Reviewing Guest After They Cancel?

Brian- I think the point is that hosts appreciate guests who communicate. Of course a guest doesn’t have to give a host a reason for cancelling, and vice-versa. But it’s a polite thing to do. Yes, the guests could be lying, but I would think most guests who lie wouldn’t take the time to send a nice message to the host. Most hosts have a sense of whether a guest is telling the truth or not.
I had a guest who wasn’t answering any of my messages and only cancelled a day before her check-in, after booking a month ahead. I had to get Airbnb to try to contact her when I wasn’t getting any replies, which they also had a hard time doing, but eventually did. She sent a very apologetic message saying a close family member had died and her Airbnb reservations were far from her mind, and she wasn’t able to travel at all at that time because of it. She never asked for a refund, even though she could have under extenuating circumstances policy, so I really had the sense that she was being quite truthful. And she cancelled day-before, so we wouldn’t have been prompted to review, therefore avoiding a bad review wouldn’t have been a motive to lie.

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Thanks, I kinda see the point, but your example is great for why reviewing in this case is the wrong thing to do. Take your example and change a couple of things. Suppose the guest’s situation is true; however, Airbnb was also not able to contact the guest, and the guest cancelled less than 24-hours before check-in. Now the host does get the prompt to review. If the host leaves a review like the one KenH stated with “0 stars across the board,” it would, at a minimum, be a disservice to the guest and potential future hosts of the guest.

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Oh, I completely agree that reviewing a guest who hasn’t stayed is ludicrous. I’ve not yet had a guest who cancelled so last minute that we were prompted to review. If I did, I’d be inclined to message the guest, saying I’m sorry they couldn’t make it (as long as they weren’t trying to pressure me or Airbnb to fully refund in contravention of the cancellation policy) and that we’d both be getting a prompt to review, but that I wasn’t planning on leaving them a review, since I had no basis to review on. I should hope that would let the guest know that they didn’t have to fear a bad review for cancelling, so not be motivated to leave one themselves.

Absolutely. I am also keen on guests being polite. When I’ve had guests cancel and contact me about it, I think higher of them. The couple of guests who have canceled without any message, I thought were a bit rude but assume they have their reasons and know that it isn’t any of my business really. I even assume that something much more important than their paid reservation with me has come up and they must not have the time/energy/interest/care to deal with it beyond clicking on the cancel button.

This is exactly the scenario I imagine and exactly why I don’t hassle people for a reason when they cancel. And wow, I’d feel like a total tool if I pursued a “reason” and got this information in return. I’m not saying you are, I’m just saying this is exactly why I wouldn’t bother someone for a reason. It puts that Airbnb reservation into perspective!

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No, I hadn’t asked her for any reason- I had sent her the map to my place (which is literally impossible to find without the map) about 5 days before, as well as asked her approximate arrival time and if she needed bus info. I always ask guests to please confirm that the map attachment came through okay. She didn’t answer, and as she lived overseas, I couldn’t call or text her. I sent one more message politely prodding her for a response, and when I still didn’t hear from her by 2 days before check-in, I asked Airbnb to try to contact her. Only then did she cancel and send me that apologetic message.

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Oh, I thought you had them contact her to find out why she canceled. I misunderstood! Doh.

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Technically it’s not different but we were not talking about cancellations DAY BEFORE. We were talking DAY OF CHECK-IN.

Any cancellation less than 24 hours before check-in triggers the review prompts.

Ok, that was what I meant but wasn’t specific enough. Thanx for the correction.