How to cancel without penalty when payment is not coming through

[Amy621]

Hi,

Late yesterday afternoon I had a last minute booking for three nights by a relatively inexperienced guest (I was her second stay) who wanted to arrive in half an hour.  I asked her a series of questions (because it was not clear that she understood the house rules and there were no reviews to read about her) while at the same time scrambling to get the room ready.  Finally I decided to go with it and accepted her booking.

Then airbnb told me that there was a problem with her payment information.  I wrote her a note saying so and that I'd like to hear back if she is still coming.  That message and a later one from me was not answered, and I've heard nothing from her today.

The problem is that airbnb considers this a booking and I can't open it back up for other potential guests (today and tomorrow) without canceling her and getting a penalty.  Does anyone know how to deal with this?

Amy

[Linda108]

Contact Air BNB since you need them to open your dates, @Amy621  I find the Super Host number pretty good.

[Amy621]

Thanks, Linda, good to know.  I haven't found a "contact us" message form anywhere.  I'll keep looking, but if you can help I'd be grateful.  🙂

[Lisa723]

@Amy621 you just have to persistently keep clicking through "it's something else" on the help pages and eventually the site will cough up the number.

[Amy621]

Wow, I thought I did that, but I guess I gave up too soon.  It's kind of frustrating.  Thanks for the advice!

[Letti0]

@Amy621  

AirBnB number:

United States and Canada

+1-415-800-5959 +1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

For Superhosts (they will verify you):

North America: +1-647-945-9627 +1.888.326.5753

[Amy621]

Thanks @Letti0!  I already clicked through to a chat room and Tariq canceled the booking for me so that it won't affect my status.  But I'm going to write those phone numbers down for future reference.