Guest Cancellations

[Ian20]

If hosts cancel they receive an automatic review:

'The host cancelled this reservation'.

Guests should also receive such a review, so that habitual cancellers can be identified, and perhaps blocked from instant booking.

[Venci0]

Hi,

I am not sure this is the right place for my question:

My guests cancel the last day of their reservation one day before the last day of their accomodation.

The reservation is from 2 to 11 of November. Today (9 of November) they canceled the last day (11 of November) and now they have to check-out on 10 of November.

Have I to do anything or no?

And the question imortant for me:

I am superhost. Is this guest's cancelation will affects то my status of superhost.

[Niélen0]

Your superhost status isn't affected if the guest is the one who made the cancellation. If you cancel on your guest then it does affect your status. 

[Robin4]

@Venci0

No Venci, if a guest (or host) shortens a stay there will be no penalty to you as far as your superhost status is concerned, the reservation was honoured, it did take place, the duration was the only thing that altered.

If the guest requested a change to the reservation, you would have received a 'Change Reservation' notice and if you accepted the guests change then you need do nothing further, that is all that is required.

You do not automatically have to accept reservation changes Venci. If you do, the alterations takes place, and shows on the booking and on your calendar page. if you do not agree to the change or you don't respond, the reservation stays the same!

This help article may give you a bit more information.

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1363/can-i-change-my-reservation-during-the-trip

Cheers......Rob

[Robin4]

@Ian20

Yes it does seem as though they get away scott free doesn't it.

But Ian, if (or when) that posting appears on your review page, you will be offered the right to a public response just as you would after the guest leaves a review, and you can use this response to state why the reservation had to be cancelled.

Not a lot of hosts use this opportunity, and that is a pity because in many cases prospective guests would still book if a good explanation can be given as to why a cancellation took place.

But I agree with you, if a guest cancels on a host there should be some public record of it!

Cheers......Rob

[Ange2]

@Ian20    I agree. I even made a host voice suggestion (when host voice existed) and got an email back saying it was definitely under consideration, that was months, if not more than a year ago. Since then nada. Instead it appears that Airbnb has introduced some pitfalls for guests who are serial offenders, not sure how or if they work.

A work around is to have a strict cancellation policy, it helps to weed out serial offenders,  they only have 48 hours to cancel and only if the arrival date is more than 14 days away.  BUT for some hosts even that small margin of free cancellation is detrimental to their listing.  Another benefit is you are in charge, after 48hours, and can decide whether to refund them, or not,  if they cancel.  BUT some guests have worked out how to use extenuating circumstances to their advantage even when it just means "I changed my mind" or Airbnb overrides the policy and refunds them without your say so – that has not happened to me, but other hosts have mentioned it as a problem.

[Sandra126]

I disagree. No further punishment for guests who cancel.

The MAIN complaint on the forum seems to be ''not enough bookings''.

We can't have it both ways - harder conditions for guests if we are trying to attract more. We need more happy guests, and this means hosts will punished, not guests, to make more potential guests become regular users of the site.

[Ian20]

You say no 'further' punishment? What initial 'punishment' do they receive?

Perhaps you are referring to hosts having a strict or moderate cancellation policy and receiving some small compensation? It's only fair if a host's property has been booked and blocked for months and then cancelled last minute that the host should in some way be recompensed.

It's not really harder conditions to simply say a guest cancelled a booking. I don't really see that such an automatic 'review' would put potential guests off booking or becoming regular users of the site.

[Kristy43]

I agree with you @Ian20.  There is absolutely no way of knowing the history of guests in terms of both cancellations and disputes/claims for refunds.  While we as hosts are very much accountable for these things and any cancellations become public record on our listing, guests have free reign to do as they like without future hosts having any idea of history (especially if previous hosts choose not to write a reveiw for them, so it doesnt prompt a negative one in return for their listing).  More accountabilty would be great.... someone suggested on here not so long ago, the idea of superhost category for guests... what a great idea that would be!!

[Ian20]

@Kristy0thanks, very well said!

[Ian20]

Just had another cancellation for one of my listings, this time for the Christmas week. Guest says they want to renovate their new house so are cancelling. So on a whim they can cancel penalty free. They must've know weeks ago their house needed renovating.

If I suddenly decide on a whim to revovate my listing and cancel their Christmas booking, I am fined, receive a negative review and lose my Superhost status!

I operate a 'moderate' cancellation policy on all three lisitings because I think that's fair for guests, but so fed up with guests (especially Instant Bookers) cancelling last minute (especially for Chrsitmas!) and their profile/review record not being effected in any way.

As said at the top of this conversation, seems very unfair that hosts are penalised for cancelling with an automatic review: 'The host cancelled this reservation', yet guests receive no mention that they cancelled on their profiles/reviews.

After chatting with other hosts have realised that there are repeat offenders out there and this should be brought to hosts' attention so they can protect themselves. Perhaps guests who cancel more than 3 times should be made to pay nonrefndable deposits or excluded from instant book...? 

[Cheryl330]

Hi, I'm relatively new to Airbnb, I have a group of ten that were arriving Xmas day and today inform me she wants to cancel - she's saying it's due to fears about weather conditions travelling, but the MET office long term forecast out today,

is fair.

   If she doesn't actually cancel I am fast running out of time for a new booking at my best shot at income this winter :O(

  Is there anything I should be doing?

[Ange2]

@Cheryl330    You have Flexible cancellation policy which means "the guest can cancel up to 24 hours before check-in and get a full refund, minus the service fee.".  You can either tell the guest they need to cancel their end,  or call Airbnb, send them the note you received from the guest re: cancelling and ask it to contact the guest and tell them to cancel.

DO NOT cancel it yourself you will be penalized up to six different ways, including having the dates blocked so you will not be able to rent them out.

NOTE:  If you receive an email from Airbnb asking if you want to cancel click NO, if you click yes (even though it is at the guest's request) Airbnb interprets it as you cancelling the reservation and you will be penalized. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990/i-m-a-host--what-penalties-apply-if-i-need-to-cancel-a-reser...

[Ange2]

@Ian20   

Re:  "I operate a 'moderate' cancellation policy on all three lisitings because I think that's fair for guests"

I have a strict policy but I operate it with flexibility and fairness, meaning I do refund within reason: I also refund late cancellations, those that are within days of a reservation, if I manage to rebook the dates. The reason I have  strict  is that it gives me more control and people are less likely to be irresponsible and book/cancel on a whim, or so it appears. I have had few to no cancellations.  Guests already have a built-in advantage of being able to claim extenuating circumstances (why do so few people buy travel insurance?),  from posts I have read it appears to cover anything and everything depending on who answers the phone at Airbnb.

All that is to say is that you can be fair to guests when operating a strict policy,  but at the same time you can also protect yourself from irresponsible guests.

[Jen235]

I am very new to hosting and have just learned a lesson the hard way!

We had a guest wanting to cancel his reservation at the last minute due to a valid reason. We didn’t have a problem with that and sympathized with his situation. (1st mistake)

We were then asked to cancel the booking on HIS behalf our end but were reluctant to do so as penalties and negative reviews would follow. Airbnb then sent us a message that our guest wanted to cancel his reservation, part of that message also stated that if we did not action the cancellation Airbnb would, and we would incur penalties.

My husband was trying to find a way to cancel the reservation without us incurring any penalty and inadvertently clicked on the wrong button which cancelled the booking! (2nd mistake)

We now find we have been penalized $100, had a negative review and the days of the reservation have been blocked. Have tried in vain to seek help and resolve this matter through the Airbnb "Help Centre!" and are yet to receive a reply.

To say we are unhappy would be an understatement. We have worked so hard in invested a lot of time and money into this venture and find the lack of support offered by Airbnb very unhelpful in comparison to other booking sites.