Request to change booking date on day of arrival

42

Great post, and a very inspiring approach :slight_smile:

43

Depends on the host lifestyle too, I travel interstate frequently to see family and really notice when guests cancel last minute after I have flown home to host them. Policy definitely went to strict when one guest excuse was her rat had to have its feet amputated (repeat last minute canceller) who had originally asked if pets were in the house as she is allergic to pet hair/fur!

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44

Thanks, I wasnt aware of that. :slight_smile:

45

For me, the moderate policy works fine because almost all my guests fly here. They have flights booked weeks ahead of time, have booked time off work, maybe signed up online for surf lessons- there are too many things in play for them to cavalierly cancel last minute.

But the lifestyle thing definitely comes into play for me. I work from home as an upholsterer and often have project deadlines. If a guest cancelled last minute, after I had juggled my workload and taken the time to prepare the space for them, I would be majorly irritated, which is why I don’t use Flexible and require 2 days advance notice to book.

46

To follow up, my guest who changed his reservation to a week later did stay as expected. He was a good guest and very polite in all communications. I didn’t meet him. The only little hiccup was that he left his Airpods behind. When he messaged asking if I could mail them to him, he offered up front to pay fees and for my time. He also said he understood if I couldn’t do it.

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47

Glad to hear that all ended up working out smoothly, and I appreciate the follow up info – it’s always informative and interesting to find out how these things play out over time!

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48

Update from OP
Info /actions below occurred in a one day period as a response to the review by the guest now publicly available. 1 star across all domains.

#1 Guest review posted: The Host XXX was quite shameless when she lied about my request to change the dates. She said the Airbnb would not allow her to accept the change of date request when Airbnb Staff told me that it was her that refused to do so. The whole place especially the guest room smells rancid like old curry or sweat. When I told her about the smell, she first said there was no guest there for at least five days, which was not a lie because I specifically remember the room was booked last weekend. Then she said “are you sure it’s not your curry?” Really?? Then she said there is smell because she was using cinnamon oil to clean because “it’s the most effective disinfectant”. I find it hard to believe when there was no hand soap at the kitchen and the sink was messy as hell.

49

  1. We always send the change links to guests. Why is this ‘wrong’? Offering to do what a guest requests would have looked good for you.

  2. Your review would have been on their profile page, and for all the world to see. I think you missed a valuable chance to say your thoughts. Remember, reviews are for other hosts. Not reviewing this guest means they can ‘strike again’ at another hosted airbnb. ALWAYS leave an honest review.

You can always comment on their review as a reply, but please next time think a bit about what you post - maybe ask here for input. IMHO, your reply is more damaging to you than the guest - it is long and confusing. Many times hosts are told that short and sweet is better looking for a host - in this you come across as a bit crazed.

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50

I don’t understand this. Had you left a review, you still have the option to respond to a guest’s review- you don’t have the choice of either a review or a response.

Leaving a response is for the benefit of future guests, as your responses appear on your review page. Leaving a review is for the benefit of other hosts. Not reviewing a guest that other hosts need to be warned about is bad practice. Other hosts won’t see your response at all, as they would have no reason to look at your review page. Other hosts read the reviews a prospective guest has been given, not the responses you gave to reviews you received.

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51

Thx Muddy, I was not aware of this. In so many years of hosting this experience is a first for me, therefore reached out to this forum. Could have avoided all this drama by not accepting a last minute change.

52
  1. when i read the criteria for sending a change link it appeared as if I was unable to host. That was incorrect.
  2. My reply is an attempt to be factual and if its long, too bad. Muddy has alerted me to something I dont know which is that I can do a public response AND a guest review. Live and learn.
53

Well, you didn’t know at the time. Good guests also might put in a last-minute change request- even decent responsible people sometimes have unavoidable situations happen to them.

But generally speaking, it’s best in terms of protecting yourself to not accept any last minute anything regarding guests.

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54

Thank you Muddy, all your suggestions have been gold and I so appreciate them. Your kind and considerate response is something very precious and heart warming.

55

Your response to the guest came across as unhinged. It’s a bad look. You have a professional perogative to not-freak-out-the-guests.

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56

What would you have written?

57

Either:

Yes, I’d be happy to do that for you.

Or

No, so sorry, it’s not possible.

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58

Look just wanting to reiterate, I clicked the accept a change of date request sent by the guest but airbnb booking system does not permit that acceptance on the day of arrival. It could have been that simple.
BTW Its not that helpful trying to suggest that I or my behaviour or response is unhinged or crazed as another post suggests. Constructive criticism is welcome but not character attributions like that.

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59

“Your response to the guest came across as unhinged”.

If you want to pretend that I attributed something/anything to your character (which I have no way of knowing anything about) and that anything could even conceivably be personal about it then have at it.

But it’s not what happened because that is not what I wrote. Re-read the sentence. Perhaps diagram it and it will surely be obvious. If you’d like clarity about it, please let me know, I don’t mind.

It was too long, there was too much information, there were numbered points, etc…You put more work into it than you needed to and it would certainly be overwhelming to a guest. It’s over the top. I’m not saying you’re over the top. But the message comes across as over the top. I recommend you tone it down, simplify it and in the process save yourself some time and energy.

This is not an echo chamber where you will be told that it was already perfect.

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60

Hi JLL thank you for clarifying and taking the time to do it, I am still somewhat stunned about the guest review and reactive. I did take your and the other posters comment re crazed/unhinged response on board and requested the review I wrote (inadvertently not realising this review would be read by guests not hosts or airbnb?) to be removed, which it was.
I have received a feedback survey request from airbnb on the CS person who I phoned to ask that the guest review be removed. He said it did not violate any of the review policy and therefore will not be removed.
I am still letting my thoughts settle after this Rite of Passage into one stardom and via a disgruntled guest and the implications of being publicly called a liar. My profession requires adherence to codes of conduct, ethics and integrity is important so the guest has hit a very effective nerve there.

61

Reviews you leave for guests are read by hosts when a guest tries to book. They appear on the guest’s review page.
Responses to reviews guests leave for you appear on your review page and are read by prospective guests looking at your reviews.

Airbnb doesn’t read reviews or responses unless they are asked to.

Keep in mind for the future that a response should never be a review of the guest. Responses should only be used to correct misinformation in the review for the benefit of future guests, or if the guest mentions a legitimate issue and you’ve fixed it, to say that. For instance, I’ve read responses to reviews saying the place wasn’t clean, like “Huge apologies about the poor cleaning job. We were trying out a new cleaner and we have let her go after hearing this and now have an experienced cleaner.” Responses should be brief, factual, and non-emotional.

And try not to let jerky guests get to you. The world is full of a-holes.

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