People are so weird sometimes

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So file this under “just weird sometimes”. We got a booking for 11 days. Woo hoo! Our cancellation policy under Booking.com is cancel free of charge until 14 days, after that there is a 70% cancellation penalty. On day 15 before arrival, guest cancels. OK, changed mind, fine. Then on day 14, same person books for same dates. Oh! Maybe it was a mistake. The next day, guest cancels again. We have a 24-hour no penalty cancellation window. The next day, they book again, and the following day cancel again. This happens 3x! The last time they change to booking for only 5 nights instead of 11.

Finally I am getting mad. On the final cancellation, I send a very polite email asking if there is any problem that I can help them with as I noticed they cancelled three times? No reply. At this point, I just want this person to go away and not clog up my calendar only to cancel in the end.

I think Oh well, itʻs fine. But then what if they book again!?! So I email and explain that we rely on this for part of our income, we only have two units, and thatʻs why we need to have a cancellation policy. They already booked 3x for the same dates, so they used their 24 hour grace period. The next time they book they will be charged immediately.

No response. Good. Then I get one of those “wonʻt you be a good chum” emails from Booking.com asking to clarify if we are going to charge a cancellation penalty? Of course not! Just donʻt book again only to cancel. Sheesh. Anyway, just had to share. Some people are so strange. But Iʻm glad I was able to keep my cool in the emails and figure out a logical solution to this crazy person who gaming the rules.

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If someone cancels on me, my personal policy is to not allow that person to book again without a damn good explanation.

I once had someone do something very similar. I asked that person for an explanation and didn’t get one. So I declined. Then that person tried to book again. This time I told him to go away.

But I realise some people are more forgiving. And of course, this doesn’t work if you have Instant Book. Just one of many reasons not to use IB, in my opinion.

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Oh dear. One of the reasons I don’t use platforms like that and have a strict policy on Airbnb is because I don’t want to deal with cases like this.

Hope they prove to be an okay guest.

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Thanks! @faheem It was so hard to figure out why they wanted to hold but keep cancelling. Were they ever going to come? But he finally went away. Just so strange.

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Donʻt worry, theyʻre not coming. I wouldnʻt feel comfortable with a guest like this. Most of our guests have been just fine. This was just a weirdo.

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