host wants to cancel

[Shawna40]

Hello my name is Shawna and I am very new to AIRBNB  I need urgent help pls.

I recently hosted accomodation ang received a booking however the system is quite complex to set up so i show to the host that I am renting a villa for USD45 per day whichnin fact should be per guess per day. The guess booked for 2 days for 6 people I told them that it should show per day per person so the ask if i could cancell the booking.  Looking at the cancellation policy it appears that i might be penalized.  can someone help  on how i can

a = indicate price per night/person

b= what shall i do shall i go ahead and proceed with cancellation or should the cancel their booking?

your input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[Alexandra316]

@Shawna40   It's up to you to set up your listing correctly before it goes live: you can't change the price after the guest has booked. You will definitely be penalized if you cancel, and it's not up to your guests to cancel. I would block your listing for booking until you get this sorted out: I can still book your place for 6 people for $60 per night now. You need to fix it ASAP before you get another booking. 

You can try contacting Airbnb and explaining the situation: they may take pity on you and cancel for you penalty free because you're new, but you need to fix your listing. Here's a guide to contacting them:  https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide-UPDATED/m-p/413245 .

I'm not really understanding your pricing structure, though. If you only have 1 guest renting, you'll only be paid $65 per night to rent the entire villa for as long as they stay. Is that what you're intending, or do you want seperate groups of travellers to be able to book different rooms in the villa at the same time? 

[Shawna40]

thanks Alexandra really appreciate your help

Shawna

[Mark116]

@Shawna40 It looks like you have set up your listing wrong, I typed in for 3 guests and it still came up as $45, so you need to go in and fix your pricing so it adds an extra guest fee.  I don't know what the prices are in DR, but $45 looks extremely too cheap for such a nice house, even for only one person.

Airbnb doesn't allow you to change the price that someone  has booked.   You can try to explain to the guests and send a new price to them, but if they don't accept it, either you have to cancel and take the penalty  or host them at the price.

I also think some of your photos are too dark, you need to put more lights on for some of those shots.

Best of luck.

[Shawna40]

thanks Mark for your help advise and heads up will adjust

Shawna

[Emiel1]

@Shawna40 

In addition to @Alexandra316 's excellent reply:

also disable Instant Book:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1510/how-do-i-turn-instant-book-on-or-off

and read:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1507/how-do-i-add-a-fee-for-additional-guests-to-my-listing

Best regards,

Emiel

[Ben551]

@Shawna40  I recommend you "snooze" your listing immediately, to give yourself time to work through this problem. That way you won't receive any additional bookings at the wrong price. Take your time, work it through with Airbnb, then set it back to live. I also recommend finding a co-host to work with so they can make sure you have all your settings done correctly.

Here are instructions to temporarily snooze your listing:

https://www.airbnb.co.nz/help/article/476/how-do-i-snooze-or-deactivate-my-listing

[Shawna40]

thanks Ben appreciate your help

Shawna

[Robin4]

@Shawna40 

Hello Shawna, it is a pity you have gone 'live' before you have properly set important details of your listing.

Firstly to prevent any more damage go to your listing editing page and follow these screenshots...

Then once you have done that scroll on down until you come to the extra charges section and this is where you will put in the extra guest charge that you wish to charge for all guests after your base number.

Remember to click 'Save Changes' once you have your guest setting correct!

Do this immeditaley and at least you will not get any further bookings that you will have to honour!

I would  suggest you contact Airbnb and ask if there is some way they can help you with this existing reservation.

You can't ask the guest for more money and the guest is not obliged to pay you more, and if the guest does not wish to cancel, then you are either going to have to cancel yourself and accept the penalties or host this reservation at a loss.

Remember  @Shawna40 if you cancel a guest reservation the consequences will be considerable. It will affect your future bookings for years to come....prospective guests do not like booking with a host who has a record of cancelling reservations, and the record will show on your profile and listing......it give them the jitters and they book elsewhere. So it will not just cost you now, it will cost you long into the future.

I would suggest that as a gesture of goodwill and as part of your learning curve you just accept this current reservation, explain to the guest you are new and made a mistake but you will honour the reservation as a matter of principal. At least that way youi may end up with a good review....and that is something!

Cheers.....Rob

[Shawna40]

Thanks a lot Rob for the explanation i really appreciate!

[Ben551]

Great explanation @Robin4 🙂