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It has everything to do with Air. They set the standard by their actions to hosts.
I am responsible to provide for and protect my family. Unlike Air, we do not intentionally screw over people that we do business with.
None of us are answerable to some else’s personal standard of ethics, especially with everything that is allowed by wall street, Air, Washington DC, etc.
You can do as you wish, and the only person who has to feel good about it is you. Same goes for all of us.
Simple. Supply teachers @Jefferson
I am stunned that you think because a listing company may in your opinion behave badly this gives you license to also do so.
Of course they don’t set standards for how a host runs their business- they are simply one of many channels you can use to promote your business.
YOU are the one that makes the choice as to how you run your business - don’t try and shift the blame onto a listing provider to excuse poor business practice choices you may make.
As I mentioned I have been in this situation several times - and have always helped longer term guests who want to extend find alternative accommodation where there are existing stays booked in.
I keep their main luggage and then they simply return to me afterwards.
As a business owner you can choose to run your business in an ethical way. Or you can choose to disregard the inconvenience, financial impact and stress you will cause guests in cancelling their booking in the hope you might make more profit.
How is cancelling a confirmed booking not ‘screwing a guest over’. That is exactly what this does and you know it.
Don’t you know any similar property around yours that is available ?
Maybe you can find a deal for the teacher, strength your local community relations and have 2 more moths full booked.
If the OP does this @Miguel then Airbnb would charge the host cancellation fees, they hold lose SH status if they have it, and they would upset a guest who may have booked weeks or months ago , so this isn’t necessarily a sensible approach.
Much better to do this for the current guest who is the one who has had a change of plans and now wants to extend.
I would lean towards canceling the future stay, explain to the people why, and let the nurse stay. Your agreements with the current renter do not have to involve AirBnB. Find an alternative Airbnb nearby and suggest it to the person that you are having to cancel - a bit of goodwill.
Absolutely awful. As a Host, I would NEVER behave like that, and as Guest, I would ONE STAR any such Host and file a complaint with Air BnB.
You honor the reservation accepted for the teacher. Full Stop.
If you don’t understand living up to commitments, then you have no business in this business or any other.
What you are saying amounts to: “I accepted a reservation, then I got another offer. Should I screw one customer in order to make more money from another. Oh, and BTW, should I screw Air BnB at the same time by excluding them from service to a customer I found VIA AIR BNB?”
NO!!!
Nice one. I’m bumping you, because I can make more money from someone else, but here you go, here’s another Airbnb, maybe they wont be so mercenary.
Goodwill my arse.
JF
Mine too. I’ve had this situation once before and I politely said “Another party is booked for those times. I’m happy to book you around those days, but I must honor my guests who booked and confirmed. I’m sure you’d want that if you were in their shoes.”
Agree to disagree. Taking money without providing a service or mis-representing the service is unethical.
Air’s policies and behavior are regularly unethical. By choosing to do business with them, we are directly supporting an unethical company, and acting in our own self interest. Just that simple.
Fact is - we have never cancelled a guest for any reason. Some of us have. We do not pay their bills or feed their families.
As long as a host does not “take money without providing the service” - manage your business as you like.
If we measure our own ethics against others’ lack of ethics, we can rationalize anything.
Let’s see: It’s apparently completely acceptable for our highest elected official to break every rule. Therefore, it should be fine for the rest of us to lie, cheat, defraud, kill, steal, destroy, waste, and give aid to the country’s enemies.
Very slippery slope.
We all have an opinion and reasons for those opinions. Since I have to make a mortgage payment and I have to weigh up a lot of things, which you might not take into consideration, I do look at this scenario from a monetary, not mercenary point of view. If it is far enough in advance, it might not cause the other renter that much trouble. I don’t particularly care for your tone and I myself would not think of attacking another owner because I have a different point of view, in the way that you are attacking me because I chose to put forth my view, and by the way, that is what this forum is about, getting feedback. Make your point dear sir, but maybe try a bit of diplomacy. Maybe you are loaded and don’t have to worry about paying your mortgage; ours is not a vacation home, it is our family home that I have and manage, making ends meet is always difficult. So, take your opinion and put it where you like, but I have no respect for people like you who just think it is your right to strike out and criticize. I hope to never find myself staying with the likes of you, no matter how “correct” and righteous you think that you are.
@Christy_Herman, the first point I’m going to make is that if you wish to buy a paragraph, I have several and they are going cheaply.
Please explain the difference between monetary and mercenary, just so we know…
…and I don’t particularly care about your opinion of me.
Believe me, I was being diplomatic.
I’m the same as any many other STR businesses in Spain, essentially financially stuffed. However, no matter how skint we may be, my integrity as a business person does not have a price, it actually means something to me. It’s not about being “correct” or “righteous”, it’s simply about personal standards in how you operate.
To be frank, if I knew were one those hosts who would cancel a guest, just because you can make a few more pounds/dollars/euros, then I wouldn’t want you as a guest.
It’s curious that this scenario, which pops up now and again here, always manages to bring out the worst, and the best, in members.
One one side we have the “old school”, folks who believe that a deal is a deal and once a reservation is made then you don’t eff off the guest just because a couple of extra quid is on the table.
Then, on the other side, we have the “it’s not personal, it’s just business” folks who it appears would sell their granny into slavery, just to get that extra few quid. It’s a little bit like large corporations, who lay off hundreds (thousands even) of workers, and then justify it by saying “sorry, but it’s a business decision”. Bollocks. It’s all about making an extra few quid…
I know I’m not the only person on here with values, and for that I am grateful. Those of you who are happy to bugger up a guests plans, just for that few quid, can… (stopped as I may end up with a forum holiday 
)
JF
No they are not unethical- you just don’t agree with how they apply their T&C. @Jefferson
If you truly believe they are - don’t do business with them.
Cancelling a confirmed booking often months after it is made leaving a guest with out of pocket expenses such as having to pay much higher costs so you can make a few more buck is unethical and immoral - particularly when there is an alternative way of handling things which means you can keep both bookings.
Hi @RebeccaF,
I wasn’t quite as clear as I hoped. Sorry about that. I was trying to say that hosts who use Air, an unethical company, are complicit by their support. So, calling anyone unethical for acting in self-interest is hyperbole / hypocritical / etc.
Am I really calling everyone here unethical? No. Merely pointing out the hypocrisy. It is one thing to respectfully disagree. It is quite another to stand on an ivory tower and toss personal disparagements when all of us have made concessions at some point to “take care of us and ours”.
I’d quit while you’re not ahead…
JF
Well yes you are absolutely calling everyone here ‘unethical’ as the vast, vast majority on this forum use the platform.
The only person in that respect who is being a hypocrite- if you believe your own words - is you. You believe they are unethical and yet you keep using them.
The majority of us are sensible enough business owners to know that while we may not like all their T&Cs we sign up to them when we use them to promote our listings.
All of this is academic as we have never cancelled a booking. We shared our opinion of an option to the OP. She may do as she likes.
Some here clearly feel entitled to apply their personal ethical / moral views on others in a fairly aggressive manner. Ok, whatever. There will never be agreement on such a subject. It is rather typical of this forum that some will be uncivil in their disagreement. So … ok whatever.
As to your other point. Yes, we absolutely feel that Air regularly acts in an entirely unethical manner. Our personal responsibilities take precedence every time.
My approach to hosting is to create an environment and approach that I would want if I were a guest.
I would be very upset if a host cancelled on me because they got a better offer, no matter how nice the host parsed it by offering alternatives elsewhere.
When something like this has happened (to me) at a hotel, I was comped a comparable or better hotel. “Comped”, meaning the hotel paid to offset my inconvenience.
The issue is not whether or not AirBNB has no regard for hosts; the issue is if the host has any regard for their guests or whether the host has any integrity.
Barring any extenuating circumstances (death, pandemic, illness, problem with the premises, etc) I keep the commitments I make.
For me, there’s more to the business than making the most money.
Exactly. However, even in this scenario we ignore the fact that as this is a unique Airbnb property, not just the next hotel down the street. The (teacher) guest may have picked the OP’s place over others due to amenities, location, and many other variables we have no way of knowing.
Even comping their stay at a comparable or even more expensive Airbnb might prove to be highly inconvenient/unacceptable to said CONFIRMED guest.
