Dear hosts,
We just had a 3-nights guest who had stayed 2 nights but submitted an alteration request for leaving early with refund. She said she had a family emergency and had to go home early then requested last night reimbursement.
I first expressed my sympathy and let her contact with Airbnb. The guest did not contact Airbnb, instead she submitted an alteration request to change her stays from 3 nights to 2 nights. She asked for my approval by saying this was instructed by Airbnb website.
I was worried she would left a bad review if I didn't accept the request. And also I did not believe this alterative request would be allowed by Airbnb during her stays. However, it did work! And the guest got full night refunds from Airbnb including tax and service fee refund.
This was so incredible! It was total conflicted with our moderate cancellation policy. It seems like a loophole or bug existing on Airbnb! For guest who'd like to leave early whatever for what reason, Airbnb should not allow guest use Alteration feature to play games to both hosts and Airbnb.
Guests who want to leave early should use cancellation feature. At least, the host can get back 50% for unspent nights. See policy below.
Moderate
- Guests can cancel until 5 days before check-in for a full refund, and you won’t be paid
- If they cancel after that, you’ll be paid for each night they stay, plus 1 additional night, plus 50% for all unspent nights
Just wonder if other hosts have similar cases like this. How do you deal with it? For me, it is a lesson to learn. Thanks in advance for your inputs.