Guests flight was cancelled

[Nima140]

I just received a text from the guest currently staying at our airbnb. She stated that her flight was cancelled and the earliest she could get another one is the following day. She asked me if she can stay an extra night due to this situation but I am not quite sure how to handle this?

[Helen3]

Hello @Nima140 

Text the guest back and tell her you have replied on Airbnb messaging

What it sounds like is that she wants to extend the booking at no cost so you in effect pay for her not being able to stay for the first night.

It is not your fault the guests arrangements have changed. If you have the following night free you can tell the guest she can extend the booking if she likes and that she just needs to go into the booking and amend her check out date and you will accept the amendment.

Say you are  sorry she won't be able to stay for the first night of her booking @Nima140 

[Nima140]

Thank you for the quick response! I appreciate the advice!

[Lorina14 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Nima140!

I’ve had a guest with a similar situation, you can call Airbnb and ask them to change the reservation or you or the guest can go into the reservation and extend it. It is up to your discretion if you are going to not charge her for this first night as she is extending the reservation.  I would if you could extend her reservation to the next day as it wasn’t her fault the flight got canceled/delayed. You will likely earn a grateful guest and a nice review. You also could potentially reduce the first night price only due to her circumstance, again it is up to your discretion.

I had another situation where a guest checked out, I cleaned it and held their bags till later and then they asked to stay again. I wished they decided earlier as I already cleaned it but I decided to waive the fee as a courtesy to them. They tipped me and gave me another nice review and were appreciative of accommodating them. 

Just reach out to Airbnb and they can help to make the reservation if the guest doesn’t want to modify the reservation or if you are having issue modifying it yourself.

[Lorina14]

@Nima140 

Please make sure to keep all communication in the Airbnb app or website as to protect yourself and Airbnb can review this if there are any complaints or concerns later.

Apologize for her delay/inconvenience, explain your house rules and stance and offer her your options for solutions (that you are comfortable offering to her). You could say that since I am a single host and not a hotel chain, I’m sorry that I cannot waive the first night or I can offer a reduced price but cannot waive it completely. Please let me know if you would like that and keep the current reservation or still would like to extend the reservation by one day.

[Nima140]

Thank you for your advice! I appreciate it. 

[Lorina14]

@Nima140  - you’re welcome! I hope that some of the wording can help when crafting a response to your guests or your future guests.  Being kind, restating your boundaries and rules, and offering them a choice of possible solutions helps the guest be informed, feel respected and allows them the choice to move forward,  This type of clear communication helps to prevent assumptions and potential negative feelings and poor reviews.

Wishing you the best for an acceptable resolution for all. Let us know how it plays out.  

[Nima140]

This is super helpful, Thank you!

[John5097]

@Nima140

(Edit: My first option would be to go to send guest a reservation alteration to move the check in and check out dates up one night for this situation. Go to reservation details, change dates, and submit, and they will get a notification and can approve or decline. Also send a message for them to approve and it will automatically change the reservation.)  


Both host and guest can created a booking alteration. You will see it in the guest trip details. If you create one day to extend reservation one night click submit and guest will get notification and either approve or decline. Guest can do this as well. 

be aware that it’s not possible to change the first day of a reservation on the day of check in. If you want to extend one night Airbnb will automatically calculate the rate and fees the same as if they originally included that night in original reservation. You can also enter a lower rate even the same as original booking. 

the other option would be for guest to create reservation alteration and host would approve or decline. I don’t think they can enter custom rate to add another night. However it still may be possible to alter reservation and move first and last night up a day.