I need to cancel a reservation

[Candace12]

So I'm new to this and I accepted a reservation knowing they may need to stay in town another week.  They accpeted on the basis that I agreed to cancel anotehr person coming next weekend if they had to stay in town longer for work.

So I now want to cancel the guy coming on the weekend of the 23rd so these current guys can stay longer, but it says my listing will remain unavailable and on top of that I wouldn't get superhost status for a year.

Do I have any options here? Like maybe ask the guy to cancel his reservation? 

I really wanted superhost status but unfortunatley I had automatic booking on and this guy booked before I really knew what I was doing...

[Rachel128]

Nothing you can do. Don't do favors for guests. Set strict rules and abide by them and expect them follow. leave honest reviews. Don't worry about being "nice". It is a business and have a right and duty to run it properly.

[Candace12]

It is a business and as such I don't want my condo empty - these people were willing to book for an extended period which as a busines owner is going to pay my rent, while at the time, I only had one weekend visitor booked for the month of September. So I made a business decision to offer them to cancel this other person. 

I obviously made a blunder in assuming it would be okay to cancel the other guy, however my rationale at the time was that he has 5 days to cancel on me.  Also, I'm NOT going to be charged for the first time cancelling and I just started, so superhost status is still a year away anyway. 

[Terry-And-Lori0]

Candace

You cant do that.  Once you except a reservation stick by it.  It will hurt you in the long run.  It will show

on your review.  As a business yes you thought it was the right move.  But realisticly it really hurts you in the long run.

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

The reason for the penalties is that you are ruining other people's travel plans - and messing them around. You are unlikely to get and sympathy from Airbnb as your reasons for the cancellation do not fall under extenuating circumstances.

[Annette33]

Do NOT cancel the guest coming on the weekend of the 23rd:

you will incure penalties, either $50.00 or $100 will be subtracted by Airbnb from your next pay out, and  your calendar will remain blocked, the automated review on your place, like: " host cancelled.." is not good to have right off the bat, and also super host status will be further away from you than before.

Next time guests want tentative favors: you could block out those days on your calendar so nobody else can book them, and then, when your guests decide one way or another, unblock those days so that they can alter their reservation. If they don't want it then, it would be open to other potential guests.

But best is always for guests to book, maybe later change their booking: but they need to commit, or you are easily getting short changed in the process.

As it is: you can not expect the potential guest coming on the 23rd to do you a favor and cancel himself (and incur fees for that..) . Even if he agrees and you agree to refund him those fees, it's just a headache - and it's not professional!

Before thinking of becoming super host (really, it's no big deal, it happens automatically once you fulfill certain, rather easy to reach requirements..), please familiarize yourself thoroughly with the rules and regulations of Airbnb. You are now running a business,  and you need to know the ins and outs.

In this forum, you can follow what other hosts are dealing with, a great way to learn about what to do, and what not to do. 

Good luck!

[Helen3]

Hopefully you can see it's really unfair of you to cancel your guest who is coming at the weekend of the 23rd. They made the booking in good faith. If you cancel you will get financial penalities, the dates will be blocked and you won't have superhost status for at least a year.

It will also show on your listing and put off other guests from booking.

You should have told your first guests you could only accomodate them until the 23rd as you had an existing booking.

You can't ask the guest to cancel he will lose his fees and then has to find somewhere else. This is not fair to him.

If your other guests are looking for a longer term stay, suggest they find somewhere else and then if your space is free after that they can return.