Thoughts on Airbnb guest alteration requests

[Vera-and-Roger0]

A guest just made an alteration request on the calendar, the original date was a perfect fit and now they wish to arrive two days later making it harder to get those days occupied. Plus they wish to stay one more night than previously and they will pay less than originaly because of the price fluctuation. So I will lose at least 3 days of earnings because of this.

Don't find documentation about how the hosts can defend themselves from alteration requests: either they accept the new reservation (even if it's not good ) or they suffer penalty in declining it. Did not find a way to update the prices on an alteration request. Think alteration requests should give the opportunity to the host of updating the price as up as the original price agreement between both parts.

It's like this : as a guest I make a reservation for some host on the calendar and accept that original price. Then as guest again, I'd look from time to time if the host is making price changes  on the calendar and at the last minute ask for an alteration request. The guest would leave the host in a position of having to accept the change in reservation or having a rating penalty on airbnb.

Many hosts fluctuate their prices when the dates are becoming closer, so I think there should be some information about this kind of situation.

[Megan874]

I just had a guest request new dates 3 months from now when they were supposed to arrive in 4 days. It’s a busy holiday weekend and I won’t be able to rebook. They requested another holiday weekend and would receive money back since the rates are lower. This is the second time they have requested to change the dates. I accepted the first time since it was soon after they booked but declined the latest request because i have a strict cancellation policy and am shocked Airbnb allows a date change after the refund window is well past. I asked the guest if they planned to make the booked dates work or cancel but they haven’t responded. I’m very concerned this will lead to a negative review or worse. I should not be put in this position this close to the check in date.

[Steve55]

As I've found to my cost, there is no plenalty when a guest shortens their stay.  We apply a strict cancellation policy that allows guests to cancel up to 7 days before arrival for a 50% fee.  3 weeks before arrival  the reservation was shortened from 18 to 4 nights, which change was accepted in the anticipation of compensation which has been refused by Airbnb.  When I rang them they informed me they don't operate a formal complaints procedure.

My lessons are:

Airbnb are basically unregulated and do whatever suits them

Don't try to be too nice to guests.  In future we will not accept alteration requests that shorten the stay.  

[Michal8]

I totally agree, Airbnb should do something about it.

Guests who changed their mind simply go with an alternation to shorten their stay and they pay, for example, for only one day instead of paying for an initial booking, which was 2 weeks in my case.

[Michal8]

very true, 

I had a girl who booked for 2 weeks. My cancellation policy is strict. She changed her mind

and shortened her stay to.. 2 days; I lost almost all the money, not to mention that I had to change

my vacation plans etc. It's a lose/lose situation for hosts. You can decline it, but then you'll get a bad review, 

for 99%.

[Michal8]

Suggestion, you can always ask a guest to send a request to shorten their stay by half, then it will work as a strict cancellation, 50/50.

[Neti1]

Wouldn't it depend if you want to open up the dates that are being cancelled to possibly be rebooked?  I think the operative word here is "request." What's to stop you from declining the request as sent by the guest, and sending your own alteration request with a price that takes into account your cancellation policy for the cancelled dates?  You can explain to the guest that technically they are cancelling, and are in fact free to do so, and that you are not able to simply refund all the money.  Personally, I would add that in case I am able to rebook and to the extent that I recoup any of the loss, I would be happy to refund more when/if that happens.

[Ricardo85]

"You can explain to the guest that technically they are cancelling, and are in fact free to do so, and that you are not able to simply refund all the money."

Very interesting POV.

[Vera-and-Roger0]

Hi, I mean if the guests knows about the free unbooked days and you decline because of price, they'd probably leave a bad review. For the presented situation, I accepted the reservation and the result was: lost some money for and it wasn't good on the calendar for other bookings.

[Roxanne16]

It's a bummer, but it's goes with being in the "hotel" business. It's just the nature of the beast. I asked to change my reservation last minute and they declined. I wont give them a bad review, because I understand that they are not a hotel that can absorb the costs, but its a bummer for me, because they had a "flexible" cancellation I thought. Oh well!

[David196]

As a host, I like to treat my guests fairly. My cancellation policy is "Strict: 50% refund for 1 week's notice" so when a guest informs me of any alteration given 1 week's notice and it does not affect any other existing booking, I will do a 50% refund for the reduced days.

If they do leave a bad review, the only way to handle this is to reply to the review explaining that it is unfair for the guest to leave a bad review.

[Michal8]

Moreover , you can always call Airbnb , explain the situation and ask them to delete a bad review, believe it or not, trust me I was successful twice. They will examine the whole situation, including even reading personal messages. 

[David196]

After you receive a bad review, just reply nicely to the review and explain that it is against airbnb policies to lie about the listing simply because the guest requested for an alteration that you are not able to approve.

[Gonzalo29]

Hi guys:

I see most of you are hosts, so hopefully you can help me. I booked an apartment for one week. The final price, with fees and all, was $529. After the reservation is confirmed, I recieve a message from the host saying requesting an alteration in the price. It went from $529 to $788. I asked her to reconsider since thats almost a 50% increase and far from fair, but I was willing to negotiate something in between/ She claimed she made a mistake since she's new but price increase would remain. I decided to decline the request. But I'm in limbo now. What does it mean for me and for her that I declined the request? What do you recommend I do? Thank you for your help.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

@Gonzalo29  You were right to decline her request.  At this point she has two options: (1) Suck up her mistake and host you at the originally paid price, or (2) She will cancel your reservation and incur the numerous penalties for doing so.  If she cancels, you will receive a 100% refund.  If she requests additional money from you once you arrive, you absolutely do not have to and should not pay.  It is against Airbnb policy for a host to request cash outside of the Airbnb system.

[Neti1]

Hi Vera, I saw that you said "Did not find a way to update the prices on an alteration request."  It can be done, easily on computer, not sure of the procedure using the app, but you can use the mobile website on the phone if necessary.

Thanks once again to Dave and Deb for this article:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Change-Price-Number-of-Guests-Check-in-or-Check-out-Date...

If you had an Instant book and a guest was trying to make you change the price because they noticed your prices are lower now, and you felt as if they would give you a bad review otherwise because of the tone of the conversation, that would feel uncomfortabe. In that case I would have thought you could cancel penalty free on the basis of being uncomfortable with the reservation.  That's what I would do. If not an Instant book, I would suggest not cancelling because of the penalties. You can explain that as dates get filled by people making reservations, who obviously have first choice, the other available dates necessarily fluctuate as you need to try and fill all the dates. That's no different than buying something and a week later there's a sale, too bad! (no need to menyion that to the guest though)

I've never had a guest try to pull that on me, and I hope I never do!

Because change requests made by hosts are very flexible you can negotiate in the case of people needing to change their dates.  Try to look at it from the guest's point of view.

That's my two cents : ) Neti