Guest requested to change reservation dates and then cancelled.

[Emilia5]

Hello: I have a guest who was supposed to stay at my place last week. The day before check-in he said because of a storm his entire group will not make it and if I would be willing to give him a different weekend. After going back and forth with different weekend options he decided on a weekend two weeks from his original booking. I did not charge him and gave him the new weekend for no addiotional cost from the goodness of my heart even though I have a strick cencellation policy and could have charged him. 

Now, he just canceled the new weekened and got more than half his money back. I think this is ridiculous and I feel like he tricked me into allowing to change the weekend so he could get at least some money back as opposed to nothing if he canceled his original booking. 

I really need help on this matter and feel as if I, the owner of the home, is being used and taken advantage of. This is completely unjustice.

Thank you.

[Susan151]

This is becoming a common scam. You are certainly not the first person to report this behavior.

[Sylvia367]

Here is the shoe on the other foot.  We believe that our host had no more rooms to rent.  Many of our family had already filled the rooms available.  We asked for a cancellation that the host suggested, as there were no more rooms.  We have asked twice for a cancelation - within the period required.  Please check wth our host Dave. Please refund the $112.90 to the same credit card used to confirm the booking. 

Sincerely,  Sylvia & Cap Lyons.  Thank you

[Barb6]

I agree with what Susan said. Guests have learned to skirt around the cancellation policy. I do not beleieve you can do anything about it except, never do it again.

[Coln0]

Apparently this has became a "trick/tip" for the guest to get the money back legally. Airbnb should more aware on the increasing number of the reported case and set new restrictions. For example, no cancelation after alteration especially on date of travel or no refund on cancelation after alteration.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Flag him to AirBnB - and in future never accept cancellations. Get people to rebook and then once they stay for the new date you can refund them if you wish. Sad that AirBnB is pushing hosts into this position.

[David126]

Somebody mentioned that a flag initself does nothing, needs to be mutiple flags before ABB notices.

[Carla1056]

This will still not work, if the guest is rebooking 2 months out on a Strict cancellation policy, for example.  he books, you refund the original and then then can still cancel and get the entire refund because they are outside of the 30 days.

[David126]

I agree with the others, it is a common scenario, well it certainly seems to be.

I have allowed it wondering if it was a ploy but have yet to be caught out.

Logically a short notice cancellation, in your case within a week, should not be allowed, tell the guest they need to cancel and rebook.

[Sara--and-Kevin-0]

Perhaps you could offer that if they cancel and rebook another weekend, you will refund the cancelation fee once they have completed their stay. Just an idea. Thanks for the heads up about this scam.

[Robert78]

When I worked in corporate travel many moons ago, this ploy was a tactic I learned from other travel "professionals" for avoiding penalties when a client had to amend their itinerary; amend an existing reservation beyond the cancellation period, then cancel the reservation minutes after receiving a new confirmation from the property/hotel. It's as old as the hills. The hospitality industry has had to deal with this for decades, and now it's a feature of the sharing economy too.

It sucks, and it comes with the territory.

[Carol431]

This just happened to me 😞

in good faith, I allowed the alterations to dates and then they canceled!

[Sandra126]

Just had this happen with a guest arriving for a one nighter tomorrow, wanted to change to a date in May. I said no, you need to cancel and I will refund if I fill the date, being such short notice. I assusmed he would be able to cancel of I let him do it, which is clearly something that is happening! All Plus hosts have to have moderate-flexible policy, by the way.

[Lindi40]

@Sandra126  @Emilia5 was wondering about this loophole and saw this post. Its a bit dated. does anyone know if Airbnb have done something to combat it? e.g. no cancellations when date adjustments takes place

[Helen3]

No;  it’s up to us as hosts to not agree to a change of dates that would impact on our cancellation policies.

it’s one of my key considerations when a guest asks for a change of dates @Lindi40 

If a guest wants to change dates at short notice which impact on my policy, I let them know they can cancel and rebook and IF I can rebook the dates they were originally travelling on I will consider a proportional refund.