Cancelling an Instant Booking (how to cancel without penalty?)

[Ansar0]

Hi guys,

I am new to airbnb, and I have now got a few guests lined up, and hopefully more as my calender gets closer to opening up. I have a slight situation right now, where a very reliable and trustworthy tenant has requested to stay a little bit longer, which will overlap with my guests booking.

It was booked with instant booking, and the guest seems very nice. However, I have to cancel the booking.

When I started going through the options to cancel the reservation, there were warnings on every page about how I may lose my eligibility for Superhost status and other issues.

I read that cancelling "instant book" bookings are penalty free and should have no effect on my account status, but cancelling it through the website seems to be very daunting and will probably leave a big old negative on my brand new hosting account. 

Please advise on how to go about this, it would be highly appreciated! 

Thank you in advance. 

[Letti0]

You also realize your 1st - 3 guests are getting 20% of your too low price?  

[Ansar0]

Hi Letitia, 

I realize the price is a bit low at the moment. As I understand it from more experienced hosts, this seems to attract lower quality guests and not the type you want hanging around a valued piece of property. 

I am still in the learning phase, so as bookings pick up closer to the opening date of my calender I will be sure to move it up accordingly. 

Thank you! 

[Robin4]

Ansar- I know....... I am fully of bloody observations.....:-))

If I were you, I would snooze your listing until you are ready to take reservations.

Potential guests get frustrated looking at unavailable properties, and you views will fall away as your listing drifts further down in search rankings. When you first list Airbnb gives you preferencial placement to give you a bit of a push along....a bit of a hand. But after a few bookings you are expected to 'swim in the big pool' like the rest of us, and the algorithm that governs search placement is driven by 'Activity'!

By snoozing your listing and then re-activating it just before you are ready to take bookings your property becomes fresh business.

Also, snoozing your listing gives you plenty of time to get your property, your pricing and description set up so that you won't make any mistakes once those bookings start coming.

And once you have re-activated your listing then every few days keep something happening! Add a house rule or a photo.....put the price up $1 one day and then down $1 the next..... get some friends to hit the Contact Host tab and ask a question or two. It doesn't commit anyone to anything but it gets activity happening which will keep you prominent and keep your views up as far as search placement is concerned.

Ansar, in an area like Surfers you need to stay in the top 3-4 pages if you are going to get bookings. Once you slide down to page 10, you might as well find something else to do because nobody will ever look down that far to see you!

Just a thought!

Cheers......Rob

[Robert995]

How Do do I stop a guest from gaining automatic approval - I have had 2 instances recently where I have literallyh had 30mins notice, how can I look at these before a guest suddenly turns up on my doorstep. Also how do I alter "HighLights" mine says I have  "Smart Lock" facilities - I dont - How do I alter this ? 

thanks Rob @" Beautiful Benalong"

[Robin4]

Gee Rob, I have just spent the best part of twenty minutes looking over your listing and reading your reviews.

Mate, I know you mean well but I think you need to take a step back and consider what home hosting is!

First, lets get to your problem! To stop instant bookings turning up on half an hours notice go to your listing editing page and scroll across to 'Availability'  and set your prepartion time to 'Block one night before and after a reservation' and this will solve your problem. As far as the highlights are concerned there is not much you can do about that. I get them telling me 6 guests looked at my listing but booked properties that were $20 per night cheaper when I was fully booked for that month.....what-th!

Rob the thing you need to consider when someone is paying you good money to stay in your property there is an expectation that certain things will be honoured and respected.

A clean bed means exactly that....a newly made bed with freshly laundered linens, not just a few linens supplied on top of a previously used bed...in fact one of your guests said they had to actually go out and purchase new linens in order to sleep on your bed.

Rob in any listing the bed is the 'hero' of the stay. You must put effort into making that bed as good as you can. If a guest gets a good nights sleep they will be prepared to overlook other shortcomings in the property but, without that good comfortable sleep you are going to have an uphill battle getting good reviews.

My second observation.....you must respect a guests privacy....you can't just go walking into the space they have paid you for whenever you feel like it. Rob, that is just not good form.

Hosting does make you something of a prisoner in your own property! There are parts of it that become 'out of bounds' and you need to realise you have to modify your lifestyle to accommodate your guests.

I host in a cottage in the back yard, but I can't just go out into the garden and drop a fart when guests are there! I have to respect that I have to modify my behaviour to fit in with them.

Rob your reviews do not read well and I think you need to take a bit of notice of what your guests are telling you and act on them.

Remember when guests are paying you money you must fit in with them not the other way around.

Cheers....Rob

[Zolly0]

Hello Ansar,

Sometimes I have guest who want to stay longer, but  with Instantbook turned on, I'm afraid I have to say to them "no, sorry, someone is due on (whatever day)". Even though they are lovely people and I would love to extend their stay  😞

[Zolly0]

I have had 2 instances recently where a well reviewed Airbnb guest books in, but someone else turns up. Both were bosses booking for one of their employees to stay from interstate. Both gave no indication that this was a third party booking. Both times I had a chat with the person who turned up, found out what the story was, and made a decision to allow it. So far no problem.

However, if I am not happy with the person and say "sorry this is a third party booking I can't do this", does the boss get his money back or do I get to keep it? My CA policy is 5 days.