Hosts being Scammed out of Cancellation Fees

[Zuss0]

I just want to make other Hosts aware of a scam on AirBnB of what I just fell victim to. I believe I have been cheated out of my original cancellation fee. The guest in question made her reservation 6 months in advance for 25 days. Then she sent me a message that she wanted to reduce here reservation to 12 days. At that time, I informed her that due to the late date that I would have to decline her request. I tried to negotiate with her and have her cancel her original reservation and rebook at which time I would give her a full credit for each day of the 13 she cancelled if I was able to fill them. Then the harassing phone calls started she just wouldn't stop and cooperate and insisted we change her reservation or else she would report me to AirBnB which I encouraged her to do. During the whole process, I felt she was scamming me for the original cancellation fee and never intended to honor the revised dates. So now exactly 7 days before her revised reservation she cancels and instead of paying her original cancellation she only pays less than half of the original fee. If it wasn't for the constant harassing phone calls I never would have agreed to revise her dates. I don't believe she bargained in good faith and I'm hoping AirBnB will stand up for me as a host and recover or at least a portion of the original cancelation fee.

I just want other AirBnB hosts to beware of this scam tactic and not be taken advantage of and fall for it, it is a well thought through scam. I'm not a greedy person but I do need the extra money AirBnB brings in. I'm hoping AirBnB will rule in my favour and I will recover some of the fee.

Cheers Zuss  

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Dana102 - you have multiple ways to contact Airbnb.  See this:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide-UPDATED/m-p/413245

and this: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/forums/v3_1/forumtopicpage/board-id/announcements/highlight/fals...

And suggestions have their own thread called Host Voice, you can find it here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/idb-p/host-voice

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Zuss0 - Okay, here is another voice - the voice you don't want to hear.  You did EXACTLY  what the scam artist wanted.  You listened to her phone calls, you changed her reservation after being harassed into doing so and now, you want empathy that you were victimized.  YOU HAVE RIGHTS on the Airbnb platform.  Say NO!!! you started here and let her harass you into compliance.  You need to report these types of people because they do not belong on the platform.  Why did you change your ideal of your original thought of , no, I won't modify your reservation after all this time? Because she started calling..... Don't get into these types of arguement with guests.  This is why you pay Airbnb a fee for each reservation.  This is why you agonized about the cancellation policy you chose.  If you don't feel like you can stand up for yourself - let Airbnb stand up for you instead.  I'm sorry this happened to you, a valuable lesson for sure!  

[Zuss0]

Thank you, Alice and Jeff,

Your so right I gave in to her harassment, I have reported it to AirBnB and am hoping they will help me.

Thanks for your support

Zuss

[Momi0]

@Alice-and-Jeff0   100% DEAD ON RIGHT JEFF!!!!  I am so glad to see that you wrote this to her.  I feel bad for her because I too was a victim of a scam my first 2 months in of hosting because I trusted the guests when she said she was too sick (15 hours before checkin) and wanted me to move their dates, so I did.  And as soon as I agreed to alter their dates to 100 days later, they cancelled and got their money back based on my FLEXIBLE policy knowing they would get more money back with the dates being 100 days away instead of their check in being that NEXT DAY.  They were flying in from CA and they wrote me 15 hours before check in saying they couldn't get on the plane due to a head cold.  I sympathized and got scammed.  From that day forward, my cancellation policy has been STRICT.   I am also a Co-host, for other listings.  I share my story with my other hosts so they can decide for themselves what policy they would like for their listing.  

Haven't had a problem since.....why is that?  Because every other time since Oct 2015, that someone had contacted me (the same way this guest did to @Zuss0 , my WRITTEN reply to them is this..."  While I do appreciate you reaching out to me as your host, the booking and monies paid was directly to Airbnb, so you will need to contact Airbnb to help you resolve your request to cancel or alter your dates."  

I do not reply after that at all.  (at the advice of Airnb case manager too). This is the guests sole responsibility, not the host.   My only responsibility is to either ACCEPT or DECLINE.  And Airbnb reaches out to me to ask. 

Side note @Zuss0  I will not take calls from guests about Airbnb stays.  IF they call, I make it very clear that the conversation can only be about their restaurants suggestions, activities planning, rental car suggestions, but anything regarding their stay, (airport pick up, check in times, breakfast dietary needs, ALL needs to be communicated only on the ABB message site.  And after the call, I  ALWAYS document that I took a call from the guests and what was discussed.  The guests is explained during the call that I will be doing that to protect them and me.  And everyone understands. 

By the way, you cannot remove your phone number from your listing, as its a requirement that every guests receive their host phone number for various reasons.  But you can state within your House Rules, or House Manual, that your phone number is for emergencies only, as my House Manual states.  If they text my phone number, I immediately make a screen capture and upload it onto their Airbnb account so Airbnb can see exactly what they have written to me.  I then write back to their phone number and say:

"Please check your AIRBNB account for my reply.  Please continue all communication via the Airbnb messsage site as directed in my House Manual.  Thank you,  Momi your Superhost. "  

make sense?  

We all look forward to hearing good news from you.  I hope my post was as helpful as @Alice-and-Jeff0 post. 😉

[Paul154]

@Zuss0,Thank you so much for your insight.

I now understand that any changes or price rebates should be made after the completed stay.

It enforces good will.

Your post has suggested that an easy way for a guest to gain flexibility on travel dates is to ask for more and then whittle it down when timing is assured.  Not good faith really.

A variation of this same scam is for guest to encourage goodwill and get a discount by booking a long stay, only to choose 2 days.

Grrr.

In all these situations, I will now ask guest to cancel and rebook. Depending on goodwill, honesty and timeliness, I may rebate them after completion of their stay

[Zuss0]

Thanks Paul,

That's good advice I will start doing the same. I'm also removing my phone number so the guests will have to contact me through AirBnB. That way I will have a written message thread as a record of all transactions and conversations if I have any problems in the future. I'm still waiting for AirBnB to review my complaint and am hoping they will rule in my favor, I will post their response for all to see once I have it.

Thank you for your support.

Zuss

[Ben205]

@Zuss0

Definitely good to keep messages on the Airbnb platform. Even if somebody calls me, I message them via the system to make sure there is a record.

I hope this doesn't put you off. The longest anybody has stayed with us is 7 days, so I'm jealous you get longer bookings. Then again, maybe not if they are not nice!

[Veronica237]

Interesting. I have someone right now who has requested that I cancel their booking. From what I read I would get penalized. I have a loose cancellation policy so I don't know what she'd gain if I did the cancellation. Maybe it shows up as negative for her. If anyone has more info on whether I can cancel her reservation without penalty please let me know. Also interesting that in the request Airbnb says they will cancel it on my behalf if I don't respond within 24 hours. I clicked decline the cancellation and told the lady she would need to cancel. Am I wrong on this? Thanks.

[Momi0]

@Veronica237  You did the right thing 100%!  Do not doubt yourself.  There is a HELP tab at the top of your ABB account that you can type in the subject cancellations and its all explained to you there by Airbnb.  DO NOT CANCEL anyone's booking.  You will get a negative post on your listing as well as a penalty fine.  I just posted a comment 5 mins ago that discusses this very thing on this thread.  Take a moment to read it, as it might be helpful to you.  Also Jeff posted a great comment too. 

Let the guests take it up with Airbnb.  They booked it through ABB, they paid ABB, and all you have to do is say Yes, or No.  

I would like to offer this suggestion......its always a positive thing to be a good host, to do that, its important to also find out why the guest is trying to cancel and offer to help them if you can by helping them either move their booking to another host because they need more room, or they need new dates and yours is not open, whatever the reasoning is, I always try to help the guest, but I will not cancel their booking for them.  

FYI - Superhost automatically lose their SH badge for one year once they cancel on a guest which is another good reason why we don't do it.  And shouldn't do it. 

If that helps, be sure to click on the "thumbs up" icon at the bottom of any post you read that helps you. 

EDITED TO ADD:  Send the guests a message letting them know that Airbnb's new policy allows them to get their service fee back up to 3xs in one year on a cancellation which I think is really nice of ABB.