Non refundable reservation

[Alice1932]

I had a guest not show up for a two night stay (day of check-in)and wants to arrange another date to stay since he couldn't make it.  He did book a non-refundable room at a discounted rate.  What should I do?  Honor another date?

[Greystone0 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Alice1932  - 

a few observations:

Guest can still leave a review even though he didn't show up. Technically this is against AIRBNB policy but getting a review removed for this reason seems almost impossible (if a poor review is written with low stars that is, otherwise, who cares).

You have a few options:

- stick to your policy. time isn't interchangeable and same day reservation changes are odd. 

- just as an aside - the non -refundable, 10% discount option, for us, ALWAYS has a catch. These are guests who are stretching their funds/budget and often end up needing to cancel anyway. On our end, when we had this enabled and a reservation came thru we ALSO said - "you realize you made a non-refundable reservation, please confirm on your end and  if you haven 't already, consider travel insurance in case something comes up". This is a problematic choice and never seems to go well for either side.

- since your listing is new you will want to really consider the idea of having a low star rating sitting on your listing. It would be difficult to absorb. And this sucks to say this, but you may want to just let this go. If you can absorb the loss, just let it be canceled. I wouldn't try to reschedule. Just let this person go away. 

I hate all of these options, by the way. If you wish to use this platform then you will need to worry about your star rating unfortunately. 

Good luck!

[Alice1932]

Thank you @Greystone0 . 

[Helen3]

If the guest wants to book a new date then he needs to make and pay for a new booking.

its not your fault that he chose not to use the space or let you know he wouldn't be staying. 

he choose a cheaper rate knowing the booking would be non refundable.

@Alice1932 

there is a risk that the guest will leave a bad review but you can leave an honest one too. 

[Alice1932]

Thus was my thought as well.  Thank you. @Helen3 

[Elisa]

Hi @Alice1932 😊, 

Thank you for asking this here!

I’m glad you found hosts trying to help you in the community.

What did you end up deciding about this guest?

Looking forward to hearing from you.