Guest wishes to cancel

[Allan-and-Janet0]

I have a guest wishing to cancel.

They say they have booked to wrong dates but the dates they now wish are already booked how do i handle this with out being penalised.

[Donna15 · Accepted solution]

@Allan-and-Janet0, the guest needs to cancel the booking her/himself.

The host should never cancel a reservation, as there are penalties (which include - among other things - a fine, plus the dates in question remain blocked and cannot be assigned to another guest). 

The guest will be refunded in accordance with your cancellation policy. If you wish the guest to receive a full refund (minus the AirBnB service fee), you can request this in the Resolution Center.

[Kimberly-and-Randy0]

The guest canceled as they booked pre naturally, and cancelled way before policy :-). Will they get a full refund? Is there any $ I will loose...
New to Airbnb and appreciate all support 🐝
Thank you!
Kimberly

[Andrew90]

You will lose nothing. They may loose the booking fee but should get most or all of the money back.

See “ Community Help Guides - Airbnb Community”

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Community-Help/Community-Help-Guides/m-p/23100#M311

[Susan245]

Guests booked for 30 days & cancelled on the second day because of the heat & no AC.  Here I am in NH with empty room. Does not someone (guest?) owe me something??? My place is not a dump, very nice, clean, attractive, private etc/  Butt I'm annoyed and there seems to be no protocol for this.  Advice?

[David126]

Well you have a flexible policy so you get paid for the next night after they cancel.

[Keith30]

There is a protocol for this. Examine the longterm cancellation policy.  If the guest was made aware that there was no AC before booking. Then they are bound by the longterm policy. 

[Mary-and-Fred0]

I am a new host and my guest needed to cancel because of an illness. so I canceled for her

and now I'm being penalized. Airbnb is keeping those days for a month blocked on my calendar.

Wow!!! I am amazed and cannot talk to anyone about this. Can anyone help with this problem.

Thanks

[David126]

You can not cancel for a guest, only a guest can cancel for a guest.

You cancelled in your own name and doing that comes with penalties. Bad for the brand if a host cancells.

Assuming this is shown in the ABB message thread, call them and see if they will make an exception.

[Ciro2]

hi David,

I can understand about the reputation of the site, but if both host and guest agree on a cancelation there is no reason for a fee, in my opinion.
I was looking for a telephone number to call airbnb and ask, cause I had the same problem. Do you know the number?
Many thanks in advance

[Deb29]

@Lisa-and-Ciro0

You are correct. If both sides agree, all penalties get waived BUT don't try to do it yourself.

Here's their customer service number: 1 (415) 800-5959

Say hello to Airbnb for me 😉
Deb

[David126]

ABB will keep their fee.

[Ciro2]

hi Deb, thanks for your answer.
If I don't cancel how can I do it? Calling by phone airbnb is the only way?
In  my case I didn't cancel unilaterally, because I saw in the web page the consequences of cancelling, and the guest didn't cancel because she had to pay something, I guess. And it was my mistake: I left open dates on the calendar that were not available. But she was willing to cancel and she sent me a request for cancelling, that I thought it was a both-side-agree way to resolve the problem. But then I found a 45 euros cancellation fee in my transaction history.

[Waldemar1]

My guest had to cancel because they had pets and didnt communicate that to me and they have now requested me to cancel, which I did and I have now been penalised. 

i need to reverse this and get them to cancel but can't seem to do that??

What should I do now?

[Andrew90]

Contact Airbnb. They can help find the guest alternate accomidations without having to lose thier booking fee and you needing to cancel.

Hopefully your communications with the guest was on Airbnb messaging platform so they can confirm.

Andrew

[Robin99]

My guest wanted to cancel upon learning house has no heat and would be very cold

fine by me

why am I asked to cancel and maybe be penalized 

[David126]

You are in Maine and assuming you do not rent out just in the summer, I would certainly expect heat as most people would.

I did look quickly at your listings, would suggest if you have no heat and are taking winter bookings then you should mention that  clearly.