Why was charged a $100 cancellation fee as a Host????

[Shannon157]

Prospective guest and I miscommunicated, and I only had 1 of the 2 dates she wanted available. I offered different date, but she could not use it. She asked me to cancel, so I did.

Then Airbnb charged me $100 cancellation fee?????? I'm new to this hosting, but this is crazy!!

[Emiel1 · Accepted solution]

Hello @Shannon157 ,

There are penalties when you cancel a reservation:  What penalties apply if I need to cancel a reservation?

It also states: "The fee will be waived for your first cancellation within a 6-month period."  I noticed in your profile there is another recent cancellation ?

You have 2 listings and several reviews, so you are allready have some experience in hosting, but be aware of this cancellation stuff !

Hope this helps,Emiel

[Clare0]

Yes, @Shannon157, when you cancel a confirmed reservation, Airbnb imposes several penalties on the host.  See this link: 

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

You probably got the request to cancel which does inform you that by cancelling you may be subject to these host cancellation policies.

 You likely received this request because the guest needed you to cancel since you did not have the dates available that she booked.  Did it look like this?

 If so, read the text in red where it says you can be subject to standard host cancellation policies. 

[David126]

Begs the question how was she able to book in the first place if you did not have availability?

[Ana1316]

Hello! One question! Please respond. How does the cancellation fee work? Do you really need to pay the fee even though your hosting payouts were smaller then cancellation or  just get minus on your earings from hosting guest???!

Or airbn like really sits on your banck account?

[Elizabeth429]

@Ana1316,

Host´s cancellations are a NO NO go. The host will be penalised with money, blocking their calender or even snoozing their listing. If you ever need to cancel a confirmed reservation due to extenuating circunstances, call Airbnb and make them do it for you. Never cancel or accept a request of cancellation from a guest.

[Ana1316]

@Elizabeth429 Thank you for the reply. II didn know about this cancelation policy because the last time I was hosting people it wasnt like this. But now this is crazy. They charged me a lot bcs I didnt accept one of the guest who booked instantly but I just sied to them that I cant accept them and theu canceled on their own. Also they like booked one one and one two days before the arrival and the booking was accepted automaticly (how can you turn this off).. i dont know why. I will cancel my listing bcs of that. But will they like take my money from paypal or sit on my banck account or just put a minus on my hosting earingns and I wont receive the payout?? I still dont understand this part.

[Elizabeth429]

@Ana1316,

To remove the Instant booking, go to Listing then click on Booking Settings and finally edit the changes on How guests can book.

If you have been penalised with money, Airbnb will withdraw it from pending payments from your bookings.

[Ana1316]

Thank you @Elizabeth429@! Okey and what if I have bigger penalty than my pending host earing are?

I thought that everytime you get a request which you can accept or decline. It is weird that guests can book just like that. At the end it is always set up in the plus of airbnb and they benefit from it the most. Like cmonn 100$ fee is not normal!

[Elizabeth429]

@Ana1316,

I am guessing they will retain your money until it is fully cover. 

[Ana1316]

Thank you for the reply. II didn know about this cancelation policy because the last time I was hosting people it wasnt like this. But now this is crazy. They charged me a lot bcs I didnt accept one of the guest who booked instantly but I just sied to them that I cant accept them and theu canceled on their own. Also they like booked one one and one two days before the arrival and the booking was accepted automaticly (how can you turn this off).. i dont know why. I will cancel my listing bcs of that. But will they like take my money from paypal or sit on my banck account or just put a minus on my hosting earingns and I wont receive the payout?? I still dont understand this part.

[Helen3]

This host cancellation policy has been in place for at least three years.

Airbnb would argue if you can't accept guests, then you shouldn't leave your calendar open.

Have a look at Airbnb Help Centre under host cancellation for full details on the policy works.

[Andrea975]

How were they able to book, if you couldn't host them?

[Huma0]

When I first listed a room in my home, which was a couple of years ago, I created the listing and chose not to use Instant Book. However, the next day I woke up to an inbox with an Instant Booking and realised that Airbnb had somehow reactived IB. This is someting new hosts need to watch out for.

It's possible that @Ana1316 had something similar happen to her, or accidentally activated IB without realising, which is not that difficult to do as Airbnb is constantly pushing it at hosts on various pages, because it sounds like she was expecting to receive requests and enquiries before anyone booked.

@Shannon157as a host, it's important that you familiarise yourself with how the system works. Turn off Instant Booking if you're not prepared for guests to book without contacting you first. Keep your calendar up to date and block any unavailable dates. Read up on cancellation policies and penalties.

If you ever have a valid reason to cancel a guest's reservation (and not keeping your calendar updated is not a valid reason) or a guest asks you to cancel, call Airbnb, explain the situation and ask them to cancel it.  If you are using IB, you can cancel penalty free if you feel uncomfortable with a guest or think they're going to break your house rules, but always call Airbnb about it first. I did this only two days ago with a guest who doesn't respond to any messages. You can't just do it because you got the dates wrong though.

[Judean1]

We are new at hosting on Airbnb. I received this morning a confirmed booking without checking our a viability. We are fully booked and unfortunately can not accommodate the guest  We are now charged with the $100 cancellation fee. How is that possible, the guest and Airbnb must first check availability before confirming a booking!! Can someone from Airbnb please come back to me on this?