RUDE SERVICE from "Resolutions Center" after my honest mistake!

[Michael2302]

Hello Community,

Mea Culpa: It was my mistake when I tried to change my W12 London listing "ARCHITECTS' HIDEAWAY FLAT" at £107 per night and ended up at the WEEKLY DISCOUNT and absent-mindedly entered £107 PER WEEK ! Yes, it was not a glitch but my silly, but honest , mistake. Naturally, an American immediately BOOKED ONE WEEK in my W12 London Architects' Flat at £107 per week. Now the days of the [immediately cancelled]  Reservation charged out at  £107per week [or £15 per day] ARE BLOCKED and my Review Page marks me out with a CANCELLED RESERVATION. In the Community's humble opinion, is this an appropriate sanction for a 50 minute mistake ? Please read [here below] the reply in which Dany suggests that I " be careful with the settings you put in place." Is this the most diplomatic reply that a Host can hope for on this platform??

Yours Faithfully, Michael McNamara, Architect

"Airbnb Support

3:02 PM

Hi Michael,

My name is Dany from Airbnb, and I hope this message finds you well.

I investigated on your account and found that your entered a specific price for that week (see picture below), so this is not a glitch.

To avoid offering your listing for £15 a night, I would suggest you to be careful with the settings you put in place."

[Letti0]

@Michael2302  I am not sure your response was a good idea the way you worded. Unfortunately the cancellation penalties are strict and the error was your's. You should have contacted AirBnB and used one of the three free cancellations allowed a year on instant bookings your uncomfortable with. At this point you could call and plead ignorance and an honest mistake and ask for the penalties to be removed, but you response to the automatic review  they put up is not going to work in your favor with AirBnB.

[Alexandra316]

@Michael2302I would contact Airbnb on Twitter and ask them to waive the penalties because it was an instant booking @Airbnbhelp. They may or may not do it, but it's worth a try. Plead ignorance/newness, and you might get away with it.

If you need to make a cancellation in future, always contact Airbnb customer service: never do it yourself. You are entitled to cancel instant book reservations penalty free if you're not comfortable with them, but you need to contact them first, not after the fact and they will take care of it for you and not levy the penalties. See https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2022/how-do-penalty-free-cancellations-work-for-instant-book-host... for some details.

[Victoria567]

Hi @Michael2302

I sympathise with you.

I had a similar experience at the start of this season after a beady eyed bargain hunter booked my 2 bedrooms for £45 per night including breakfast.

I had 2 choices either cancel and get the Host  cancelled message under my listing and lose Superhost status for the year or suck it up.

I chose the latter option.

Then swiftly went through my listing description with a tooth comb and changed my maximum stay to 3 nights and made sure my price was correctly stated.

You won’t be the first or the last to make this mistake as a host.

Either chalk it down to experience or else cancel with the consequences.

You can’t expect air bnb to open up a can of worms from an eagle eyed guest.