Cancellation due to house heating issue

[Stefanie1]

Hi there, 

Would love some help on a current cancellation situation. My heating system broke on Monday evening and I immediately let the guest know. She was very understanding and even said she would cancel on her end so that I wouldn't get the penalties. Unfortunately, she said she couldn't cancel without paying the airbnb service fees so I said I would of course just do it on my end. 

I was wondering if AirBnB makes any exceptions for extenuating circumstances such as this. I'm going to have to replace my house's entire heating system and simply couldn't let guests stay in the house during such cold weather in Philadelphia. 

I think the only "real" penalty is that there will be an automatic negative review on my page and I was wondering if AirBnB might be able to remove that because of the circumstances. 

Thanks so much for the feedback!

-Stef

[Dave-and-Deb0]

@Stefanie1 DO NOT CANCEL ON YOUR END!

This is what I would do.

If the guest is willing to cancel on their end, tell them you will reimburse them the Airbnb fee and then I would transfer them money electronically or through Paypal.  

I would also contact Airbnb via phone and they can often try to relocate the guest for you.  I am sure they would understand your situation.  They MAY even be able to cancel the booking and refunding the entire amount if they can verify with the guest is alright with this.

The reason you do not want to cancel is that more than just getting an "automatic negative review".  Your listing gets blocked for the days the guest had booked (which won't be a big deal due to your situation) but you also get charged a $100 fee and it can impact your ranking in searches.

Here is a list of penalties when a host cancels

I hope this helps @Stefanie1.

[Stefanie1]

@Dave-and-Deb0 wow I wish I read this before impulsively cancelling. I made a terrible mistake and I don't think I can go back now :/. I just felt bad for the guest and didn't even consider something like PayPal. 

AirBnB isn't charging me the $100 penalty at least because it was the first time I've ever done this. I will see with them if maybe they can understand the extenuating circumstances and remove the other penalties. 

Thanks so much for your feedback. Lesson learned to always ask first then WAIT. 🙂 Thanks! 

[Raymond-and-Elaine0]

 @Stefanie1   I hope that the lesson you learned was not " to always ask first then WAIT" but to read through this forum to see that this is a very common error made by new hosts and that it could have been avoided by reading FAQ.Airbnb guidelines, blogs and anything else to help you prepare yourself. Read here for useful advice

[Deborah0]

@Stefanie1

It's not too late to call Airbnb customer service, explain the situation, and have them remove your penalties for cancelling. This kind of thing has happened before and AIrbnb can help correct it.  Too many hosts cancel a reservation for a guest when they should never do that -- in many situations where there is a problem with the listing, hosts don't think to call Airbnb for help and have Airbnb cancel the guest reservation, which they can do.  

In addition, you don't want to refund a guest via Paypal, or any offsite method, unless you are trying to refund them more than you are eligible to refund via Airbnb.  ALways try to refund through Airbnb first as that will keep all refunds on record.  Go here to do that:

www.airbnb.com/resolutions

[Stefanie1]

@Deborah0 @Clare0 Thank you both so much for your help! I spoke to AirBnB and they said that as long as I provide them with an invoice of the maintenance work then they will lift the penalties. Really appreciate your advice. 🙂

[Clare0]

Hi @Stefanie1, @Deborah0 I had a similar experience.  I had a gas leak! And my guest was arriving that day  from Taiwan...couldn't reach him by phone.  Airbnb was great. Stepped in and found alternate accommodations for him.  I had to provide documentation of the gas leak and it's repair to satisfy Airbnb that it was a.) an extenuating circumstance and b.) that my place was safe for future guests.