Guest asked me to cancel a reservation

[Arturo292]

I had a guest that had a reservation for 6 months starting on January. In February, she met a friend from her college and wanted to move in with her cause her friend could not afford the other room in my apartment. The two of them study all the time in my apartment, and some days her friend even stays at my place. She asked me to cancel the reservation for her, I told her I could not do it otherwise I would get penalized. What if she asks me to change the reservation dates to a shorter her stay? Should I decline or should I accept? She was perfectly happy staying at my place and all of the sudden she says she cannot afford it anymore. 

[Dale711]

Salut @Arturo292,

You’re right. you do not accept the cancellation request from guest, cause you’ll get the host penalty.  

Obviously, they met each other and wish to move in together in to one room for safe up.

As for long term booking, Airbnb only responsible for the first month rental.

Host may take risk can’t get the payment for the continued month in long term rental agreement.

We’ve the similar experience, two guests met each other decided to move in together to shared in one room and request to cancel the other room immediately.

Since the guest has block 6 months in the calendar,  we do keep the reservation as it’s confirmed.
Of course, the guest will try other way to get the payment refund, send us the alteration date request to check out early.

Even so, host and guest are no times limited to accept or decline the alteration date request, if the guest go thought with Airbnb Support Help Center,  the ambassador will request host to respond in 72 hours, otherwise, will decide the case for us.

* Guest have 6 months reservation from the January, but wish to cancel the reservation in February. We can try in the fair ways for both side, discussed and communication with the guest alteration check out date by April, so we can secure the March rental and reopened the next 3 months and hope to get the new booking.

We can’t do the alteration in  the next day as guest wish, because it’s will take some times for us to get the new booking. 

It’s also depending case by case, as in the listing cancellation terms.

* You’ve the right to keep the reservation confirmed as it’s is.

You do not need to accept any change, if is a false claim.        

[Elena87]

@Arturo292 

Do not cancel yourself, that's the golden rule.

With a long term booking, the guest has committed to giving you 30 days paid notice to exit.

The guest can send you an alteration request to shorten the stay for you to approve or automatically change the end date themselves without confirmation if it is at least 30 days into the future.

However, beware, as the guest pays in monthly installments, you can be at risk not to receive all or part of the payment if the guest declines to pay.

Once again, it shows how weak the hosts hands are over a long term booking without the usual fall back of a detailed contract and deposit.

Maybe you also want to enforce some rules relating to unpaid visitors to your place.