Manager booked on blocked date

[Joan3121]

I am the owner of a 5-5 lake front property. I hired a management/cleaning company when we first listed on Airbnb. The manager is set up as the "host" (per his request) and I am the co-host. Today he booked a large group for December 23-25 EVEN THOUGH the 25th was blocked for our family's personal use.

He will not admit his mistake and said I will get fined by airbnb for cancelling the booking and he will not do it because he will lose his super host status.

What should I do??

[Joan2709]

Hi @Joan3121 

This is one of the reasons many hosts will not use a management company, as they usually insist on being listed as the Primary Host and of course, all the reviews go with them. If you decide you wish to terminate your relationship, you will have to start a new listing and all the reviews stay with the management company you hired. Many choose just to hire an experienced co-host instead of a management company. This allows you keep "ownership" but sill have the benefit of an experienced co-host caring for your listing. If you terminate your relationship with a co-host, you retain full control of the listing and reviews. 

You could try reaching out to the guest and explain these dates were supposed to be reserved and due to a scheduling issue the dates are no longer available and ask them to cancel. They would have to do that within 48 hours of booking in order to get a total refund. If they cancel after that, it would depend on your cancellation policy and they would not get back the Airbnb Guest Service Fee. I guess you could offer to refund them the Airbnb Guest Service Fee if it is after the 48hour free cancellation period. 🙁

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

That's an unfortunate situation, indeed!  I'd be very unhappy too!

If this reservation is solid, and cannot be cancelled (those guests are the rope in this tug of war), perhaps he can reserve a similar property with comparable location, amenities and value for you, paid out of his pocket? As the property owner, his employer, you might want to have a look at the contract you have. Perhaps you might find a more loyal co-host for the future, with a different business arrangement that gives you the first chair? Let us know the outcome, please, and best of luck resolving this, with or without legal advice. And may your family Christmas turn out to be a good one. 

[Joan2709]

Hi @Joan3121 

Re-read your post and I understand now they are not “property managers” per se. If you are the listed owner with Airbnb and you have only made them “temporary primary hosts”, you can remove them as primary host and make yourself primary host again and remove them as co-hosts. I believe then all the reviews will stay with you as the owner (primary host), but you would have to verify that with Airbnb. Of course, you would have to have plans in place to handle all the cleaning for current bookings and all the other tasks of a host until you can find another co-host. This is all dependent upon what your current contract allows you to do. It may specifically prevent you from removing them as primary host.  

@Gavin-and-Jo0  make a good point that the current booked guests can check out on the 25th and your family can check in, but of course the house would not be cleaned yet and ready for guests. Your home is large and having co-hosted on a large property I know it takes 5-6 hours to clean after a large group leaves, so that may not work for you and your family.

[Gavin-and-Jo0]

@Joan2709 

I wasn't really suggesting that as an option for the op particularly because it is Christmas day  but more of an explanation of why even if the manager had blocked the 25th as requested, a booking for the 23rd to 25th could still be made.  The only way it wouldn't have been possible is if a prep day had been scheduled before/after bookings.  As the property allows 2 night stays I did assume a prep day to be unlikely as that would potentially leave a lot of unbookable days.

Hopefully a solution has been found that works for everyone.

[Joan2709]

Thanks @Gavin-and-Jo0....hadn't even looked at the min stays and what you say makes total sense. 😊

[Gavin-and-Jo0]

@Joan3121 

What were the actual dates that the calendar was blocked for your family?  If the 25th was blocked it would still allow a booking for 23rd to 25th (ie the nights of the 23rd and 24th) unless your settings leave a day or more in between bookings.  The other group would check out the morning of the 25th and your family check in the afternoon of the 25th. Could this be what happened?

Hope you can sort it out.

Jo

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Joan2709 If the manager booked the people to arrive on the 23rd and leave on the 25th then that is consistent with you wanting it to be blocked for the 25th. Airbnb and property managers work on nights not days. If you wanted the place from early on the 25th then you needed to block the 24th.

[Joan2709]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Gotcha...I was assuming for this large property they weren't doing same day check-ins as a checkout and had a preperation day after/before each booking? Would that work? If the guest checks out on the 25th and there is a prep day set on the listing it should block anyone from booking on the 25th?

Agree, the current "property manager" primary host should have blocked 12/24 and didn't?

[Helen3]

You can check on the listing to see if a rule set has been set up to block a day in between bookings. @Joan3121 

[Helen3]

Hi @Joan3121 

You should never let your cohost set up your listing under his or her profile, 

it should always be set up under your profile with the cohost added to your listing . In this way you get the reviews and ratings and if you are not happy with the cohost service you can give notice and manage yourself or use another cohosting service .

when you decided to stay for Christmas did you go into the calendar and block off the dates from 24 December . 

actually he is wrong as the listing is on his profile he will get fined if the booking is cancelled 

do you have any correspondence with the cohost about blocking dates from the 24th. If so, he should take the hit. If not it's a difficult one . 

by the way what made you choose this cohost he doesn't seem to have any listings of his own and isn't a superhost?