Hospital visit for me as a host

[Katrina149]

On the 18th January I had a "potential" guest book for the long weekend, that same day I had the Hospital ring me to say they could schedule me for a colonoscopy & endoscopy that same week the guest had booked; that same day the 18th January I told the guest my circumstances and they understood and immediately cancelled their booking that same day. I will say I had been on the waiting list to have this medical procedure and COULD NOT change my appointment.  Airbnb is saying that I cancelled the reservation and have taken $139 out of my account. I can produce a medical certificate from the Hospital re: proof of medical procedure.  I am NOT happy with this. I hosted for two years, then had a break and thought I would host again. The cancellation side of AIRBNB only benefits the person/people who have established this organisation.  I also accidently have my home now listed twice and have asked for help and no one is willing to help me. I am not impressed with how Airbnb is being managed and they lack of communication.

[Emiel1]

@Katrina149,

To remove one of the listings, you can deactivate it yourself, please read:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/476/how-do-i-snooze-or-deactivate-my-listing.

If you cancel a reservation, Airbnb will penalize you (allthough i do not understand the amount of $139,-):

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990/i-m-a-host--what-penalties-apply-if-i-need-to-cancel-a-reser...

If there are extenuating circumstances, you can contact Airbnb:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1339/how-do-i-file-an-extenuating-circumstances-claim

Hope this helps,

Emiel

[Sarah977]

@Katrina149  I imagine what happened is that you received a message saying the guest wants to cancel and asking you to approve that. This is a very sneaky thing Airbnb does that goes down as a host cancellation. Whenever you get one of those, you should decline it. The guest can cancel on their own. 

It was nice that the guest was understanding. But in this case, you shouldn't have expected the guest to cancel- it was your issue, not theirs. And are you aware that the guest would not get the Airbnb fees they paid back? You really should have offered to re-imburse them for that.

The circumstances under which a host asks a guest to cancel are if the guest has indicated that they aren't going to follow your house rules, that they plan to bring children, when your listing says not suitable for children, intend to arrive with more guests than you accept, etc, or refuse to upload a profile photo, verifications, or anything else you state that you require in your listing info. But if you can't host for some reason, that's yours to deal with, not the guest.

You could have asked Airbnb to cancel this reservation under the extenuating circumstances policy, providing documentation of your medical procedure and you wouldn't have been penalized for the cancellation. Perhaps you can still do that.

[Robin4]

@Katrina149 

Just to elaborate on @Sarah977's  excellent answer, never accept responsibility for a reservation cancellation!

You will receive an email which in part will say something like this.....

You look, at that and think everythings ok, good ol' Airbnb have taken care of it....WRONG!

What this is saying, the host has told the guest to cancel for one reason or another and the guest has contacted Airbnb and said that they want to stay have been asked to cancel. Customer support do not want this guest to disappear and tell them the only way they can have all their money refunded is to get the host to accept responsibility for the cancellation, hence the last part of that sentence...."The reservation will be cancelled on your behalf if we don't hear back!" 

This makes you responsible for the cancellation and the subsequent penalties involved.

You have possibly left it a bit long now Katrina but, it may be worth a called to Airbnb on the Sydney number 02 8520 3333, plead your case and if you are really pleasant to them they may consider your case is of sufficient merit to relieve you from those cancellation penalties.

Give it a go and see what happens!

Cheers......Rob