Guest wants to cancel early

[Marc7649]

Guest wants to cancel one night early out of a two night reservation, he is claiming that it's too cold and he cannot turn up the thermostat. However, the temperature is set at 69 and was at 69 when I got there, there's a fire place and he could have simply turned up the thermostat.

He's requested to revise his reservation through Airbnb for the one night.

Advice on what to do?

Thank you!

Marc

[Dale711]

Salut @Marc7649 ,

In my case, alteration date will be "decline " 

- as  in fact ' the temperature is set at 69 and was at 69 when I got there, there's a fireplace and he could have simply turned up the thermostat"

- the heater current is in function during the guest stay, so is not your fault.

- besides you have an indoor fireplace clearly described in your listing amenities. 

-If you decline the request, the guest may get help from the Airbnb support centre, so you need to respond immediately and defend with the evidence that you are on the right side. 

-please note that the guest also may leave you a negative review if you declining their request. So are you write an honest review about their behaviour. 

- you can consider changing your cancellation policy in strictly term to avoid future guest request alteration date after the check-in times.

Hope Airbnb support team does not deduct from your future payout and in your side. 😃

in Airbnb TOS >

Can I decline an alteration request?

Yes, both guests and hosts can decline an alteration request to keep a reservation as-is. Guests and hosts may send an alteration request if they’d like to make changes to a confirmed reservation. If you accept, changes to the confirmed reservation will be reflected immediately. If you decline, the previous reservation details will stay confirmed. If the price changes as a result of your requested changes, the charge or refund will be processed immediately after you accept the changes.

Here’s more info about alteration requests:

• There are no penalties for declining an alteration request
• While there are no time limits for responding to an alteration request, you can avoid cancelled reservations and miscommunications by responding quickly
• Alteration requests can only be sent once a reservation is confirmed, and you can send or receive an alteration request any time before checkout—even if a guest has already checked in                           

[Anonymous]

@Dale711   Cancellation policy does not have any impact on alteration requests. Those two things exist on separate planes.

@Marc7649 The part of the ToS that Dale quoted above is relevant to you for sure. The fact that you're also a relatively new host with only 14 reviews is also a factor to consider. I don't see a tactical advantage to forcing a guest to keep an active booking when they're clearly unhappy with their stay. You can make every effort to improve their experience when they have a complaint about something, but when you know that they'd rather just move somewhere else, the best possible compromise would be to accept a date change. At least you get to keep the rent for the night they actually stayed - this might not be the case if they escalate the complaint to AIrbnb.