Unexpected move

[Brandon-and-Brian0]

My partner and I recently moved. It was not planned and it essentially happened over the span of a weekend in order to keep our Airbnb space open. We moved within the same building, to a much larger unit and had to raise our prices. Our cancellation policy is currently set to strict. We contacted all of the guests who already had confirmed reservations before the 7 day period to notify them of changes, while most of the guests were ok with a price increase...we were renting out our converted living room space which we had to walk through before, to a completely private lofted space for our guests to enjoy, two guests in particular have been difficult as far as either accepting the higher rates or cancelling their reservations. One guest was given 9 days notice and waited until her reservation was less than a week away to say she no longer wanted to stay because she felt uncomfortable and disappointed but wanted a full refund despite being offered that 9 days prior, along with an alteration if she was still interested in re-booking. Now she is claiming that her company will refute all charges, and plans to take legal action if not refunded the full amount paid. Another guest whose stay is in one month has now refused two price alterations, and will not respond to any messages. We are super hosts, have always had glowing reviews whether we are hosting or traveling and feel that the first guest that threatened legal action was trying to bully us into giving her a refund after she finally cancelled (which we have not) and the second is just making us really uncomfortable and we don't feel right hosting someone who is unable to communicate or come to some sort of agreement. Any tips?

[Ash-and-Dasha0]

Give them the refund since these guests already initiated the cancelation. You can open a case through the resolution center. 

You can't force your guests to accept something they didn't bargain for. Plus they did not stay and did not agree to the changes. 

[Brandon-and-Brian0]

We didn't force them to accept something they didn't bargain for, they were given the option to cancel within a time frame that would have given them a full refund, and avoided any penalties on our part. Are we obligated to give the full refund? Any suggestions on how to deal with the guest who refuses to cancel, accept alterations, or even communicate with us at this point?

[Wendy-and-Markus0]

@Brandon-and-Brian0:

I would say consider yourself lucky that everyone but 2 guests were ok with your price increase. I would recommend you fully refund them and be done with it. Giving them a 7 day notice is irrelvant as these guests have already paid for their reservations the moment they booked with you.

Here is my rationale- someone who booked to stay in your living room, probably did so to save money and were comfortable staying in a set-up that offered less privacy.

While we don't know the financial situation of these 2 guests, I personally would be disappointed and upset if a host increased their price after I had booked. Part of the reason guests make a reservation is to guarantee a particular listing along with the advertised price.

So although your new spot offers the added bonus of privacy, it may be an added value your booked guests prior to your move didn't necessarily care about.

Imagine if you had booked your airline tickets to your upcoming vacation. 2 weeks before your vacation fuel prices double and now flight prices for people trying to book increased. How would you feel if the airline contacted you 7 days prior to your vacation notifying you that fuel prices have doubled and now they will need you to pay an extra X amount to help cover their cost. Would you be ok with that or would you feel like, I already booked, paid, and made my decision based on the advertised price.

My suggestion is to fullfill your agreement to the guests prior to your move. Honor your obligation and consider it a complimentary upgrade to your previously booked guests. Of course apply the new daily rate to new bookings.

[Brandon-and-Brian0]

I can see where you're coming from. I suppose the hostility from the guest and threatening to take legal action is what really just rubbed us the wrong way. We also offered to lower our newer rate to accommodate the short notice where the increase would have only been minimal comparatively speaking (still within full refund for them) and they made it a point to note that they had already booked elsewhere and wanted to "tarnish" (their words) our listing by posting a negative review. Lesson learned on that one. We wanted to keep our good reviews as New Orleans is a very competitive market when we could have just started a new listing.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Brandon-and-Brian0

When you accepted your bookings you entered into a contract between guest and host and even ticked a box that you know your obligations.  So I think your guests are in their full right to expect to stay for the agreed amount even though you are now offering better accomodation.  

Personally we are also waiting for a larger apartment coming for sale in our building, but I would never dream of increasing the price for already booked guests, put myself in a pickle and risking bad reviews as a result.

[Brandon-and-Brian0]

We have offered the first guest in question a full refund, we luckily got someone tonight to book the dates she cancelled on, but now the second guest who is more than a month away from her reservation won't even contact us and it makes us feel very uncomfortable. We are willing to offer a refund, as it is a month away, but she is unwilling to reason with us. We also live here and would prefer to avoid having a very uneasy stay for all involved. Just feeling a bit of frustration.

[Maxine0]

@Brandon-and-Brian0 - @Marit-Anne0 and @Wendy-and-Markus0 have offered the right advice. In hindsight, it would have been more appropriate to have honoured the bookings as were and advised guests of the 'upgrade' rather than seek to get an increase - and as Markus said, you are very fortunate that most guests paid the extra money when they didn't have to.

The guest who is not responding currently is not coming for a month and may well not be logging on to airbnb and getting your messages. If you have access to his/her telephone number on the booking form, give them a call and discuss. And accept that if they want to retain their booking and are happy to accept the upgrade, then that is their prerogative. They will be the same guest you were happy to accept before your circumstances changed ........

Good luck with it and hope it all turns out for the best

[Brandon-and-Brian0]

Thank you for your insight, we thought that giving them the option (especially those who had enough time to find something else without penalty) was relatively fair. We worked with two people who weren't able to pay as much as needed to be charged for the space (we rent) and offered them all refunds if unable to come to some sort of agreement (as well as recommendations for similar accommodations through friends who also Airbnb) We also wanted to take into consideration that this was a completely different space, we went from a first floor unit to a second floor unit with the loft being on the third floor now. Perhaps the guests didn't want to have to deal with a walk up now...It was definitely left open ended with no obligation to stay if they didn't feel comfortable with the changes. The guest who is not currently responding immediately rejected two alterations within a span of two days. I've reached out to her via multiple outlets and cannot seem to get in touch. I guess we will have to wait and see on this. Thanks all for the help! It has definitely made us see things in a different light and also helped us tremendously.