Guest change dates

[Vicki614]

Hi

I’ve been hosting for a few years and haven’t encountered this. This is my home - I have a 7 night minimum booking requirement with a strict cancellation policy. 
Guests with a booking in late October (made many months ago) have advised me that because of ‘circumstances’ they need to move their booking back by a few days.  I can’t accommodate their later dates and my calendar shows those dates as blocked.  This means they’d only be able to stay on 3 nights of their original 7 night booking. 
I booked a week long overseas trip during the exact dates of their original booking so I can’t be flexible. 
I have explained this to them and I’m sure they aren’t happy.  I’m  loathe to refund them for the 4 nights they can’t stay. I’m concerned that they’ll leave a bad review because of this. 
Any advice welcome please - thank you!

[Kia272]

@Vicki614  They knew your cancellation policy when they booked. This is their problem, not yours. Make AirBnB aware of the issue so that any bad review can be considered a retaliation review. 

Your other option is to do a partial refund of the nights they "can't" use. Throw some kind of surcharge in there so they take a hit, but give them something. It's really not acceptable of them to put you in this situation. 

"Circumstances" could be anything. We all have "circumstances", it's just not necessarily a reason to put someone in the hospitality industry on the spot. 

[Vicki614]

Thank you for your wise words. It’s good to know the phrase ‘retaliation review’. As you say it’s their problem not mine - but I’ve not had this situation before and I don’t feel they’re being fair to me. ‘Circumstances’ can mean anything…..as a token of ‘goodwill’ I’m offering them a refund for 2 of the 4 nights they ‘can’t’ stay. I’ve yet to receive their acceptance of this. If not, I’ll be tempted to agree to just cancel the booking and be done with it!
 

[Shirley26]

The money isn't worth it.   Refund them and go enjoy your trip.

[Vicki614]

I’m inclined to agree!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Vicki614 There is no way out of this. The choices were

money and bad review vs

no money and no review vs

some money and possibly bad review.

You make the choice and have to hope the money is worth the angst.

[Vicki614 · Accepted solution]

Good summary of options, thank you! The money certainly isn’t worth the angst.

[Liliana179]

The way I have handled a similar situation is to offer, as a courtesy, (and I would put it that way to your guests) a credit for a future four night stay. 

[Vicki614]

Interesting idea. And you’d hope they wouldn’t take you up on it?  My problem here is that it’s my home so I’d need to vacate it and that won’t necessarily work for me. I’m inclined now to just ask them to request I allow them to cancel entirely and be done with it!