Guest cancelled and wants to rebook.

Amber603
Level 1
Kemah, TX

Guest cancelled and wants to rebook.

Hoping for some advice on I situation I am dealing with.
I had a guest cancel their reservation stating that due to changes with their trip the home no longer worked for them. Based on my cancellation policy he was only refunded 50%. The guest then messaged me directly and asked for a full refund. I replied and told him that if the home booked for the dates of his canceled reservation I would refund him minus any loss I might incur if I needed to reduce the rate in an effort to get the house booked. I never got a response to this message.

We are two weeks out from the date of his original reservation and in an effort to get the home booked I lowered the rate. The same day I lowered the rate I got a message from the guest saying he wanted to rebook and apply the money he didn’t get back to his new stay. 
I responded to him and told him he would need to send a booking request and then contact Airbnb for his refund as I have not received those funds. 
He responded by telling me that I needed to take care of calling Airbnb for him since I am the host. 
All of this has kind of rubbed me the wrong way. My concern is that he is angry that I did not give him the requested refund and could possibly be a problematic guest and or leave me a negative review. I also find it a bit “unfair” that I was forced to lower my rate because of his cancellation and now he will benefit from the lower rate.

Should I allow him to rebook? If I decide to not move forward with a new booking with him how should I go about telling him this?

Thanks so much for any advice! 

13 Replies 13
Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

@Amber603  There's no way I would accept this guest. He's entitled, demanding and disrespectful. He's telling you that you need to call Airbnb? Do you think he'll suddenly turn into some sweet, hassle-free guest? 

Exactly.  The minute I sense entitlement, that becomes a huge redflag for me and I had to walk away from a huge payout when I started to sense some entitlement with guest.  Best to save them and I and Airbnb some discomfort by never getting into that.  Sure enough guest came back to say they found a better, place.... I was polite and did not let the passive aggressive attempts at sucking me in, win.  I agreed that it was great to find a better fit and was happy if they in fact did.  Keep your cool, keep your composure but recognize the flags and listen to your gut instincts.  The money is great, but the headache when dealing with entitled guests especially those staying a week plus is not compelling enough for me to shoo away the red flags.  

John5097
Level 10
Charleston, SC

@Amber603 I agree no way I would want to host this guest. I would repeat your first offer to refund if it rebooks, and tell him that he canceled the reservation. The only other option would be to honor the original cancelation agreement, and there is no reason for him to contact you again. Also in recent post host don't have to issue refund even if they said they would. Sometimes host act out of goodwill and don't realize some other circumstances. If you decide to refund let him know it will be after you get paid from the reservation, and that you won't be able to keep going in circles with him. 

Sandra126
Level 10
Daylesford, Australia

In future, tell guest you will only to any remaining refunds after their stay dates have passed. Only way to actually know how much it will be.

Colleen253
Level 10
Alberta, Canada

@Amber603 Nope, don’t accept again. Block the first night of their abandoned dates and then they can’t try to rebook. 

@Amber603  Before I go into "here's where you went wrong" mode, this is the good news: that informal offer you made to throw money back at the guest if you rebooked is not binding, so you are free to block further contact with this person and keep the payout that is rightfully yours.

 

And now, the 5 words you don't want to hear: here's where you went wrong. The guest had already cancelled, so there was no reason under the sun for you to offer him a cut of your earnings for whatever booking you could scrape together in his wake. That whole maneuver of offering a refund if dates are rebooked is just a tool to persuade people to process a cancellation and get your calendar open. It's not something you're expected to do when the cancellation is already done.

 

Absolutely don't let this person book again; you're guaranteed nothing but trouble. As long as he canceled before his original arrival date, he can't review you, so that's not going to be an issue as long as you decline, block, and forget about him. 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Amber603 

 

No way would I host this guest. So many red flags.

 

I would do as @Anonymous suggests and block him so that he cannot book with you again.

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

@Amber603  no

M199
Level 10
South Bruce Peninsula, Canada

@Amber603 

 

NO!  Red flag, recipe for disaster!

Laura2592
Level 10
Frederick, MD

@Amber603 no guest is entitled to stay at your place if you don't want them to.

 

No guest is entitled to a full refund when your policies say otherwise. 

 

Given the above, I would say this to the guest:

 

"Guest-

 

Unfortunately I can't honor your request to stay. Neither can hosts get information about guest refunds through Airbnb. If your refund has not yet been issued, I would suggest calling (number) to help speed the process. 

 

I can't offer you what you are looking for and will not be honoring any future requests to stay. I wish you the best in finding a place that fits your needs and budget. Thank you."

 

Then DO NOT RESPOND to any future communication. Call ABB and ask them to block this guest if you can't. Report them through the platform if they get nasty. 

Clara116
Level 10
Pensacola, FL

@Amber603 Please listen to @Anonymous  and @Sarah977 

Stop all communication with this arrogant, entitled guest. We have all sent out as many Red Flags  of NO don't do it......when a guest tells me I have to call Airbnb I would block them immediately and never deal with them again.  Let airbnb do their job with all bookings and dealing with this jerk....and you might wanna heed Andrews advice about not offering refunds.....just sayin....we are all in this together.  

Catherine1193
Level 2
Blairsville, GA

Such great advice here! This week I had somebody request a  booking, I accepted, I sent the rental agreement the guest didn’t fill it out, he just said OK to it. After a day or so I received a notice that his booking was withdrawn. Airbnb canceled his booking for nonpayment (thank goodness).  He sent me an angry message when he got the cancellation but on my end it said it was withdrawn. He was argumentative. I tried to block him but wasn’t able to. He just sent me another booking request, so I had to block my dates. And it’s peak!!  

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Catherine1193 

 

To block a guest, you need to click on the little flag by one of their messages and select 'they're being offensive'. I know it sounds harsh if the guest has not been 'offensive', but that is the only option that Airbnb gives you right now for blocking a guest.