Airbnb doesn't pass guests' cancellation messages onto hosts

[Bob40]

I'd have thought among the 25 latest improvements, Airbnb could have found time to include passing guests' messages when they cancel onto hosts. Just had somebody cancel who had kindly written to explain they had to go on a conference trip but Airbnb didn't bother to pass it on. I only know because I wrote to ask why she'd cancelled.

[Jenny · Accepted solution]

Hi @Bob40 

Sorry to hear about this.

What method of contact did your guest use to send their message which lead to it not being passed on?

Jenny

[Bob40]

Thanks @Jenny for taking the trouble to reply. I don't know for certain but I guess there's a field when you cancel where guests are asked to explain their reasons. This is what she wrote:

"Hi Bob, I did say a reason when I cancelled but maybe Airbnb doesn’t send it to the hosts."

She went on to say she was super sad at having to cancel, however I knew nothing of this until I sent a fairly short message asking for an explanation.

I assume Airbnb uses that info for their monitoring but it would be courteous to us 'partners' if they passed it on.

If you need any details, happy to supply,

Bob

[Kia272]

@Bob40  Why do you need to know why someone canceled? As long as the cancellation is processed correctly per your policy, why do you care? 

[Bob40]

What a ridiculous comment! If I lose a week's rent on my cottage, of course I care. Airbnb makes it too easy for people to cancel as they only understand hotels. When you hold a rental unit for months - preventing other people from booking it - and then they cancel, I understandably want to know why. Turned out she had to go to a conference for work, which is fine. So why didn't Airbnb pass it on?

[Helen3]

In may case I care why people cancel because I want to know if it was in any way related to my listing and also because there maybe an opportunity to encourage them to book at another time @Kia272 

As business owners it's useful insight. 

[Bob40]

@Helen3Totally agree. Perhaps @Kia272 just rents an airbed on her sitting room floor.

[Kia272]

@Helen3 Presumably your property suited the guest when they booked. If they cancel, without having set foot on your property, then one can only assume that some circumstance having nothing to do with your property or AirBnB is motivating them to cancel. If it has nothing to do with your property, then why would you want or need to know the reason for cancellation?

And if @Bob40 thinks that's ridiculous, then I think his need to know is ridiculous, because god forbid we should each have our own opinions about things. Good grief. If you want to spend your lifetime worrying about why a guest never stayed at your property, then have at it.