Cancellation policy

Nicco2
Level 1
Florence, Italy

Cancellation policy


Good morning fellow hosts!

This is Roberto from Florence, Italy. I’ve been hosting with my son Nicco for quite several years now, but there’s always a time when you need help from your friends…
I just received a booking for a villa we rent out as a whole (7 bedrooms) for peak season (June 2019). Original request was for a week, but when booked instantly the sojourn increased to 11 days. It would be great if cancellation policy was Strict, but being Moderate, I fear that they might cancel at the last minute to sabotage our calendar.
I’ve asked AirBnB if I could ASK the guest to agree on a change of policy, like we do for dates or price, but apparently that cannot be done!
Has anybody dealt with that problem? Any advise? Thanks in advance and best regards, Roberto

PS: Guest is ****

She has no reviews. Has anybody hosted her?

 

*[Personal information hidden for privacy reasons – in line withe Community Center Guidelines]

4 Replies 4
Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

Hi caro @Roberto0

 

In future to prevent such headaches I would  change my cancellation policy to STRICT cancellation policy beforehand so the guest knows precisely what they have booked for in terms of cancellation.

 

Personally as a fellow host and as a fellow guest I think it is a bit “sfacciato” to ask any guest to now accept a strict cancellation policy AFTER they made their booking with you as they did not use the instant book facility probably because they wanted a moderate cancellation as their plans are still being finalised.

 

Non si può avere i piedi in due paia di scarpe! 

 

 

Hi Victoria,

Thanks for your answer.

I obviously agree on using the different cancellation policy settings to prevent future headaches.

Allow me to disagree on the "sfacciato" aspect, though. Certain details, such as the absolutely minimal communication with the guest, plus the extension of dates, plus the absence of reviews despite her being registered some time ago, lead me to think that the booking is dubious, if not outright fishy. Or not finalised, as you politely put it...

Never wanted to avere i piedi in due paia di scarpe. The moderate cancellation policy was indeed a mistake, coming from the standard setting we use for the other small apartments we have in town, which have a much more frequent turnover.

Have a great day

R

Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

Hi@Nicco

Its really not on , you publishing the details of full name of this guest, and her location, as it is against,

la legge privacy che esiste in Italia, such as breaching a basic right to having privacy.

I don’t think this guest would be too happy knowing you’ve plastered her details over this thread for starters!

 

Regarding wishing to keep your options open, really the advice that fellow host @Branka0 has given you is quite correct, you have 2 choices as she has described.

 

Also I still think it’s quite cheeky of you, to ask a guest to accept your request, to jump from a moderate cancellation to a strict cancellation policy, at this stage of the booking.

 

Its really another version of changing the goal posts AFTER a booking has taken place and it’s really disappointing that as a host you think there is nothing wrong with suggesting such a thing.

 

Put it this way, how would you feel if this guest now asked you to reduce the price of your listing?......Yes I thought as much!

 

Just have a strict cancellation policy for all bookings at least you have a better chance of  the guest turning up as they have more to lose.

 

 

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

well @Nicco2 you have just 2 choices : to cancel this reservation and face all penalties or just wait and see.

In the future you may open your calendar just 3 months in advance and set strict cancellation policy.

 

Fortunatelly, cancelations on Airbnb are not so common like on Booking . com where we had half of them cancelled and this was the main reason we delisted from Booking . com.

I think on B.c guest can book multiple units for the same period which is not the case on Airbnb (correct me if I am wrong)

 

We have flexible cancelation policy because we don't want unhappy guests. Whoever wants to cancel is free to do so.