No show guests gets a refund!

[Roseanna9]

Hi everyone. 

really pulling my hair out- please help. 

we had a booking cancelled by Air BnB due to card payment issues. When the lady tried to rebook someone else had take her dates in an instant booking. 

this instant booking was the first I heard of the issue. So I messaged the new guest saying I thought there must be a calendar issue and I’d look into it but the house was booked. 

this was on Tuesday for a Saturday booking. 

air BnB said his booking wa genuine, paid for and confirmed so I would incur costs to cancel, so I went ahead with it (despite feeling bad for the original lady) 

the guy received confirmation and arrival instructions yet today (Sunday, check out day) messaged me asking for a refund as he had only just seen my message from Tuesday when I first thought there was a double booking. 

air BnB have now refunded him! What?! Nothing gave him the impression the booking wasn’t going ahead! 
 
air BnB support keep saying “the house was double booked and when he got there someone was there”. Simply not true- no one was there yesterday because he never bothered to even turn up. He admits this when he said he was in a town 35 mins away. 

please help! 

[Shelley159]

Hi @Roseanna9 

This is very unfortunate! 

It sounds like it was a one-night booking (Saturday only), so at least the damage is limited.

Can you see whether it was processed as just a refund, or a cancellation?

I worry that it went through as a host cancellation, which will count against you.

I doubt you'll get your money back, but it may be worth trying to argue that it at least shouldn't be recorded as a host cancellation due to the confusion.

As I think you realise, the problem was the fact that you mentioned "double booking" to the new guest - you should only have explained the situation to the original booker (who lost out, but it wasn't your fault) and let the new booking go ahead smoothly.

I can't see your calendar as your profile only says Guest (are you a co-host?), but you could check whether Saturdays are far more popular that other days, and perhaps consider a minimum weekend stay or a slightly higher price on weekends.