Hey guys, not sure why Airbnb even allows it. Basically, my booking requirement is min 3 nights. Guest (age 19, 21) booked a month ago for 3 nights. Great. Now a week away, she sends an alteration request from 3 nights to 2. It’s kind of annoying because I wouldn’t have accepted her in the first place if she only wants 2 nights. But if I reject and she continues through the stay, I fear there may be retaliation review. What should I do?
Reject the alteration “my minimum stay is 3 nights”. Stop “fear(ing) there may be retaliation review”. No host should live in fear of their guests.
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Just explain that in line with the requirement that she initially booked under, you have a minimum charge of a three night stay, so you cannot accept the request to reduce her stay. But of course if she wants to leave after two nights she can do so.
I agree we shouldn’t be afraid of enforcing our house and listing rules for fear of a negative review.
3 Likes
I support enforcing the original terms of booking and I think you could offer a compromise. If this is true, you could consider the following (I’ve made up numbers for the following but the concept is there).
Hi XXXXX I understand your inquiry. The minimum rental is 3 nights because a portion of the cleaning fee is built into the room rate.
If we change your reserrvation to 2 nights, I must raise the cleaning fee to $100. This will save you a portion of the 3rd night rental.
Shall I change your rental to 2 nights at the usual rate of $100 per night with a change the cleaning fee to $100?
You are meeting them half-way. You will have a quiet night to enjoy. If they decline and leave you a nasty review, you can truthfully say you tried to accomodate their request and offer a compromise.
Your rental; your decision. This is just another option for you to consider.
3 Likes
Never, ever be held hostage to the possibility of a bad review. That is certainly not a businesslike way to behave and there’s no place for being timid. If you don’t want this guest and want to stick to your 3 night minimum then do so. You are in charge here, not the guest.
I had a guest recently who reduced her stay from 3 to 2 nights. This was a couple of days before she arrived. I saw it as no problem as I had an extra day to do various repairs and maintenance tasks that I don’t normally have time to do with back to back bookings - a blessing in disguise.
Not a good solution. If they find a way to get Airbnb to cancel it - extenuating circumstances or begging while standing on a head, the cleaning fee sits separately and always must be refunded in full, in case of a cancelation where host keeps a portion of the money.
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I don’t understand your comment. Cancellation d/t extenuating circumstances means no rentals & no cleaning fees are paid to the host regardless of cancellation policy.
If they first reduce the number of nights to 2 and add on a larger cleaning fee, > then they are no shows > then the cleaning fees are always returned to the guest, and the host will be worse off financially. Stick with the 3 nights as required by the listing.
It sucks that Air uses the host as rental insurance for guest. On my Owner Res booking platform the guest is offered trip insurance for 7% of the booking then asked again before the stay at least once. The guest is educated that there is a risk and they can assume the risk or pay the insurance.
RR
1 Like
Suggest you make a special offer of a slightly higher daily rate but less than the overall three day rate and tell them this is a good compromise. They pay a bit more but you get a bit less than the three day. Or you could just suck it up. Every once in a while things do not go perfectly but so what. This probably will not hurt you too much. Just my suggestion. Regards, Curt