So I had to cancel a guest....

[Inna22]

I was putting a new listing together. This is a combination of two space, making it one big house. It is huge, I expect it to be rarely reserved as a whole but finally got around to listing it.  You cannot do holiday pricing before it goes live so I listed it and was putting finishing touches- holiday pricing, minimum stay, all the details. In the mean time I got instant book for New Year, for a whopping $1000 less than it should be, because I have not finished clicking all the right buttons. This is far more than what I could just let go. I immediately sent a message to the guest and called Airbnb. We are talking seconds for the message and minutes to the cancellation. CS was nice about it, waived the fee as one time curtesy. I profusely apologized to the guest. He is now sending me nasty messages, telling me I broke the law and he will "make it a big deal" whatever that means. Yes, of course it is absolutely terrible to cancel a guest and even more so to make more money, but c'mon, I was literally clicking buttons when this happened, new year is four months away and I contacted him immediately. Does he even realize that some hosts would not have even bothered to explain themselves and apologize? We are human and make mistakes. At least I do and this is one of them. Why are some people so angry?

[Noel63]

@Inna22He doesn't seem all that appealing as a guest anyway.

[Pete28]

I think some people figure out when dates are released and go looking for them at a reduced rate. Auto pricing continues to excel at ignoring major public holidays like this thanksgiving, Xmas etc.

[Inna22]

@Noel63 I did not think of it that way. You are right

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

similar happen to me when I published my listings for the first time. But the difference wasn't big so I let it go.

and it happened also for the first New year eve... I forgot to change the price and didn't expect someone will book it 4 months in advance. But they did... and I let them stay at regular price... and got 3* for value ! 😄 😄 Now I am smarter and my NYE price is 3x higher 🙂

[Inna22]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 and you got three stars for value! Wow!

[Inna22]

Now he is saying he is going to call Airbnb and make sure all my listings are shut down. I have finally figured out how to block him- never had to do that before

[Rosemarie9]

He is totally overreacting considering it was cancelled immediately. Lucky you won't have to host him, sounds entitled and unstable. No one died!

[Inna22]

@Rosemarie9 That’s exactly what I wanted to tell him- no one died. But decided not to engage 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Inna22oh you terrible woman,  you killed his joy in a second ! 😄

[Paul154]

@Inna0,

This will pass.

At the end of the day, we all get the excuse that we indeed are amateurs.

Corporate hotels have the luxury of upgrading  reservations in these cases - most of us don't have this ability. But I have even been kicked out of a corporate hotel while I was staying there (and had paid for!) for a convention reservation .

You cancelled timely and guest is just disappointed he did not get the great deal he thought he got.