Hi all, we have a guest staying for a month, 2 weeks in he asks to stay another 2 weeks …trouble being , we just accepted another guest right after the first guest was supposed to leave. I feel kind of bad for them, they are staying with us because their new home isn’t ready yet. Any thoughts?
It happens to me all the time. I tell them, “I sure wish you could stay because you’re a great guest, but someone else has booked the days you want.”
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How long are the new guests planning on staying? If it is a very short visit (1 or 2 nights) I would explain the situation, find another similar Air listing and ask them if they would cooperate with you.
If the new guests insist on staying, give the current ones the option of returning after the guests leave.
it is a one week stay. We are leaning towards honouring the new booking and apologizing to the first guests.
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I agree. They booked it first. For a week-long booking I would honour the new one, and let the current guests know they can return after that booking is over, if needed.
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I have canceled the “new” booking in a similar situation based on the logic that they just booked hours before and there were still the same other options available to them for booking. they were very understanding since they just went down their list and found a similar listing/price… The guests who were here already were extremely grateful.
The “honorable” thing to do is accept the situation as it is.
“Sorry current guest, we’ve already booked someone else for the period you want to extend into…”
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And this is what you should do. Your first guests planned poorly and should have booked a longer stay to cover this eventuality. I’m sure they’ll find something else. Also, their move in could be further delayed and they may need to do the same thing to you again. Just tell them the truth that you have a booking. Who knows the new guests may turn out to be repeat guests!
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Since guests here are often on a flexible schedule and they only realize the amount of things that can indeed be done and visited after they have arrived and read our information "newspaper, it’s not uncommon for guests to want to extend their stay.
The first time it happened that guests wanted to stay extra the room was occupied, I felt very bad I had to send them to another place.
The second time with a totally lovely Korean couple I realized they would want to stay more days, before they realized. So I guessed they were going to stay at least an extra 2 nights and blocked the calendar for two nights. They were so lovely I wanted to enjoy them a bit more. Unfortunately 
I was so 
stupid to forget to mention this to them. So 1 day before they were going to leave, they told me that after their stay with us they would move to another BnB close by. They would have loved to stay with us, but had noticed the dates weren’t available anymore 
.
Since then the rule is simple: Available means available, and unavailable is unavailable. It’s up to the guests to extend their stay on time. I will not cancel anyone, not even a 1 nighter. That would just be bad karma in my book.
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Thanks all for the speedy and supportive replies. The current guest understands and all is good. This is a great forum for hosts,
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Good one! That’s something I would have done!!
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It’s bad karma if you’re only doing something that benefits yourself. In my situation, I lost out on money by canceling the “new” booking but I did it out of consideration for my guests who were elderly, had some mobility issues, and were super stressed at the idea of moving (their daughter had surgery and they needed to stay longer than expected).
That was in my first year of hosting, though, and I’m probably much too jaded to ever do something like that again.
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I think the principle of ‘first-come-first-serve’ is a higher basis for decision than this one.
Very good point! How many times are you going to cancel just-booked guests if this happens?
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Don’t feel too bad about the guests. They were calculating on how long to stay and waited for too long to rebook in order to save some money (if someone was refurbishing his home or something like that, they should always take some extra days into account as a buffer)… The calculation didn’t work and the place got booked by someone else. Tough luck.
Don’t take guests’ promises of extending their stay for granted. They can change their mind in a moment if the weather gets worse or something like that. It happened to me several times, and since then I’m not closing my calendar for anyone until it is confirmed that they want to stay.
Just last week I had guests to whom I offered to extend their stay for 3 days for half a price, as I had 3 days free between the bookings. They seemed genuinely interested in the offer, but delayed their decision until the night before, when they texted me at 11 PM that they cannot stay as one of them has to go back to work (like they didn’t know this in advance!
) but asked if they could check out later! Luckily just before that I got an instant booking for those 3 days so I happily told them that the place was rebooked and that they have to leave at 10 sharp as I have to prepare for the new guests… 
Imagine if I closed the calendar…
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It felt very satisfying to read that! You must have felt quite vindicated after they waited until the 11th hour (literally) to respond to your offer.
This seems like an opportunity to add value / reputation.
Everyone seems to be saying ‘just tell the original guest to find somewhere else’
How about involving ALL parties, explaining the situation, and involve ABnB to rehouse either guest 1 or 2.
By facilitating this, both guest are happy, and ABnB are happy because they get both bookings and see you as a proactive Host, which can only help next time you call on their services.
No. this is business. A solid booking must trump a possible booking.
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This is a clear cut case of Snooze-Lose.
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Seems to me both are solid booking. Otherwise there would be no discussion to be had here.
There are 2 guests in this situation, and therefore 2 hosts that can benefit, and of course an outcome that suits both guests.
ABnB are happy to be clipping the ticket on both.
I guess I’m just being unselfish for thinking there could be other parties that benefit from taking a collaborative bigger-picture view. And for that, I apologize.
Whoever booked it first gets it. I don’t see why that situation would be up for any intervention. 
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