Guest requested to change reservation dates and then cancelled.

[Emilia5]

Hello: I have a guest who was supposed to stay at my place last week. The day before check-in he said because of a storm his entire group will not make it and if I would be willing to give him a different weekend. After going back and forth with different weekend options he decided on a weekend two weeks from his original booking. I did not charge him and gave him the new weekend for no addiotional cost from the goodness of my heart even though I have a strick cencellation policy and could have charged him. 

Now, he just canceled the new weekened and got more than half his money back. I think this is ridiculous and I feel like he tricked me into allowing to change the weekend so he could get at least some money back as opposed to nothing if he canceled his original booking. 

I really need help on this matter and feel as if I, the owner of the home, is being used and taken advantage of. This is completely unjustice.

Thank you.

[Wendy117]

I hate this AIrbnb scam loophole.   Often I wold happily accept a late change request except I have had this happen to me before. Strict cancellation - a change request a few days before booking - then cancellation. Have even read of guests doing on day of check in - getting both a full refund and a stay!   This loophole means I cant be accommodating to my guests - give them a seamless experience.  I currently have a young cash strapped group who have asked to reduce their stay by 2 days.  I rejected the change. I don't mind the reduction as I have a booking straight after but how dumb that I have to give them cash and have the days blocked in my calendar all to avoid a scam loophole!  And this original post was 2016 so not changing any time soon.

[Gillian166]

hello again, i was searching this topic again after another guest asked to move their non-refundable trip to next month. Does anyone know the answer to my question above?

[Ann72]

I don't know if you can change the policy or have a certain one in place for certain dates @Gillian166 (I doubt it), but reservations are always tied to the original date of booking no matter how many times guests change the dates.  This is to prevent them from gaming the system and trying to get a free 48-hour cancellation when they change their minds.  I have had guests try this and fail.  It's a nice safety measure.

[Wendy117]

@Ann72   Is that true?  I have been under the impression that a change request is a new booking with a new date so have been refusing late change requests.  Are you sure?  I would love to give my guests a better service.

[Ann72]

@Wendy117  Yes, I am sure that the booking is forever tied to the original booking date, no matter how often it's changed.  The original booking date is the date that will be tied to the cancellation policy.

[Ellen932]

It's your business; You decide your cancellation policy.

[Wendy117]

@Ann72  @Gillian166  I have tried to get confirmation from CS - it is the 48hour cancellation after a booking is made that I am concerned that they can cancel for 48hours after change is made.  Have read on here somewhere that has happened.  Anyway I am not going to accept the change via Airbnb even though you have both told me otherwise as I am worried - probably unnecessarily - better safe than sorry.  There are some pretty scary things being reported by hosts on here lately. Thank you both for your responses.

[Gillian166]

@Wendy117  afaik, the changed booking isn't new, so the 48hrs thing won't apply.

and to answer my own question from a few months ago, no you cannot set a different cancellation policy to a certain time period. eg, if i wanted to set Strict to the Xmas week, I can't do that, i have to set strict across all times. 

[Gillian166]

bummer. i'd like to be able to change it should a guest try this on, and change it to Strict. 

on the other hand, I try to operate my business as "what would I would to happen were I a guest", and any Friday/saturday booking is 99% likely to be re-booked. chalk it up to cost of doing business. 

[Ann72]

I just saw this (no @ tag, @Gillian166), and you make a good point.  Mine is set to strict, so when people cancel and then ask for a refund, I say technically no, but in practice will refund when any of the vacated dates are re-booked.  And as you note, that almost always happens!

Now today I got a cancellation from someone for Labor Day weekend, a big getaway weekend.  This weekend has been blocked for three months, so although I will probably re-book it, I'm not feeling too charitable toward this guest today!

[Ann72]

@Gillian166 @Wendy117  That cancellation I mentioned above for Labor Day weekend...the original booking was made last December and was changed four times over the course of a couple of weeks.  It as then cancelled in March, after the free cancellation period was over.  Yesterday I got a 50% payout for it.  The dates had long since been rebooked, but this time around, I'm probably not going to refund the small amount received on the cancelled booking.  The guest never asked for it so I'm going to stick to my policy.

[Gillian166]

@Ann72 

Yeah it’s the guests who book non-refundable to get the 10% discount, and then later ask to cancel and be refunded …. Ugh. 

[Gillian166]

hello from 2022!

Q: if a guest approaches me to make an alteration, can i change my cancellation policy before they do the reservation? will that work? 

and, is there a way to have a custom cancellation policy for just a few weeks? 

[Tracy559]

The original post was in 2016 and now is 2021. Can't believe Airbnb didn't take any action in the past few years! 

[Tracy559]

This just happened to me and Airbnb refused to get my money back. Guests canceled and they got a full refund. They are just taking advantage of the host being nice and understandable. 

[Sarah977]

@Tracy559  Yes the guests are taking advantage. Just don't agree to a date change anymore unless it's so far in advance that if the guest cancels you'll still have time to fill the dates. 

A guest once pulled this on me, but I don't necessarily assume she did it for nefarious purposes and she cancelled the second booking 3 weeks before the check-in date, so I was able to get another booking for those dates.

[Dimitar27]

The same happened to me once, but the calendar was full anyway and the date was taken just few hours later.

[Lindi40]

@Sandra126  @Emilia5 was wondering about this loophole and saw this post. Its a bit dated. does anyone know if Airbnb have done something to combat it? e.g. no cancellations when date adjustments takes place

[Helen3]

No;  it’s up to us as hosts to not agree to a change of dates that would impact on our cancellation policies.

it’s one of my key considerations when a guest asks for a change of dates @Lindi40 

If a guest wants to change dates at short notice which impact on my policy, I let them know they can cancel and rebook and IF I can rebook the dates they were originally travelling on I will consider a proportional refund. 

[Sandra126]

Just had this happen with a guest arriving for a one nighter tomorrow, wanted to change to a date in May. I said no, you need to cancel and I will refund if I fill the date, being such short notice. I assusmed he would be able to cancel of I let him do it, which is clearly something that is happening! All Plus hosts have to have moderate-flexible policy, by the way.