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I have a reservation for 2 days in the middle of September.
A new guest books for –almost– the whole month, realising that I have a booking in the middle of the month.
She contacts me asking if she can book the entire period (which for me is great).
Is there a way to cancel the 2 days reservation to make space for the 30 days reservation?
Airbnb’s cancellation policies are pretty strict (it would block those dates) but i find this situation a win-win for both me as a host and airbnb as a platform earning from % over bookings.
Did anybody already do this? Is there any way to solve this
apart from trying to contact that person and making the deal privately? (which is –also– against airbnb’s terms and conditions)
Why doesn’t your guest goes for 2 days somewhere else, just for those 2 days?
I had guests who wanted to stay 10 days, but I was booked for 1 day In a middle of this period. They just rented one day nearby, and then came back to me… I mean, you can of course cancell, but I know Airbnb doesn’t like it.
Be very careful with 30 day reservations. Depending where you live, that can turn a guest into a “tenant.” And you may have to go through a lengthy eviction process to remove them.
Sometimes these types prey on newbies who don’t understand their local laws.
I don’t even know if Airbnb would allow you to cancel and then rebook the dates. I think that when the host cancels they block off your calendar. I don’t know this for sure. But it makes sense that they would.
What about the guest who booked already? If I were the guest you would have to make it worth my while to cancel for you, and book another place. And you could go through all of that and even get the current guest to agree to it by paying him off. But in the end that 30 day guest may never even end up booking. Or, they reveal to you at the last minute they need to bring a dog or more people, etc. Often times people do not reveal things until they think you have invested so much time, and will be willing to bend your rules so you don’t lose out. Or the person can say - Sorry but I found another place…thanks anyway.
I know it hurts to lose such a booking, but, I think, that’s the biz - that’s the way it goes. The other reservation was there first. You have to honor that.
I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I booked a place in advance, spent the time shopping, comparing, etc. - put my money down and checked it off my to-do list, only to be cancelled. Wouldn’t we all love to play around with people’s lives to maximize our profits at the expense of our guests? No, that’s not the way to play nice.
Are you still considering this or have you made a decision? Please keep us posted. I really hope it doesn’t come back to bite you in the butt and you lose both reservations. Or you end up trying to evict a long term guest.
I have come across some listings where the host cancelled and Airbnb makes some sort of post in your reviews. I believe it says something along the lines of “host cancelled such and such days before arrival.” - You may get travelers who are hesitant to book with you in the future, and they may just skip over your property.
Well said dc mooney. This is why AirBnB really holds our feet to the fire about cancellations. It’s just bad customer service to cancel without having a compelling reason. When you agree to a booking you now have a contract with a guest. You can breach the contract if you want, but there are consequences. if you want to take a risk of not booking someone because you might get a more lucrative booking, then don’t accept that initial booking in the first place. That’s how I look at it.
Yes, and although its unrewarding to be a Superhost, those of us that are, and guests in the know are aware that we’re the ones that have never cancelled a guest, at least not for the past year. I know other hosts keep to the same standard. It means holding to every commitment, because whatever you do will have a huge impact on other people, and good hosts think of others.
We haven’t cancelled a booking in over 3 years since we have been hosting, and we have almost weekly bookings come in for our entire home which price in the thousands, when we have just a room booked for a couple of hundred dollars. Although it means ‘losing’ tremendous amounts of money, we hadn’t even dreamed of canceling those that made the booking first. Even if it occurred moments before. It just doesn’t work that way.
I understand your situation, but ‘Chasing better deals’ usually ends up with you Losing. believe me, i’ve done it. what if you cancel then the 30 day person doesn’t book, it will happen. and that idea of moving people is dumb. and shows no understanding of guests. when i was looking for a place while working out of town, people would offer their place, then i look and they had various listings during that time period, their idea was that i would move elsewhere for a few days or weekends or during the middle of the week. Sure i enjoy packing up and moving back and forth. (sarcasm)
I would not cancel. The hit to your reputation will not be worth it. Besides, a bunch of shorter bookings would be more advantageous in terms of the price. I love shorter term rentals and like to take a day off here and there so I can do the cleaning at my leisure. If I only had longer term guests, I wouldn’t be able to do that because I make less.
Cancelling in favor of a better booking looks a bit greedy and, believe me, all your guests will eventually start to pick up on that attitude, which will be bad for your business. I know the income we make can be great, but really, this is a business where you have to roll with the punches.
I agreew with the idea of telling the booking you can take them for the whole month aside from the two days. Tell them to go off to a different place for those two days. People understand these things. You cannot cancel the two day and not be blocked anyway, so you might as well offer the option.
September is long gone. What ended up happening with this?
I had a situation like this and requested the guest booked for one day in the middle of the month to consider canceling and another listing, and I offered to help them find alternatives and took quite a bit of time, finding something they liked as an alternative.
They were appreciative, cancelled, and when I offered to refund any airbnb fees they may have been charged (very small) they said not to bother.
So it worked out in the end, and I didn’t have to cancel them!
