You don’t need to have it cleaned again before the next guest, though, right?
We need to create some kind of hosting guidebook with info like this. This is always the right answer to a guest that wants to cancel and wants the host to refund.
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Hosts don’t read. And what host doesn’t know when they get their money. I guess we need scripts to read off of the way Airbnb CS folks do.
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LOL, some of us do!
Still, some hosts are eager to please guests, or they fall for sympathy stories, or they’re afraid of a bad review, etc., and on top of that Airbnb will even ask hosts to disregard their own cancellation policy and give guests refunds.
I’ve noticed quite a few hosts who are averse to having a face to face conversation with a guest. Things like this are probably one reason why.
The guest made the promise verbally, not through the App, I will be honest - the entire situation was very uncomfortable, I felt like he is begging me to cancel his reservation.
My wife sometimes does lots of the cleaning or working together with the cleaning lady (she likes it, don’t ask me why), and if we knew his booking would be cancelled then we wouldn’t have our cleaning lady working so many hours on the place but taking things in our own pace for the booking next day, that’s however is the least of worries, the main income is the rent, not the cleaning fees.
The reservation is still showing as confirmed, I doubt he would call to cancel, we did get paid the 25% (it’s showing in the bank now), he just hasn’t left us any review and I’m asking myself if I should leave him a review or just do nothing? (haven’t received an answer to that one yet).
Yes, it’s annoying that you work hard to prepare the place to look like a star, they literally had nothing to complain about the place itself (asking me why some rooms have no windows when there are in fact windows in every room) … I don’t know really what happened.
I can remember when we exchanged messages he asked me for my WhatsApp number, because he wanted to let me know before they arrive (it’s not necessary but I don’t mind), also in the morning of the check-in day he asked me how far is their pickup point for tomorrow to be picked up @ 715am from some hotel for a tour they’re having, so I explained if there is no traffic it can take 15-20 minutes but I would dedicate 30-40 minutes just to be safe … I remember since that message he was very silent, I mean instead of communicating with further messages he just said “Ok, ok” to my 2 other messages so I got the impression something is bothering him.
However, he hasn’t bothered asking me about not before the check-in date, as I mentioned he does have 10 5/5* reviews so I think in a way he is not a scammer but genuinely made a mistake or genuinely assumed their pickup point is a 5 minute drive, but in the end of the day to get to a place @ 715am you need to wake up early one way or another, so instead of waking up @ 7am it would be 620am in the worse case - I guess maybe that’s what was genuinely bothering him, being on vacation and having to wake up slightly earlier than planned.
In the end of the day everything was done already, I don’t see how I can change it except for just leaving a review (?) but not sure if I should do it or not.
That is a situation several of us discussed and/or encountered because the Airbnb search area is so large.
Last summer 2 different sets of guests contacted me because they were looking for the condo in the next township south.
Perhaps doing a price adjustment wasn’t technically the best way to handle the cancellation but it met the goal.
I can imagine how deflated & anxious your guest felt when they arrived and realized they needed to be in a different city.
I appreciate your willingness to accommodate the guest who made a mistake. We all need a little understanding and grace sometime.
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My wife and I have called and cancelled on behalf of a customer request three times. We’ve even allowed refunds on non-refundable bookings. We make sure that the guest requests it in writing via the app, then we call Airbnb and say we’d like to permit them to cancel without penalty. Airbnb staff will review the message and cancel them from the guest side, no penalty to us. All of them have been various reasons, but they’ve all been polite and respectful.
The last two times we’ve done that Airbnb has send us a pretty cool stuff for being “generous” hosts. The first one was some Airbnb swag, the second one was a $250 Visa Gift Card.
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Does it mean what I did was ok and normal, or I was still wrong to issue a refund in this case?
Why ever not? We’ve just had two, at double our usual rate. Admittedly, they had to be crackers to come here for New Year’s Eve as it’s very much a family occasion, most bars and restaurants are closed by 7pm!
JF
Since you have asked several times and no one else has answered…yes, review, honestly, at the end of the period.
Yes, it was normal and whether it was ok really depends on you and your feelings about it. Certainly you’ve had good advice here on what to do should it, heaven forbid, ever happen again, but it’s over, nobody’s perfect (not even Superplushosts), write a factual review if you want and then do the Frozen thing (Let it Goooo …!)
But one really important piece of advice - ALWAYS listen to your wife!!
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Good for you. I’ve been quite gracious in a number of cases and haven’t gotten anything nearly so nice. Maybe I need to start using your method so that I can call Airbnb’s attention to my graciousness. 
Its a pretty complicated strategy I have. It’s called being genuine. 
Serious question though, they have sent you stuff, right?
I’ve gotten a smoke detector, first aid kit (when I first signed up, they sent them to everyone), business cards, The Airbnb Story book, the Airbnb magazine subscription, and a Superhost award thingie that I reconfigured and hung on the wall.
I’ll send you all of those things plus $150 (postage paid) if you send me your $250 Visa card.
I went well above and beyond for a guest here once who was mugged in LA and arrived her with no phone and no money. I not only got nothing from Airbnb, they wouldn’t even help me help her when I called them on the phone.
I volunteered to host up to 22 nights at no cost to anyone for any victims of the El Paso shooting in August. I even spoke with the national director of the program who was in town on the phone. I didn’t host anyone related to the victims but I did donate 22 nights revenue to the victim’s fund. Airbnb’s director knew about this but I got nothing other than an email saying how generous I was.
There are a couple of more stories I won’t bore you with.
All of this isn’t just to let you know how great I am, it’s to suggest that there is more to it than being “genuine.” It’s probably complete randomness.
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Just to be 100% clear, I was just kidding. I can tell from how you reply on here that you’re genuine. I’m genuinely surprised (see what I did there) to hear you’ve not had the same experience. I didn’t do anything special. I just called and stated then customer had an issue, requested to cancel a non refundable, and that I agree they should’t have to pay either. They cancelled the request, we got a “Thank you” packet from them a few days later unexpectedly. The first one was sort of novel, but nice. The second time we got something similar except it had the gift card. I have no idea then.
Oh yeah, I got that.
I think if you read here a bit you will see that it was special, at least in the sense of being pro guest, pro actively. There are a few hosts who post as if it’s a competition between them and the guest.
Anyway, the things that I’ve done that got no recognition from Airbnb have their own rewards, far greater than anything Airbnb could give me. But it’s still interesting to see how one host will report Airbnb being generous and helpful and another host will report Airbnb screwing them over despite their claim that they did everything according to protocol.
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I heard of one family that was looking all over town for their rental. He called the owner and there was a problem. He booked Fredericksburg FL and he was in Fredericksburg TX.
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Yeah, I’ve noticed that, too. I have definitely seen a polar difference in experiences here. I have personally never had anything but a perfect experience all the way around, but I’ve seen that’s not the case for everyone.