Guest changed long stay, now I'm being charged

[Gabriel4142]

Hello,

Recently I had a guest book my airbnb for 2 months. They unfortunately had some issues back in their country and so they had to change their reservation (change, not cancel). They stayed for 3 weeks only. Airbnb is now charging me $300 as refund for the nights they didn't stay, because I (had to) accept the change request. How is this fair? I understand that if a guest wants to leave before the actual 2 months that's ok and things happen, but why would I be charged $300 for the nights they didn't stay, plus they got the room for a much cheaper rate for those 3 weeks. If they booked just the 3 weeks, the price would've been different but as they changed it, they got the 2-month nightly rate which is way less. Now I'm hosting people "for free" to pay back for the refund that I have to give the guest. Is this normal? To me it doesn't make any sense and sounds like I should NEVER accept a change request and always decline the request so that guests have to cancel, which in turn could affect the overall experience of the guest, how much they're charged, and leave a bad taste to what could've actually been a great stay...

Thoughts? Is there anything I can do about this situation after the fact?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Gabriel4142 the change request is usually clear in what additional or reduced revenue you will get so you must have agreed this when you accepted the change request.

[Lorna170 · Accepted solution]

@Gabriel4142   Had this been me, I would have explained to the guest that I would accept a change for 1 month versus 2, stating that the reduced rate that they received for their month plus booking was far less than the price that would have been quoted for the three weeks that they were able to stay.  I would show them the price that they would have paid for the three weeks in comparison to the month long booking, and stress that at a minimum, I should receive the month income, and that I will forego the income for the second month.

Hopefully the guest would comprehend that they were being "forgiven" for blocking the calendar for the second month and that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to rebook those dates.  

Unfortunately, as you did accept their change request, you are going to have to return the $300 for the nights that they did not stay, as well as "lose" the income from the second month unless you are able to rebook those nights.

As @Mike-And-Jane0  pointed out, the change request should have alerted you to the reduced or refundable income when the guest submitted it.

[Gabriel4142]

Thanks a lot for the comments, @Helen3 and @Mike-And-Jane0 as well. I think I saw the change, but I thought I could get a bad reputation due to not accepting the change request, this makes me confident for my next long-term stay that I have in a few weeks. It's a shame I didn't look for advice earlier.  Thanks a lot again!

[Helen3]

hello @Gabriel4142  Airbnb Help is a great website with FAQs around the basics of how Airbnb works. I would suggest its worth you familiarising yourself with it so you don't get caught out again.

[Helen3]

Hello @Gabriel4142  it's a shame you accepted the request to change the booking particularly when it would have showed a refund due to the guest. You didn't have to accept it you could have simply declined the request.

What you should have advised the guest to cancel the booking and they would then have had to pay 30 days cancellation from the day they cancelled booking under the long term policy.