So now is indignant that her new week is costing her more than the week she cancelled…this is complicated! She is from Egypt, so not only are we communicating in Euros, but it’s her second language. She was expecting more of a refund.
The trouble is, she booked when I first started hosting, I was cheaper then. Her holiday is July/August in Brighton, I have since put my prices up to a more realistic rate. I was more than happy to honour her original booking price.
Today, she cancelled 2 weeks, and added a different week, expecting to get half her money back…but the fresh week she booked cost more than her refunded week. She seems a little indignant, and confused, perhaps quite rightly.
She’s been a little tricky, what with the cancelling, and one of her weeks even straddles another 2-day guest, leaving me with a busy couple of days laundering.
I’m happy to honour her original booked time at the old price, but not sure about resurrecting the old price for her new bookings…
Well Barns… I thought you were not allowed to rent on Airbnb at all? How has that all worked out with the freeholders?
I’ve told them no more bookings after my last guest…which is this one!
LOL! I didn’t mean to turn into a nanny state on you. 
Just wondering how you were still renting.
Don’t do her any favours. She’s the one who canceled, not you. Doesn’t she understand seasonal rates? I certainly cannot imagine going back to the the DC boutique hotel I stayed at in January for $77 per night and demand they give me the same rate during their busy summer season!
Do you mean that she has made you be double booked?
No, she has to move out for two days for the other guest, then move back in!
Oh dear, I have one of those next month too!
The thing is, we all like to do the right thing by guests, but I think it more than fair that you go back and tell her those prices were when you were just starting out.
I’m going to get caned for saying this in this forum, but I spent a lot of time in the service industry in Europe and my most demanding guests were Egyptian. They have a real bartering mentality. It’s a sport for them and they’re used to escalating their demands until they get what they want. If she doesn’t want to to stay at the new prices, then you may be dodging a bullet and she doesn’t get to leave a review. Win/win in my mind.
Well obviously I’ve told her that prices have changed, by way of my initial explanation/justification…but it gets more tricky…she hasn’t actually booked the extra time, so the increased prices aren’t yet an issue!
I’ll see if I can cut and paste her queries…I suspect Airbnb have kept some commission?
Dina: "I have a question: so the whole stay from 8 aug to 31 aug cost me 1550 euros and when i cancelled a bulk of 13 days and the remaining is 10 days, you only refund 500 euros and now the 10 days stay cost 1000 euros!!"
Me: “Hi Dina…unfortunately, after you first booked, I put my prices up. So your refund is at the old cheap price, but any fresh booking will cost more” (turns out to be a misleading answer as we’d only reduced her days, she hadn’t added any)
Dina: “Even at the old cheap price i previously paid 1500 euros for 23 days. I canceled 13 of them, so i should get back at least half what i paid earlier. I am mot talking about any new bookings, i am talking about the money that i paid previously and currently getting the refund for”
What’s your cancellation policy? Looks like she expected 13 days refunded and AirBnB has given her less back (strict, perhaps?) Point out that AirBnB handles all refunds and if she thinks it’s wrong, she needs to talk to them.
Yes, they always do. She didn’t read your cancellation policy. You might as well keep it since this could be your last guest anyway as you say. You don’t owe her anything.
She’s now suggesting that I have cancelled her whole booking, in order that i can rebook it at the newer price.
But I don’t think that would be possible. I can un-book days, but I don’t think I can click the calender and add days for her…she would have to apply for any new days, at which point she would find out the price
I’m getting a bad feeling, I wish she’d cancel in a huff…any suggestions as to how I can back out of this booking…is there a penalty?
She’s not rude, but there is a slight accusing tone to her messages. Not sure I want someone in my flat who feels I’ve ripped her Off!
Yes, you’ll be penalized and that section of the calendar blocked off, but maybe you should do it anyway? I mean since this is your last guest!?
I’m having a similar issue with a gal from France who has added and subtracted guests - and not ‘accepted’ old changes so had to do that before I could enter a new one - and then she got completely confused. TWENTY-THREE messages in one day. She was also speaking in Euros and I in dollars, so with the currency, confusion, and language barrier, it was getting nutty.
I just started saying, in every response “Please call airbnb so they can explain this to you and help you be comfortable with the price” Make sure you are communicating that you want her to be happy and comfortable, because you do.
At some point you just need another voice in the conversation. Hopefully she can get someone to speak her language to help her understand. For me I just decided I couldn’t continue to have this dialogue with my guests - she wasn’t going to understand me. It took 3 or 4 messages like this, finally boiling down to the one sentence, for her to stop pestering me. Hopefully by now she’s calmed down. (Ask me on April 24 after she checks out how it all came out!!!)
Fingers crossed, language barrier and currency!
Well, she’s altered another couple of days now, and asking if she can have the monthly discount rate for 15th July to 15th August, minus the 2 days that are booked by another guest. That sounds do-able, but I’ve looked at the calender, and there’s a lot of maths involved, what with her two partial bookings already amongst the dates…
Thing is, I don’t want to cancel her and potentially ruin her hols!
(Pause whilst I think…)
I’ve decided to cancel her. Don’t know whether to message her first, or just do it.
…
Messaged her, then cancelled. It’s a shame her booking was spread across 2 separate periods, because I’m allowed a first cancellation for free, but upon cancelling her other week, I’ve been fined $50, with other ominous actions ahead!
Phew, I can sleep easy now.