Dear fellow hosts,
I have an upcoming booking for a teacher for 10 days in November. On the other hand, a traveling nurse is currently at the apartment for a month and would like to extend his stay for another 2 months. The original 10-day booking for the teacher falls in the first 10 days of the period that the nurse wants to extend his stay. I have never been faced with a similar scenario and I’m at a loss.
What would you do? (1) cancel the teacher and suffer the consequences, or (b) tell the nurse that the place is not available for the extension period? Naturally, if I cancel the teacher’s stay, I will not be able to book the extension of the nurse via Airbnb.
Thank you for you input.
1 Like
I can only tell you what my policy is which is to never, ever cancel on guests. They might be coming for a vacation, a conference, a special event, a job interview, a festival, whatever - but personally I don’t want to disrupt their plans.
The nurse can’t really expect you to be able to extend his stay just like that without disrupting anyone else. And you can always book him for the time before and after the teacher’s stay if he wants to.
So my way would be to not cancel the teacher. Other hosts might feel differently.
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I would not extend, but if I did Air would not be involved.
RR
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I would simply tell the current guest that although you would like to have her stay longer you’re unable to accommodate her due to an existing reservation. I think he would understand. I know that it’s a monetary loss but fairness comes into play.
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Frankly, the Nov stay sets off red flags. Most teachers do not get off more than 4-6 days in Nov (Thanksgiving). I would be very suspicious of that.
Assuming that you like the male nurse (quiet, clean, etc), you can just book them DIRECT for the rest, and sign an iron-clad contract and take big deposits to protect your interests.
They should be interested, as it will save them all the Air fees, and you can offer a modest discount, since you would get a full booking and avoid cleaning and gaps between bookings.
Can be a win-win.
Oh - fyi - we never “do extensions”, or change bookings (gives guest a potential out for cancelation). We have taken new bookings for some additional days. But only if short term.
We would NEVER do anything close to 30 days using Air with any OTA (tenant / landlord laws apply).
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I tend to think of treating others the way I want to be treated. I would never cancel on a guest in order to take another booking whether it was an extension or a new booking. I would tell the nurse they have to vacate so you can accommodate the teacher. The teacher may cancel. The pandemic is spiking up and plans are constantly changing for everyone around the nation. Maybe they will cancel but jerking around an innocent guest so that you and the nurse can do what you want is a terrible idea.
This sounds like you are just speculating and making up something negative about the teacher so you can justify doing the wrong thing. I assure you that schools are on all kinds of schedules due to the pandemic and many are working remotely for the whole year. In addition there are all kinds of people who are professional teachers but aren’t necessarily in a classroom with kids.
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This. Not only is it unprofessional, it shows a lack of integrity and a complete disregard for the travel plans of the guest that’d be cancelled.
Seriously? A “red flag” because you don’t think the guest can have ten days off… 
We’re the same and it can cost you money (e.g. refunding when not obliged to, or changing dates of non-ref bookings etc), but sometimes you just need to do the right thing.
JF
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Why not help the nurse find somewhere nearby to stay, whilst you honour the teacher’s booking, and offer him accomodation back with you on a rolling 28 day basis, off platform.
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When I was in a similar situation I asked my guests who wanted to extend to find somewhere else for the four days that were already booked.
They were happy to do so @MissMiami
I am in the camp that I would never cancel an upcoming guest for a guest who wanted to extend.
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Since my wife IS A TEACHER, we have a very good idea as to teacher vacation times.
It is not speculation.
Please do try to find a single teacher schedule that supports your theory.
There is no such thing in this case as “doing the wrong thing”. It is literally a business decision. All of us do as we see fit to our own benefit ALL THE TIME. That is life, not unethical or immoral.
You’re assuming ‘school teacher’ here? There are many other types of teacher.
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LOL. Oh? Are there? I call BS on that “teacher guest”.
@MissMiami. Your guests CLAIMS to be a teacher. My better half has been one for 19 years. No teacher in the USA gets close to 10 days off in Nov. Buyer beware.
Do whatever you want to do - it is your business to run.
I have to agree. I would hate to cancel someone’s holiday just because they took the time to book in advance of another offer.
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So the consensus seems to be the ethical thing to do is not cancel the 10 day booking.
RR
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Last year kids at public school in my area had 9 days (10 nights) off in Nov. around Thanksgiving time for “fall break”.
It’s irrelevant if the guest is a teacher of school or teaches pet rocks - they booked first so get priority. It’s always first come/first served in my book.
I had a similar situation once. I handled it in the same way @Helsi did and everyone was happy. (I waived returning guest’s cleaning fee, if memory serves.) But yeah, win/win.
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Ethics? With how Airbnb regularly behaves to hosts? Love Air’s “how can we support a Guest regardless of their actions and the proof provided”.
Ethics? Gosh that is just too funny. They are just business decisions.
It doesn’t matter what the host thinks the profession of the guest is. Only a jerk cancels a guest’s booking for no reason other than their own greed.
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With Air’s capricious treatment of hosts, it is not reasonable to ask us to do more than the miserable standard that they set.
Hosts should run their business as they wish, short of intentionally hurting a guest or host.
This has nothing to do with Airbnb! I’m done replying to you. You disgust me.
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