Frugal guests

[Vanessa3]

I have a group of 9 guests who booked my 5 bedroom 3.5 bathroom home over the holiday weekend in February and are now saying that they didn't realize the booking was so "expensive" (less than a $900 booking for 3 nights over a holiday weekend for NINE guests). They are new to airbnb and thought they were going to get my weekday rate through the holiday weekend.

They want to cancel but are concerned they won't get their airbnb booking fee back, which they won't. Obviously I don't want these guests in my home at this point because they will most likely give me a poor review and less than 5 stars on the value rating. 

If I cancel the reservation on my end will I lose my eligibility for superhost status since the booking is over 2 months away?

[Hugh0]

Hi Vanessa.

Never cancel. Never ever cancel. Never ever ever cancel.  You will drop in the searches, the cancellation will sit like a stain on your reviews and guests will lose confidence in booking with you. One exception is for instant bookings. If it was an instant booking, you are given the right to cancel a small number per year without penalty.

I have hosted approximately 700 trips. Occasionally I get someone who I just don't want - they give me a bad vibe after booking. I encourage them to cancel and waive my strict cancellation policy. If they don't cancel, I just live with it and the inevitable bad review that follows. The superhost rating and an occasional bad review means nothing to guests. Just respond with something like " in a way I am happy that Airbnb published this review because it shows that all my other great reviews are geniune".

If you remain an Airbnb host, you have to accept the fact that you can never make everyone happy. You also have to accept the fact that the Airbnb statistics break/freeze after a certain number of trips and you will never recover "Superhost" status despite hundreds and hundreds of glowing reviews.

[Fiona-and-Keith-and-Fami0]

@Hugh0 Hi Hugh, please splain me the Airbnb stats breaking/freezing. Thx! (joking around with the language)

[Hugh0]

Hi Fiona

I have been hosting since 2011, long before the double blind reviews (a great idea) started. Like other long term hosts, my stats bear the scars of punative/revenge reviews left in response negative comments left for guests such as "they left an iron burn on the carpet".  Why Airbnb still penalizes long-term hosts in this way I don't understand.

In addition to the pre-double blind review penalty, Airbnb stats freeze at a point. For example, last year my trip meter started going backwards. Lots of calls and emails - no action taken. My response rate has been frozen for two years. Again lots of calls and emails - no action taken. The five star review counter for my five properties does not reflect the sum of the individual five star review counts as shown on the dashboard. Again lots of calls and emails - no action taken. 

As I understand it, Airbnb acknowledges that there is an issue here, but will give no undertaking to fix it. All promises to attend to it have faded away with no action taken.

[Raymond-and-Elaine0]

@Vanessa3 

A cancellation fee. If you cancel any reservation within 7 days of check-in, you'll be charged a $100 fee. Additionally, if you cancel more than one reservation within a six-month period, you'll be charged $50 per cancellation.

We'll automatically deduct any applicable cancellation fees from your next payout.

Automated review. An automated review will be posted to your listing's profile indicating that you canceled one of your reservations. We encourage you to publicly respond to clarify why you needed to cancel.

Unavailable/Blocked calendar. Your calendar will stay blocked and you won't be able to accept another reservation for the same dates of the canceled reservation.

Loss of eligibility for Superhost status. You won't be eligible to earn Superhost status for one year after your most recent cancellation.

  Penalties for cancelling

[Vanessa3]

So it sounds like it will be in my best interest to have the guest cancel on the reservation on their end?

[Vanessa3]

Thank you. I believe they will cancel of their own accord but I wanted to double check here.

[Vanessa3]

So these frugal guests ended up not canceling their reservation and checked out yesterday. I now have the email in my inbox asking me to write a guest review. While the actual stay didn't end up being high maintenance (other than a request to borrow a macbook laptop charger from my emergency contact, (as I was out of state) who lived across town because they forgot their's), I'm not quite sure how to articulate the review. Any input would be great. 

What do you write for guests who become extremely difficult and unpleasant to communicate with after booking, but before check in?