My mother went peacefully at home to join the Lord about 4:00pm today, Saturday, June 17th.
She’d been fighting this brain tumor since I was a baby, and it started really going downhill in the past 2 or 3 years, with the worst just since February this year. In March, I thought she might have at least another 5 years. (age 60, and the surprise birthday party, which was MY idea, couldn’t have been better timing.) She was using a cane at that point, but do to a newly formed tumor on the side of the radiation one, an explosive rate of growth appeared, in a wheelchair a few weeks later, rapidly pushing against brainstem, and there was nothing else they could do at that point. So started home hospice at the end of April.
We have a 1-night booking for this Thursday, and this is a room in our house, so I don’t want to host when neither of us are there. (Parents are over 500+ miles away.) I sent the following message:
(guest name),
Hi. I hope that you are having a relaxing weekend. We regret to inform you, but my mom has been pretty sick for about the past year. Well, she went to Heaven a couple of hours ago. :’( For that reason, we will not be around for the Thursday -Friday stay that you have booked with us, for this coming Thursday.
In order to avoid host - penalty for cancellation of a guest’s trip, we would like to request that you cancel this from your end. We have our cancellation policy set on “flexible” which means that you should get 100% refund if you cancel with 24 hour notice. We would be willing to also refund you the service fee if you would like.
If need be, we can handle this through the AirBnB Resolution Center, for the “tragic event policy” or whatever they call it, but I think the easiest solution would be for you to cancel this stay with us, from your end.
We hope that you are able to find another place to stay, and thank you for understanding.
Kind regards,
Anne
Today at 7:17 PM
Hi Anne,
I’m really sorry to hear about your loss. Sure, I will go ahead and
cancel that now.
Best wishes,
(guest name)
Today at 8:17 PM · (guest name)
I see that her stay is still booked, and send the following response…
(Guest’s name)_,
Thank you for your condolences and understanding. I was just down there with them 6th -11 th, then told she’d stopped eating, so I knew end was near. She was so strong!
Yes, I learned back when we started this hosting, that it’s risky / penalty to cancel anybody which is probably why or 5-star-ratings is only 94%.
You should have a “cancel” button in your profile - or IF you prefer we will pay you back in full afterwards- in which case I’ve seen people do reviews just for communication. (But we don’t host stays when we’re not in town.)
Kindly,
Anne
Today at 9:44 PM
Her reply:
Okay, I think that I’ve chosen the right cancel choice, though it
requires that you confirm it. Let me know if it should work a different
way.
And apologies for the delay: my kids pulled me away from the computer
right after I last wrote.
Best wishes,
(guest’s name)
Today at 10:26 PM · (guest’s name)
I refresh the page, and see the
(Guest’s name) requests that you cancel. You have until Jun 18 at 10:23 PM to respond.
Cancel or Keep Reservation
SO… WHAT NOW???
I’VE NOT PUSHED ANYTHING, BECAUSE I LEARNED NOT TO, BACK IN JANUARY!
CAN i JUST PRESS “KEEP RESERVATION” BUT TELL HER TO PLEASE NOT COME, AND PROMISE TO REFUND HER??? OR SEND “a special offer” for some other date or price???
Please help! Thank you!