that ABB have made it much easier for the guest to cancel at short notice and you can be stuck.

No shows are my personal hate, would never refund.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Mayte18

If the guests want to cancel, they must do so from their end and they will be refunded according to your cancellation policy. There is no reason you should cancel for them and face penalties - in fact I think that is a very unreasonable request. If they do not cancel, the booking is still valid and you will get paid even if they do not arrive. 

Just remind them again and make sure all correspondance is on the airbnb messaging platform.

@Dee-and-Thomas0

Never mind about the no-show.  See the positive side - full payment and no work involved.

[Mayte18]

Thanks a lot for the reassurance. We're only just starting and this takes a bit of getting used to, so we don't want to make any mistakes or be unfair.

Regards,

Mayte

[Colleen47]

Cancellations are the worst. Especially when they are booked  out far in advance. I recently changed to strict policy because people book multiple places and choose which to keep later. Since switching to strict my bookings have dropped dramatically. I feel like I'm in a no win situation. Blah. Trying to stsy positive. Hard to book out a 14 person house a week in advance. 

[Dee-and-Thomas0]

I too have put strict cancellation policies on my 4 flats. It is difficult to book if you have only 5 days notice on larger flats. We have one that sleeps 14 people.

 I would not cancel the reservation for someone who wants to cancel on me as we hosts get penalized. Let the guest get penalized if it is their issue, not yours. Sometimes you just have to be tough and remember, this IS your business!