Guest leaves after 2 nights out of 7 booked. Do I change dates of reservation?

[Gawain0]

I've just had a guest book for 7 nights and leave after 2. Seemed to be happy with the accommodation but found student accommodation quickly much nearer the university than I am. He has not cancelled his reservation so it is still booked for the 7 days.

Do I change the dates of the reservation to open up bookings for the remaining days? What happens if I do this? Do I have to repay some of the payout?

Can I reopen bookings without changing the existing reservation?

I have had enquiries for some of the days so could take bookings.

I'm new to this so all advice gratefully received.

[Helen3]

You can't change the dates @Gawain0 

You can ask your guest to cancel his booking and if you re-book any of the dates, you can offer him a refund for those dates. (Although you don't have to, unless you have a flexible policy, I think morally that would be the right thing to do).

If you have already been paid, why would you want to accept new bookings. Enjoy the time off.

[Ben551]

Hi @Gawain0  - welcome to the community forums!

I haven’t ever done what you are asking, but in theory it is possible to click “Change reservation” for a current guest and amend their booking dates. I’ve never tried it though. However, if it worked, you would have to return the money from the payout to Airbnb, as they will refund the guest. I know you can do it the other way (a guest can change dates to extend their booking).

Based on what you have said,  it sounds like you are confident you could get another guest for those days. Plus, looking at your listing status, I think you ought to prioritise getting good reviews. That means getting a good review from your current guest, which is more likely if you refund the days they didn’t spend with you.

If your current guest hasn’t requested a cancellation, you aren’t obliged to do anything.

It just really depends how confident you are about selling those extra days. Question of whether you can get back the lost income from amending the reservation vs. getting a good review from the current guest.

[Helen3]

I wouldn't agree with this approach suggested by @Ben0 as you could end up losing money, if you can't rebook, just because a guest changed their mind. Why would you risk this when you don't have to. There is never any certainty about getting a new booking, so no host can be confident about rebooking the days that were amended.

As I said earlier the failsafe way to do this is;

a) Leave the booking as is and enjoy the break

b) Suggest to the guest if they cancel and you can rebook you can refund the host fee for any days rebooked.

[Elena87]

@Gawain0 

You could quickly set up a second mini-me listing that is a duplicate.

Open it up only for the dates that were abandoned by the guest.

Set the duplicate to snooze after the seven days pass - if you really wish to fill the days.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Gawain0 

YOU should not have to do anything. The guest is the one who should be sending an change request for the remaining days and then per your selected cancellation policy any refund the guest gets will be refunded to guest automatically by ABB (you do not need to issue any sort of refund). 

IF you have a flexible cancellation policy you may want to message the guest just to let them know, simply "telling" the host they want to change the checkout date/cancel remaining days is not enough and that they need to be the one to initiate a change request thru ABB to make it official if they want a refund. For moderate and strict the guest would not get any refund for nights not stayed anyway so IMO no need to bother 🙂 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1363/can-i-change-my-reservation-during-the-trip?audience=guest

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

Hope this helps~

[Zacharias0]

You will want to confirm with the previous guest that they will not be getting a refund for the remaining days that are unused. Some guests may assume they will automatically get a refund. Its up to you to confirm with the guest that that is not the case. Better now than later that you send the message.

[Ute42]

.

@Gawain0 

Just do - nothing.

[Paul154]

@Gawain0 

It would be a nice service if you remind the guest to cancel their reservation. Advise them that you are unable to cancel for them. Many guests believe that you can or will cancel the reservation on their part.

However, you don't have to do anything.

[Gawain0]

Thanks everyone. The guest cancelled his reservation 2days after leaving so the remaining days opened up automatically. Luckily I got another booking for those days within 10 minutes!