Altered and then cancelled

[Kiym0]

What can I do?  They booked and within hours of their expected arrival they requested to alter.  I agreed to the alteration, then they come up with another excuse so they altered again and then a week out they cancelled.  I do not believe they ever intended to stay once they altered the original date, they were just trying to get out of the cancellation fee.  There has to be away to report this person and/or get the fee they should have had to pay initially.

Thank you in advance.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Kiym0 Unfortunately your guest found the loophole around cancellations. 

[Allison2]

You'll run into this sneaky, underhanded cancellation sometimes.

You can call Airbnb and see if there's something they might do (they may give you some kind of courtesy payout) but it's probably more of a learning experience.

For this reason I won't accept date changes once someone is within the no-refund cancellation period. (Or if I do, it's for the cost of the original stay PLUS the new stay. Then, even if they cancel, the 50% payout is what I should have been paid for their late cancellation on the original reservation under my strict cancellation policy)

Sorry this happened to you. People like this shouldn't be on the system. It's a really dishonest thing to do.

[Momi0]

@Kiym0  After being "burnt" myself twice in 2015 as a new host by 2 separate guests who requested altered reservations and then cancelled, Both bookings were for a week long.  And I later found they had booked at a cheaper place.  I contacted AIRBNB immediately and reported them. ABB was kind enough to pay me on one of those cancellations for what was proven to be fraud on the travelers' part. 

I changed my listing to Strict.  Problem solved since 2015.  Something to think about.  

[Anonymous]

@Kiym0 i would encourage you to report the incident to Airbnb and see what happens. Unfortunately, though, the guest's shady maneuver does not appear to violate a policy, so you might be stuck.

In the future, I would recommend using the Strict cancellation policy, as it closes the loophole that allows guests free cancellations like this. (The exception is in cases that meet Airbnb's criteria for Extenuating Circumstances - a loophole that does result in the host getting screwed due to the guest's failure to secure travel insurance).

Also, I strongly suggest that if anyone ever requests a date-change that would result in losing a potential booked date (as is almost certain for a same-day cancellation), you deny the request and ask that the guest cancel the booked dates.