HELP! Need to cancel reservation without being blocked or penalized.

Iain24
Level 1
Minneapolis, MN

HELP! Need to cancel reservation without being blocked or penalized.

        I have a guest that made reservations long ago, maybe 5 months ago, and I  contacted the guest when she instant booked and let her know the city was reviewing and changing local ordinances and fees. I told her the rate would almost assuredly change to reflect the difference. She said ok andshe would wait to to see what happened.

Sure enough, there was a lot of meetings and I even received notification from AIRBNB regarding the changes to our area. (The SUPER BOWL is coming and the city is cracking down). There are a lot of new requirement, fees and license and insurance requirements that are causing an increase in rates.

 

     I have sent the guest numerous emails and finally she responded and said she understood and that I should "cancel her reservation and refund her". I explained I could not without penalty. I did send her the new rate and she has yet to cancel the reservation on her end. I have since had multiple requests for long term period for people willing to pay the incresed rate and for long term. 

 

   I truly beleive she is just holding onto the reservation to be a pain in the neck because of her unwillingness to respond to many of my emails over a 6 week period.

 

Is there anything that can be done?

12 Replies 12
Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

Hello,

You have to cancel the reservation, otherwise your guest will not have a full refund (includes Airbnb servicecosts). On which she is entitled to, as you want to charge extra money for an allready settled booking. And yes, you will be penalised for this, as it is your responsibility to setup the correct rates at time of booking. Best regards, Emiel

Clare0
Level 10
Templeton, CA

@Iain24 I would recommend that you call Airbnb using the Super Host phone number (congrats by the way!) and discuss the situation with them.   Since you received notification of the changes in regulations, they should be aware of what you are facing.  I'm sure they will help you with this!

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

"There are a lot of new requirement, fees and license and insurance requirements that are causing an increase in rates." Airbnb is already aware of the reality so it shouldn't be too out-of-the-question for them to cancel it, but I would offer to refund her booking fee also, to make sure she looses nothing. The fact she hasn't responded to messages for 6 weeks however, speaks volumes.

Sheila146
Level 5
Vienna, Austria

Try calling Airbnb, but I suspect you would be expected to stick to your original price with the guest.  If they don't agree with your reasons, you might want to consider taking a short term loss by going with your original price rather than the longer term loss of having a lower commitment rate, because even one cancellation without cause that is agreed to by Airbnb can seriously hurt you in the search engine, and thus affect your number of bookings.

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

So if there had been changes and your costs had gone down would you have been OK with a Guest requesting a reduction?

David

worth a try to see if you get a CS to agree with you about a penalty free cancellation but it seems to me to fall into the category of things that are the responsibility of the host. If pricing isn't accurate (unknown) then those days should have been unbookable. It isn't right to have your calendar open and available if you don't know what you want to charge.

Rene-and-Zac0
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

@Iain24 You could try and do the ETHICAL thing and honor the reservation or on the minimum cancel the reservation on your end. Your failure to plan ahead is NOT the guest problem.

I’m a Host too OK, a SUPERHOST even and there is no way on earth your local officials raised your rates. The rates are set by YOU! not the Town. Don’t try to sell another ‘host’ a lot of ‘who shot John’ when you try to explain your weak reason to cancel the reservation.

You are the problem. 

You didn’t plan ahead to take advantage of the Super Bowl rates and now you feel missed out.

Don’t make up some lame excuse that the town is making your rates higher. That screams ‘scummy’.

Situations like this are the perfect example of why people don’t have trust in Airbnb. 

‘The town raised my rates’. PFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT! Yeah right. 

‘You know it’s hard out here for a Host’

 

Hi Rene and Zac,

 

Lain is asking for helpful comments and not to be further stressed by your seemingly "bully" remarks.

 

This is supposed to be a community for supporting and helping each other, if I may say.

 

 

 

 

@Kristine56 It’s called a ‘moral compass’. It’s a little thing inside of you that helps you make the ETHICAL and correct choice when faced with making a difficult decision.

Why not just stand by the agreement to rent the house for X amount? Why add all the ‘the Town is raising my rates’? The Host controls the rates and to make some lame excuse that ‘unexpected fees’ came up is laughable at best and being a complete scum bag at worst.

Sometimes a host needs a ‘correction’ in their thought process or help on how to read their ‘moral compass’, I’m willing to help with that task. 

If pointing out that a moral compass is not working correctly is being a ‘bully’, I own that. 

‘You know it’s hard out here for a Host’

 

 

So I agree with most of what you are saying Rene but I see why Kristine thinks your comment is a bit bullying. It's the way you said it, with all the caps, calling out someone's morals, and saying "you are the problem" and "pfffttt." I agree that in this situation the poster just feel like he's missing out on the potential profit as well as trying to buffer his now higher costs but I also think it's normal to feel this way and doesn't necessary mean he has no morals. It's a gray area for him and that's why he's wondering if there's anything he could do about it. We are all here to try and guide him into being a good host, no need to be so imflammatory.

Peter682
Level 2
Arncliffe, Australia

I think that if you take a booking you stick to it even if you could make more money by cancelling and rebooking. I agree that you should have worked out your price before making the time available. It is very frustrating for guests to have accomodation cancelled. I currently have extra guests sleeping in my lounge because the accomodation for half the group for the new year period was cancelled.

The reason people book well in advance is that they want the security of the booking around which to make thier plans. I only have a 3month advance booking window so that I can be certain that I can meet the commitment. I am sure that I miss longer term bookings as a result but the guest must come first.

There could be good reasons why your guest has not responded. Ok! You will not make as much money as you could have done but cop it sweet and move on.

Von3
Level 4
Boston, MA

You need to stick to the price. This is not the guests' fault or the city or yours but Peter is right up top. Guest book in advance to safeguard prices. If the price change all of a sudden, what's the point. How would you feel if the hotel charge you for the difference in increase demand/price after you've already book?