host cancellation

[Diana213]

i am assisting my mother who is an airbnb host. she's 68 years old. not super computer savvy. she accidentally accepted a booking for a weekend in september (9 months fromvnow) at her off peak rate. her calendar wasn't updated for the rate change because it's based on the local university football schdule which was only publushed 2 days ago, when she was out of town. (i know it's not excuse but that's the situation)

she wants to cancel and relist the dates at the intended rate. the reservation is only a couple hours old. and it's 9 months in advance.

is the calendar automatically blocked if the HOST cancels? i read that it is, but it doesn't seem fair. Sometimes people make mistakes.

thanks for the help.

[David126]

The claendar would be blocked for those dates. People do make mistakes but have to live with the consequences.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

As unfortunate as the circumstance is, the penalties would still apply and her calendar would consequently be blocked if she cancels this reservation.  Best to take this as learning experience and keep the reservation.

[Crustt0]

She should honor the booking, learn from her mistake.

Happens to everyone, your taking money for a service so you have to act professionally.

[Robin4]

@Diana213

Everyone else is correct Diana, if she cancels the booking now she will be penalised, and penalised far more severely than just the dollars difference between her off and her peak! She is just going to have to accept that she was not 'on the ball' where this one is concerned and the best way out of this is to just accept the lesser amount, welcome the guest when the time comes and do it in good grace, because this is not the guests fault....it is your mums, so don't penalise the guest.

You say it's a bit harsh Dianna! You must remember there are over 800,000 Airbnb hosts around the world and if Airbnb simply gave in to every mistake that happened on the part of those hosts every day, the platform would be in total chaos.....nobody, guests or hosts, would know where they stood. Rules are rules for a reason....and 'oops' is not a way around them!!

And you should not really bring age into it...in-experience maybe, but not age......I am 72 and there is no way I would make a mistake like that. Live and learn Diana and your mum will have a good hosting career!

Cheers.....Rob

[Crustt0]

Diana, look at it from the view of the guest, they have made plans and have taken your mum up on her offer and then she wants to renege and that throw all travel arrangments into kaos, probably not the case in this instance being such a long way in advance, but if you were going on a trip and the host cancelled a few days before it could ruin your trip.

She probably needs to only take booking 3 months in advance so she can keep track of holidays and festivals, a savvy guest can book a year ahead in a place that has not updated there calender and cancel 30 days out for a full refund if the planned holiday does not suit them.