BEWARE of "Guest requests that you cancel"

BEWARE of "Guest requests that you cancel"

It happened to me. And I'm seeing that there have been many others like me.

 

All hosts~ please be aware~

 

Upon receiving the message "GUEST requests that you cancel" you will be faced with 2 options (1) Cancel (2) Keep reservation.

 

Unless you DO want to be penalized for a host cancellation - DO NOT click on cancel.

 

Click on "keep reservation" because the guest does not need the host's consent or approval or agreement to cancel. This is just another ploy to TRICK hosts into taking the blame.

 

Guest requests that YOU cancel - the second you click CANCEL this will become a HOST CANCELLATION. 

 

This will negatively affect your commitment rate, and Airbnb will do nothing about it. They will say, you (host) agreed to cancel so this is a host cancellation - and you only have yourself to blame for agreeing to cancel. 

 

 

182 Replies 182
Mahrita0
Level 4
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

yet again airbnb let host down just been speaking to them it took me two days to talk someone as i got punished for 5 days for having dirty carpetsdont have carpets noise the festival is on in edinburgh the tatto red arrows fireworks its party time in edinburgh dog barking they know i have a dog the fireworks were frightning her cant get door open because they to drunk ect ect so it will be your fault for not having the room ready for guest coming i have just complained as its festival time hotel rooms go at 280 pound a night i was 80 pound they rented out my room on smart pricing for 39 pound you cant get a hostel for that so i told her its about time they realise the amount of work we put in to make our guest comfortable and aitbnb host that book thru airbnb know how to complain so they get a free holiday i can give you the number that i eventuall got or you can go to help and put in contacy airbnb and they phn you on request the number is 02033181111 hope this helps because there web site is getting more and more difficult to understand and after cleaning washing ironing waiting guest then its 2 in the morning when i do paper work and it takes ages to understand i told her to stop all the changes as we dont have time to play about with there web site fell on deaf ears

Try contacting "Airbnb Help" via Twitter. It's the only place I've ever found satisfaction!

Jiw0
Level 10
Chiang Mai, Thailand

Wow this is .. remarkable ..

 

It seems a huge process mess-up. Someone did not realize that the following two scenarios are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Yet they incur the same penalties: 

 

1.  A HOST who's not a very reliable person cancels on a guest because the host decides he wants to do something else, causing a big problem for the guest with a confirmed booking.   This inconveniencing of a guest SHOULD RIGHTLY attract a penalty.  Bad host! No argument.

 

2. A GUEST requests that a host cancels because the GUEST changed his mind and for some reason doesn't wasnt to play by the cancellation policy.     How could this EVER be considered the same use-case / process as a crappy host cancelling?   The GUEST is NOT inconvenienced in any way, he's the one wanting to cancel!!

 

Where do I submit my resume to AirBnB?   I'm a business process consultant / BSA and I think yawl need help! 

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

Perhaps the reason lies with the fact that cancellations are handled by a bimodal computer program, that is incapable of considering intent.

Steven507
Level 2
Rochester, MN

What if the guests book a seven day booking and three days in, messages you and says they're going to check in the morning, do they automatically get a refund for the 4 days they're not there for. I'm new to this and not sure. 

@Steven507  Change your cancellation policy to at least moderate to avoid issues like this. In your case because of the flexible cancellation policy depending on what time they canceled they will be refunded 3 to 4 days. 

Hi, why would be fare to host to not give a refund when the residence has already been rented to someone else, and they did not loose anything?

 

why the guest have to loose the money paid (on Strick)  cancelled 30 days before check in?

 

Hi,
I would like to express my frustration about the cancelling of my reservation almost a 30days previous to my check in date and being denied by the host my pay,ent back even dough the apartment is already booked to somebody else.
In this case I am the only one loosing money, in the other hand the host gets paid twice and feel the right to keep money that they do not deserve as my cancelation did cause any lost to him.
How Airbnb can support hosts robbery, it is not fare and this must be changed, hosts have to stop of hiding under the strict they are hosts they are there to make money, which I understand, I just really how would you feel if a thief get to your house and and rob you? And you go to the police and the police officer tells you , well they are thief’s they just want to make money, it is nothing that we can do.

Seriously, that is ridiculous, please let’s change this and make the Airbnb experience pleasant and trustable for both host and guests.

 

@Emerson26 Airbnb has different cancellation policies.  There are some policy with total refund.  There is strict cancellation policy which a guest will lose partial or full amount depending on the days before the trip begins. Therefore, a guest has to be aware of the cancellation policy used by the host in the listing during booking. A guest is advised to plan ahead before booking to avoid cancellation.

 

A strict cancellation is to protect hosts from losing chance of getting booked because once a booking is confirmed, the host's listing will not be appearing on the search for any of the dates of that booking period. Some guests booked one place and later find other cheaper place and cancel the earlier booking and book the cheaper one. This is not fair to the first host. Therefore, strict cancellation policy is for that purpose. 

 

Therefore, it is inappropriate to conclude that a host is a thief or robber after a cancellation is made and portion of the payment is not refundable to the guest as a result of the cancellation.

Hi mike, i really agree with you any host should loose money due to a guest cancellation, my question is : why the money should not be refund if the host already rented the apartament to somebody else?

it is a question of principles and moral

@Emerson26 As a guest, you can contact the host to discuss if a refund could be provided after the dates due to cancelled reservation. If it were me, I would have agreed to refund under this circumstance. To implement a solution on Airbnb's side is possible too. You may send feedback to 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

 

Before a solution is implemented by Airbnb, there is no way for a guest to know if the dates are booked after the cancellation from guests. A guest could see host's calendar. It could be blocked for those dates. But it could be booked and blocked by Airbnb, and it could be intentionally blocked by a host. Not to mention some more complex situation such as parial of the dates which were booked before are booked and blocked.

Hi Mike, thanks for your feedback, unfortunelly I wasn't lucky enough to have a honest host like you.

I have already called Airnb support and they were the ones who informed that the apartment was rented , the agent at airbnb called the host and tried to reason with him, but he didn t budge , I also have sent a feedback form to airbnb management! 

I lost my money and just have to accepted  it.

 

This policy have to be change, kepping money the money when host have rented to somebody else it is not okay. what right does he have, and what he have lost?

 

it was my first time using airbnb, and will be the last, i never encouter any problems staying in hotels and i will kepping using hotels like I always did. 

@Emerson26   I'm sorry you didn't get a more forthcoming host, as many hosts are quite willing to refund if they are able to rebook the same dates. However, what you have to keep in mind is that even for those hosts who are willing to refund, expecting a complete full refund isn't necessarily fair either. Some hosts spend quite a bit of time messaging with booked guests, answering their questions, etc. If a host has spent a half hour on this sort of thing, only to have the guest cancel, would you expect that the host should be doing this for free? So even if I were to refund a guest because I was able to rebook the dates, I would hold at least a little something reasonable back to pay myself for the time I had already spent dealing with the guest.

As a guest, it's very important to read the cancellation policy for a listing and understand it fully before booking. If you don't like the terms, don't book it- look for another place which has a cancellation policy you can stomach. If I book a non-refundable airline ticket, I can't then demand that the airline re-imburse me because I wasn't able to make that flight. I agreed to the terms when I booked. Even if they sell that seat, they're not going to refund me.

You may not be aware also that a host doesn't get paid for a booking until 24 hours after a guest checks in. Until then, the $ is with Airbnb. So until the check-in date rolls around, the host actually doesn't have the guest's money, they would be refunding out of their own pocket.

People have all sorts of moral standards for themselves. Just as there are hosts who would double dip and feel fine about it, there are guests who manufacture something "wrong" with the listing, even after spending several nights at the place, demand a refund, and Airbnb gives it to them. It's too bad that everyone doesn't operate by the Golden Rule, but that's human nature- some people have more of a conscience than others.

Thanks Sarah for your feedback, I agree with you people should be paid for the work they  have done, when you buy a non refundable flight ticket there i you know is not refundable and that is it. 

But when you rent from airbnb, on the host page just says :

Cancellations
Strict - Free cancellation for 48 hours
After that, cancel up to 7 days before check-in and get a 50% refund, minus the service fee.

 

Where it does say that the host is entitle to keep all the money that i have paid?

@Emerson26  You are quite correct, that is the policy for strict cancellations. You should be getting 50% back, minus the Airbnb fees, which they don't refund (nothing to do with the host). But was this a long-term reservation? In that case, the first month is 100% non-refundable. All this info is available to read on the Airbnb site. If they don't make this info readily viewable to guests it is Airbnb's oversight and you should ream them out for this.

But if it wasn't long-term and you haven't been refunded the 50%, there is something amiss.

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies