Cancelation hours before checkin / What to do?

43

Gotcha. That makes sense now, but is totally ridiculous.

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44

Day of booking? Screw 'em.

45

Day of booking? Nope. Not a dime. And this comes from a host who is usually overtly guest-friendly (“oh, you want a French press? Sure I’ll send that right over within two hours along with locally roasted coffee–enjoy!”)

It’s peak season around here and that means I’d be out a fair bit of coin that could have easily been booked by someone else. I like the idea of offering a credit at best to make a win-win for both.

46

Bottom line you don’t know these folks and don’t really know what is going on. I would follow the airbnb policy. It is there for a reason… to protect you and have you not inconvenienced. Someone else may have booked your place.

47

I stick to my cancellation policy. I heard a phrase once on here that said buyers are liars and I believe that is true. You have to do what’s right for you. I just had a guest who canceled saying she was ill, but didn’t cancel her reservation on the app or website. Because she did not cancel her reservation, the dates were not opened back up.

She called Air B&B after the reservation was over and wanted a full refund. I told Air B&B that that would be fine if she could provide documentation. She did not provide any . Then she went on the air B&B website and reviewed me saying a whole bunch of crap about how it’s about the money not the hospitality blah blah blah. I called Air B&B and they will probably remove the review.

I believe the reason that she did not cancel on the website was because she thought that if she did she would not receive a refund.

My opinion therefore is not to issue a refund. Another option would be to ask some probing questions to figure out what the holdup is. Nobody wants to be nosey however if you have a bit of a right to know since they’re canceling this hours before check in.

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48

We had someone who decided their boss didn’t care for the aesthetics of the closets (I know… ?) UPON CHECK-IN! I offered to shorten their stay by a few days and added an additional cleaning fee, they accepted.

Personally, in your case, I would do what I did for this guest and offer to charge them just for the first night or two so that you’re not completely put out, but that they’re not charged the full cost of the booking. In my experience, I’d rather get fussy/ iffy/ unsure guests settled out as soon as possible, as they may not be worth the management stress of keeping their entire booking. Better to save your property for respectful and responsible guests.

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