Help : First Time Host - Long Term Cancellation

[Zamonii0]

Hello all ! I have been hosting for a busy two weeks now and it has been an exciting yet , tumultuous experience. Had two great guest, one guest who was a great guest but stole from my home (diff post coming soon). But a ton of bookings to come. Cheap price , central area . “Win -Win”. The issue is we are downtown and the area is urban.( listed in the neighborhood description)  It’s not the “hood” but it isn’t suburbia either. To be honest, it’s gentrified 🤷🏾‍♀️ Like most of Columbus. We live on a quiet street and have never had any issues. Again we are central to everything. 

A guest requested a long term stay of 28 days in March. She messaged me before booking asking how far we were from Whole Foods and presumably her work destination. We were 10 minutes drive from both. She happily booked. Fast forward to four days before her check in time, I seen someone outside our home snapping photos etc of the area whilst I was preparing for another guest. Later that evening she messages me asking to cancel and receive a refund , states she doesn’t like the area. I assured her this was a safe area pointed out our neighborhood description. She replied This is her first time in Columbus and isn’t “well located”. I explained the long term policy and told her to contact Airbnb. She is now attempting to find every excuse to cancel , “she doesn’t feel parking is safe without a gate”, etc. 

At this point, I am not comfortable having her as a guest as I am sure she’ll try and cancel after check in or pull some weirdness and make claims that are untrue since this is what she’s doing now. Should I cancel and take the hit? (No bookings the weekend of the freaking Arnold Classic - and lose $1100) or she can cancel and let Airbnb deal with it?  I’ve been reading threads and policies and it says guest can cancel due to location but we were very upfront with our location and neighborhood.

[Rachel177]

@Zamonii0 sorry to hear you're having this experience. Definitely don't cancel yourself as you will be penalised.

You could tell the guest that she can cancel which will free up your calendar, and if you can fill the dates she had booked you will refund her what you've been able to recoup from her cancellation. I've done that a couple of times with guest cancellations & have been able refund or partially refund those guests. And make sure all of your communication with her is through airbnb, so if things don't go well the customer service agents can see all the messages.

[Zamonii0]

Thank you so much ! I will give it a shot 

[Suzanne302]

@Zamonii0 

That situation sucks, sorry! @Rachel177 's advice is spot on. Whatever you do, do not cancel on your end! Let her cancel.

Good luck!

[Zamonii0]

Thank you and yes it does suck i was so excited to host but I was not prepared for what I’ve experienced thus far lol but the community is super helpful.

[Sabine-Ingrid0]

@Zamonii0, same advice from me, DON'T CANCEL ! Let her do it , she is changing her mind , not you... and you get trouble with Airbnb for cancellation.

[Zamonii0]

Thank you ! Its just unfortunate on both ends but I don’t want to get left holding thr bag. I haven’t received a message from her yet. I’ll keep you all posted

[Darren99]

I would let her cancel. 

[Inna22]

@Zamonii0 cheaper prices bring out demanding, never happy guests. Start raising them and you will see fewer guests that change their mind, look to break the rules and try to bully you into doing things. She booked, she can cancel per your policty. If she does arrive, just be friendly and nice as you would with any other guests. Good luck!

[Helen3]

Hello @Zamonii0 

Sorry this has happened.

Can I give you some advice.

Please up your rates so you are comparable with local properties. Airbnb is a business and you need to make sure you are adequately rewarded for the work you put in.

Don't take long term bookings as a new host, you need to get those reviews in, I would say don't host for more than seven days until you become more experienced as a host.

Finally I too live in a multi-cultural, inner city area. I clearly mention that it is scruffy around the edges and multi-cultural quite a few times in my listing (do have a look) and have photos of my local area in my listing. I also mention it to guests when they book. I still get marked down on location sometimes.

This guest is being out of order. In your situation I would remind her, that long term bookings are non refundable for the first month and that your location is clearly shown in terms of the area on the map before she booked. That you are sorry she has now decided she doesn't like the look of the area. Say that although you are not obliged to, as a gesture of good will on your part, if she cancels and you get any of the days rebooked, you would be happy to consider a refund for those days (make sure it is at the discounted monthly rate, pro-rated,  that you do this, not the full date rate). You have then done all that you can and I would ignore it. She may ask you to refund through Airbnb if they ask you to, say no. If they call you point out that you have already offered to refund her for any days that are rebooked, which is more than you need to do under the long term policy.

[Zamonii0]

Great Advice ! Thank you. My husband forwarned me about accepting someone long term so soon and I did not heed his warning: now here we are lol. But I have adjusted my listing accordingly to negate any additional issues or long term stays. Others have not had issues with location only her so it’s truly subjective. I’m actually not the cheapest in the area (more experienced host dirt cheap prices but there isnt much competition in our immediate area) so , I’m fair priced but cheap for a 2 bedroom downtown. I’ve offered to negotiate with her. I’ve remained positive and answered all questions. She said she would contact airbnb to find a solution or she’d check in on her date. 

[Paul154]

If you don't accept her terms, you run the risk of Airbnb siding with her. It does not matter your policy. You also run the risk of 28 days of hell.

To reduce the risk of arbitrary judgement, pragmatic businesses and landlords often negogiate a settlement. I.E. they pay her off.

Try to negogiate, something that leaves you with something. Then you are free to rebook and are stress-free. (You don't want her, she doesn't want you)

"Dear xxxx, Our agreed policy determines that you are due no refund. If you cancel today, I will return $xxxx. Because of your reservation, my chances are now low that I can book for this popular golf week-end. I regret I must keep $YY. Let me know. Thank you"

[Helen3]

@Paul0

I can't agree. It is definitely not the hosts policy. All long term bookings have the same policy which is decided by Airbnb.

I highly doubt the guest will stay. And I can't see how Airbnb could refund the guest who chooses not to stay because she doesn't like an inner city (most likely read multi-cultural) area.

I certainly wouldn't pander to a guests prejudices.

And @Zamonii  would show flexibility by offering to refund any dates she rebooks. A win-win for both host and guest.

[Deborah619]

It does sound like this is not a nice person, were not all like that.      I have another question on this topic though ... as a long term tenant trying to book in london Uk.   

Im an Aussie trying to book a few months in the UK... twice now I have booked and Paid in full and in advance for a month booking in London.     I believe the people were New to AirBNB ...Looked around and decided that their price should go up.    In fact one of them said to me the the smart price kicked in, sorry nothing he could do about it.

Ive just had the booking I made last night cancelled, ... "new to AirBNB didnt know what I was doing".... Well & good but where does that leave me.   Ive paid in good faith over 3000$ to have something locked in, and booked other accommodation around that booking.   Now this key accommodation, which was a great rate.... has now dropped out... leaving me without funds to rebook.   

Who would I talk to to try and sort this out... or basically is it a case of ... hosts change thier mind & thats too bad. 

[Sarah977]

@Deborah619  Unfortunately there are some unscrupulous hosts out there who will try to ask for more $ after a booking is confirmed (NOT OKAY), or they may be lax in updating their calendar and checking to make sure pricing is correct. Then there's the new hosts who are just confused about how to set prices properly, how the calendar works, etc.

What I would do if I were a guest looking for a long-term booking is firstly look for Superhosts and hosts with lots of great reviews, not new hosts who may be a bit clueless. Then I would start a conversation with the host, through an Inquiry message or a Booking Request (if you don't feel comfortable with the host's response and they've Approved the request, you can cancel with full refund for up to 48 hours), introducing myself, telling them why I'm coming to the area, etc, and see if I get a timely, welcoming response, which clearly answered any questions I may have asked. This would work better for you, I think, than Instant Booking a place, if that's what you did.

If a host tries to change the price on you after you've sent a booking request, it's up to the host to cancel that reservation, not the guest. Hosts get penalized for cancelling bookings- disqualified from Superhost for a year, dates of the cancellation are blocked, so they can't rebook those dates, and "This reservation was cancelled by Host XX days before check-in" on their review page, which makes prospective guests wary. So no, hosts don't just get off scot-free. So if a host asks you to cancel due to their own error or change of mind, don't do it. If they ask you to cancel because you've misunderstood the listing (thought it was a whole house listing when it was just a private room in the host's home, wanted to bring a pet when the listing states no pets), then it would be up to the guest to cancel. Of course there are often good reasons why the host might "change their mind" if they found communication from the guest to be rude or demanding or threatening, but I doubt you'd fall into that category.