Guest wants to change booking from 4 weeks to 1 week - Dont want to penalise

Simon364
Level 4
Colchester, United Kingdom

Guest wants to change booking from 4 weeks to 1 week - Dont want to penalise

Hi I wonder if someone could help

 

I have a guest who had booked for 4 weeks from beginning of July

He has now changed his request to only 1 week from the beginning of July

 

I don't want to penalise the guest for this and make them pay full amount but I would have lost potential bookings for this period (as it blocked off the calendar) , especially as it is one of our most busy periods. I mentioned to them that this is an issue for me but I don't think they really care about my problem!

 

Any ideas on what to do here?

 

Regards

 

 

 

20 Replies 20

@Simon364 the possilbe downside to this arrangement is that he comes for his higher priced one week and gives you a poor review for having to pay for changing his mind.

 

the upside is that you recoup some $$ for those lost days.

 

alternatively he decides that he won't come at all and is out 50% of the whole 4 weeks or he comes for the whole 4 weeks and you're back to the possibly bad review....

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Simon364 

If the booking was for 4 weeks, it assume it was for 28 nights ?

Then it is a long term stay with "long term stay policy" attached.

Maybe also a monthly discount was applied ?

It also has then a significant lower Airbnb Guest service fee then a short stay.

Shortening (or extending) such a reservation allways is miscalculated due to bugs in the "change" software. If you want to change it, create the change yourself and put in manually the right price.

Please note guest would not have any refund due to the "long term stay cancelation policy", so shortening it to 1 week is big favor you are providing and should include some compensation in the price for you loosing money.

Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

@Simon364 

I would determine (guess) how much money I would lose. 

I'd then ask guest to pay something less than this. (Maybe $100 termination fee) .

If guest pays this and cancels timely, I would allow him to shorten his reservation.

 

Both parties would be free and clear without risk of Airbnb airbitration.

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Simon364 

I would accept his alteration to shorten the reservation to 1 week and rely on my good karma to rebook. Of course, it is late and I know I would probably lose some income but I don't want unhappy guests under my roof. They can do a lot of harm. For example, they can stay 7 nights and then invent some problem ( bugs, dirt, noise, whatever...) and ask Airbnb to cancel. Or they can write a revenge review etc...

This is why we have flexible cancelation policy, if they want to cancel they are free to do it anytime.

 

I would advise you to set min stay to 1 week or 2 weeks during the full season so if someone cancels you don't lose a lot of money.

Simon364
Level 4
Colchester, United Kingdom

Thanks for some interesting comments! I have cancelled the alteration for now and also have said that it has been a problem for me because I have lost potential bookings for those weeks.

 

Actally it is one of those situations were it is best that the guest and host come to an arrangement. If the guest feels disgruntled and overcharged yet still stays then, as Branka and Kelly mention, then it might not be a comfortable stay and can still give a bad review

 

And also reading their messages they seem to be the helpful type -they are coming from China - but I think they don't understand the system exactly. I don't want them to lose out greatly but I also dont want to have lost because of lost bookings . For now I am explaining to them AirBnb cancellation fee, and for example, if I cancelled their booking myself , then i would be penalisedl. I will offer that they can pay maybe 14 days . Does that seem fair?

Simon364
Level 4
Colchester, United Kingdom

thanks for all of your comments.

 

Now the guest has requested his original 4 weeks dates!! At least I have the property filled for those dates at the original fee

 

But this is my first experience of being messed about. So it has taught me to be strict on the cancellations etc

 

All the best