Airbnb blocking dates on my highest weekend?

[Sharon563]

Why am I paying the price when I followed the rules?

[Sharon563]

My home is an entire house of 1640 sq ft and for Mardi Gras it is $200 per night for a 3 night min.  The new prices had not been posted as dates were not released.  They booked at $125 before I could change and I did not know I was on Auto book  so they said I should offer them $175 and even told me what to say to them.  They declined so I was told I would have to cancel them and I did now I am blocked.

[Sharon563]

Please read on

[Linda108]

@Sharon563  You and I are of similar age and when I first started 4 years ago, I was so intimidated by both this business and this platform.  I spent hours reading everything I could on the platform and also listening to some tutorials.  I hope you give yourself that opportunity as well.  

You have very little information on your listing about the space beyond the bare minimum and your profile does not have a picture.  Think about fleshing out the listing and take advantage of the Air BNB temporary boost in the searching process.  Add a response to the automatic cancellation review and give a short explanation as to why there is a host cancellation.  Otherwise it will be the kiss of death for you as guests will be hesitant to book with a host that cancels.

On another note, Air BNB is not the only way for you to rent your home since it is an entire house.  There are other platforms and you can also use a word of mouth marketing.  Of course given the PARTY side of Mardi Gras, you want to ensure that the guests will be respectful of your home.  Good luck!! 

[Ned-And-Laura0]

Ah!  ok, so now we get to the heart of it.  It was fine of you to ask I guess, but I'm not suprised the guest refused and really the guest was in the right here.  You listed the home for $125 a night and it's not their fault that you weren't aware of the dates.  They booked the space for the nights at the price you posted and you entered into a binding contract at that point.  Airbnb makes it VERY clear that the dates will be blocked and you can't rebook if you cancel.  Its not just in the terms and conditions, but they tell you this right before you decide to cancel.  This situation is the exact reason they have this rule, to prevent a host from cancelling a booking because they want more money or a better booking.  I understand why you asked the guest but they were well within their rights to refuse and were under no obligation to cancel.   I would just chalk this up to a lesson learned.   

[Lisa723]

@Ned-And-Laura0 @Sharon563 said "I was told I would have to cancel them" ... if Airbnb customer support told you this, they should not have, or should have at least warned you of the consequences. If you have that in writing you could *try* calling back and asking for the penalty to be waived. I doubt you'll have much luck but it could be worth a try.

415-800-5959

[Ned-And-Laura0]

That's true @Lisa723!  I'm pretty suprised that airbnb told her to cancel.  At the very least they should have explained that she could cancel but if she did then she wouldn't be able to rebook those dates.  I don't know what the word for word conversation was so hard to say if airbnb was in the wrong here.  It wouldn't suprise me if the customer service gave bad info though.  @Sharon563 I think the best advice you got is to set up your listing on another platform.  You could block out all dates except the ones blocked by airbnb and then you can still get bookings for those dates.  A bit of extra work but it's a lot of lost income so probably worth it.

[Mark116]

Why are you surprised?  It is airbnbn policy after all that sends the sneaky message asking hosts to agree/accept guest request they cancel...which many, many have done with no idea that this penalizing them.  There are also lots of threads where people from CX has given wrong information.  I am not a bit surprised.  Thankfully I found this forum before anyone ever wanted to cancel and sent that request, because I am sure we would have accepted with no idea we were screwing ourselves.