I received an email from Airbnb this morning advising that the guest due to arrive this Thurs for 4 nights now wants to cancel (as supposedly the diving conditions in the area will not be good). Airbnb advised the guest that he will not receive a full refund as my cancellation policy is moderate. Airbnb asked me if I would consider giving him a full refund which I declined to do (in my opinion a moderate policy is fair,the guest was aware of the cancellation policy and by subsequently booking accepted the terms and conditions). Now the guest has contacted me directly and asked to change the booking to dates in April but for only 2 nights. I have emailed Airbnb to ask if I still receive some payment for the 2 nights that he has effectively still cancelled but have yet to receive a reply. Anyone out there had experience of this?
Wow, that is weird. I agree, don’t refund. I also had the same thing happen when someone panicked about dengue. Wanted to cancel on the day of his check in. Air called and asked if I would refund half. I said NO, as a few cases of dengue on another part of the island did not meet the extenuating circumstances standard. I think they call to try to talk you into keeping the guests happy. But forget it!
You should consider the new booking to be just that-- a completely new booking. Unrelated to the previous cancellation.
I think this might be a loophole that some guests have discovered to try to get around the terms of cancellation policies - they change dates to a later period, in which case, if they cancel with enough notice, they aren’t penalized (except for the loss of their booking fee to AirBNB).
There’s a chance that your guest may honor their rebooked dates and not cancel on you again but I agree with Kona about treating the second booking as a new booking. Whether they show up in April or not, you’re still in the situation of having a last minute cancellation and a likelihood of not getting those dates re-booked. That’s what our cancellation policies are intended to protect us from and your gust showing up in April doesn’t help remediate that lost revenue.
Change your policy to Strict. There is no reason for it to be anything else!!!
Hi all, thanks for your comments. I spoke to Air and also sent a message to the guest advising that I would only accept the modification if it was for the 4 nights (which he has subsequently requested). I also changed my cancellation policy to strict (and advised the guest of this) as I had suspected that the guest might have realised the loophole. I know I won’t get a last minute booking now but I’m working on the premise that the guest might tell the other divers where he is staying and it could possibly lead to more bookings (hence me accepting his modification request).
Ata girl!!! No more loopholes! No more wiggle room!
And by the way, guests coming tomorrow are coming specifically for snorkeling. Well there isn’t any snorkeling anywhere in the state because we are getting record high surf on all north and west facing shores, but really on all sides of the islands. The only tangs they will see are in the aquarium. Sorry, high surf is not my fault. No refunds.