Guest cancellations

[Christopher42]

Hi there,

I have a guest who wants to book my place for 3 nights in July but would like assurance that she can cancel up to 5 days before the booking as she has problems at home and there may be a reason she won't be able to attend the booking. I appreciate the honesty but as this is peak season i would expect more enquiries on these dates so i don't want to confirm the booking to be let down 5 days before when i could potentially rent my appartment to another guest. Is the length of time for the cancellation policy at the desgression of the host or does Airbnb have a policy in place? I can't seem to find any details. Any help? Thanks

[Allison2]

Hi Christopher,

It's totally based on your cancellation policy. It looks like you're using the "Flexible" policy right now, which means people can cancel on you up to the day before their arrival!  Moderate would allow full refund so long as they did so by 5 days before arrival.

You can read more about how the different cancellation policies work here:

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#moderate

You can change what cancellation policy your listing uses - under the "Cancellation" section 🙂

I've changed mine to Strict and haven't had a drop in reservations. It may be different in your area depending on competition.

[Clare0]

@Christopher42 You can tell your guest that she can cancel at any time, but she will not be refunded the Airbnb fees.  Also, she will be refunded according to your cancellation policy which you might explain to her.  

It's up to you to decide whether or not you want to accept this reservation since the guest may have reasons to cancel.  You can decline the reservation request and tell her that she is welcome to reserve again if  the dates are still available and when she has a higher confidence level that she will be able to complete her stay.  In a nice way I would explain that the dates she is asking for are peak season for you and you have to keep your calendar open to other reservation requests.  I'm sure she would understand.