Need advice for last minute alteration request. I have a guest booked for this weekend 12/21 to 12/28 that messaged me today wanting to change her dates to June. Something about her and her husband’s marriage not doing well, blah blah, TMI…Not my problem. Anywho, I have only been hosting for a few months and this situation has never happened and this is the start of prime season in Florida. I don’t even know how to respond to her. Please help. Thank you in advance
DO NOT ACCEPT alteration request. Its a trap. This is a cancellation. Tell them they can rebook for June if they wanted to.
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I would decline. Too late to get a new booking and since she is now six months out in the new reservation she can cancel penalty free.
Just. Say. No.
RR
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Tell her to cancel and you’ll refund any days you manage to rebook. It’s a common trick to work round cancellation policies.
JF
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You do not have to accept a reservation change request. There’s no obligation to accept it so don’t worry even if she sends one. Tell her she can cancel and re-book. I might go one-step further and tell her that my June calendar isn’t open yet so there’s no way to transfer the reservation but that you’d be happy for her to book in June and will send her a message when June dates are opened. There’s less wiggle room for argument this way.
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If you want to be nice you can offer a partial refund if you get booked. Or you can just enjoy the double payment 
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I am also scared that if I say no and she keeps her current reservation she will give me a bad review…
Don’t be bullied by that. If she is going to work it that way then she will likely say something on the message stream that will protect you from that. Unscrupulous people almost always hang themselves.
That being said, I understand and this is exactly what I would do:
Make sure June is blocked-off or not available on your calendar. Tell her that you can’t transfer the reservation because June is not available yet. Leave it up to her to cancel or not. She needs to contact airbnb if she needs to cancel. Be plain and simple and polite and friendly but don’t engage too much. e.g. “We’d love to have you in June, I’ll let you know as soon as we open it”. I’m so sorry you may not be able to make it now but hopefully it will work out, we’d love to have you stay!"
The less said the better.
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What’s your cancellation policy? Is it strict? Tell her you’re unable to change the date.
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Yes we have a very strict cancellation policy and her reservation is literally less than 48 hours away
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Then just decline the amendment and send her a nice message to say you won’t be able to accept as you are unlikely to get a last minute booking for the festive season. @Sstull2
However, if she would like to cancel if a replacement booking comes in you would be happy to consider a proportional refund for any days rebooked.
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Don’t change the date. Tell her she would have to cancel and there would be penalties involved. If you change the date, she will cancel that reservation and not be penalized because of the time frame and she knows that!
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I wouldn’t even bring attention to that. She already knows. Play it a little oblivious. “We hope you can make it”. And then leave it alone. It’s not your job to navigate the cancellation for her.
The less said the better.
BTW, there’s no reason to keep going back and forth with her. Just wait it out. If she does decide to come, we’ll help you with that too.
Edit to add: Please keep us updated!
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I will thank you so much everyone!!!
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I would bet that this guest can’t come, Googled how to get a full refund, found the alteration request loophole, and is trying to get you to fall for it. It’s extremely unlikely they will keep the reservation, especially if they do not live fairly close to you.
Also, if the guest cancels less than 24-hours before check-in, they will still be allowed to review, but if they lie in retaliation for not providing a refund, you’ve got a much better chance of getting it removed under the new review policy.
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Actually, under the new review policy, you can probably have it removed for being irrelevant anyways.
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Except that if the review is about a lack of a refund that IS relevant and therefor stands less if a chance of being removed…the new policy doesn’t do much to help get reviews removed if not EVERYTHING is irrelevant. The way it is worded even if there is irrelevant info in a review it would only be removed if there is ONLY irrelevant info…one but if relevant info (like communication with the host before during and after is all relevant).
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But then the guest is mentioning about the issue, which is also not allowed. I don’t know but definitely anytime a guest doesn’t actually check-in will help with the irrelevant bit.
Mentioning true ISSUE is not disallowed (encouraged actually) but the mention of Airbnb case outcome or status is.
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I hear what you are saying but in this case, the guest mentioning the lack of refund in a review that is less than excellent after not even having stayed at the listing, would in and of itself touch on all 3 of the things that get a review removed: airbnb case status, review extortion and irrelevance.
Nothing is cut and dry with airbnb as we all know but I’d feel confident in getting that review removed. I would actually be crossing-my-fingers that the guest mentioned not getting a refund in the review so that I could then have it removed.
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