Change Fees??

[Jesse-Burton0]

I just had a guest the day before check-in send a request to shorten their reservation by one day to check in a day later. (She said they changed their flights but didn't say why.) I have a moderate cancellation policy set up, so I expected the first night to be charged anyway since it was less than 5 days notice, but it was not. I likely would have accepted the change in any case because I don't want to have unhappy people staying in my apartment with me, but I would also like an option to charge a change fee in the future for this sort of scenerio. Is there any way to do that? 

Also if I would have rejected the change request, what would have happened then when they didn't check in the first night? I am fairly new to hosting, (have only had a few guests so far) and couldn't really find this same scenerio anywhere in the forums. 

Thanks so much for any guidance. 

[Teresa1295]

I would love to know why this happens. I had a similar situation as a guest. Just needed to shift my dates by one day. Luckily my kind host had a flexible cancellation policy so I just cancelled and rebooked to get the same rate. It is ridiculous that Airbnb would try to charge a fee to just shift the date slightly - especially if both host and guest are happy with the change.