cancellations

Brooks10
Level 1
Salt Lake City, UT

cancellations

 

Hi Liz,

In my house rules I clearly added that no children under the age of 2 are allowed at the house. I also was supposed to be able to confirm or decline any reservations before booking. However, I got a message / as well as I confirmed booking from a couple who would like to stay at the house - they mentioned that they have a one-year-old. I would like to cancel the reservation but apparently I will be penalized. I'm not really sure exactly what went wrong and why I wasn't able to pre-approve this guest before going to booking - and now I face penalties for it. Can you help me resolve the issue?

3 Replies 3
Steve143
Level 10
Limerick, Ireland

Hello @Brooks10,

 

Your listing has instant book enabled. That means that guests can book without you having to pre-approve an enquiry or accept a request. If you'd prefer that guests can't book instantly then you can turn off the instant book facility.

The post below has more information on the instant book facility.

Answers-to-your-top-Instant-Book-questions

 

The post below has more information on many issues of interest to hosts. It also contains a "Contact Airbnb" post with information on ways to contact Airbnb support.

You could contact them indicating why your listing is not suitable for children under the age of 2 to see if they'll facilitate cancelling penalty free for you as a new host.

 

Airbnb's automatic systems don't disallow bookings based on the contents of the house rules section. They leave it up to guests to decide.

 

One other option is that the guests can cancel and get a full refund if it's less than 48 hours since they made the booking. You could explain to them which of the features mentioned in the "Review Safe Kids ..." section of the article below are ones that you don't have. Note that if you receive an email or notification that the guest is requesting to cancel you must decline it. Don't accept or ignore it as you will then be deemed to have cancelled and will be penalised. If the guest cancels you'll receive an indication that they have cancelled.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1348/if-i-specify-that-my-listing-is-safe-or-suitable-for-childr...

 

Steve.

Can't you cancel an "Instant Book" one or twice without penalty. It seems I read you could.

Grace329
Level 5
Johannesburg, South Africa

Contact Airbnb asap and advise them that the guest did not read your rules about children under 2 yrs then ask Airbnb to cancel the booking for you.dont cancel yourself you will get pernalised