A local fellow booked 21 nights by IB. He had 1 prior 5-star review and was waiting for his apartment to be finished. He did not answer my questions about employer, itinerary, plans, check in time, etc. and I was uncomfortable. If he is not answering these questions, should I be able co cancel without hassle?
The exact situation you’re talking about is one of Air’s given reasons for cancelling an IB reservation, so you ought to be able to do so without issue.
- The guest hasn’t responded to questions the host needs to know about their trip
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Thank you Allison. I have strict terms, and the fellow would be out $300. Any mercy?
You obviously won’t get paid if you are choosing to cancel the booking because you are uncomfortable @justMandi Why do you think the guest would be out of pocket in these circumstances??
How long have you waited for him to respond to your questions. I normally chase at least once and have been known to ask Airbnb to chase if the information is not forthcoming.
It seem as shame to loose a booking for the sake of a message or call to chase.
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You don’t get to keep the money when YOU cancel!!! LOL. If they allowed that I’d just take 3 long term bookings for the year, cancel them for some dumb reason, keep their money and call it a good year’s work 
(until karma bites me in the ass).
When you cancel the funds are returned to the guest and his dates are open on your calendar once again. Literally the only benefit to you is that you can refill the dates with a better guest.
Your cancellation policy only comes into play when the GUEST cancels.
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I did not reissue the same questions to him, I didn’t chase because the whole thing sounded off to me. A three week long booking in the same town via IB. A local guy with one prior review, not answering about half the questions. No profile, etc. What I was trying to avoid was someone hanging around the house all day for 3 weeks and quite frankly it gave me the creeps when he dodged the employment related questions.
i refunded all of his expenses,
What I ended up doing was covering his fees.
You misunderstand. I refunded his $300 in expenses,
Why would you have to cover his fees if Airbnb cancelled the booking because you felt uncomfortable. I am rather confused 
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I am too and that’s why I am asking. I asked him to cancel (he did) and volunteered to pay his fees.
Ah that’s the problem then @justMandi You should have asked Airbnb NOT the guest to cancel as you felt uncomfortable. Then you wouldn’t have had to pay for his fees.
Strange that if he could communicate with you to cancel, he couldn’t communicate with you to reply to your questions 
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Yes it is, isn’t it?
My profile etc. clearly states that this is for working people. It’s in my rules. Thanks for the explanation. Sometimes I feel like I need a roadmap.
I changed that listing off IB. Eventually it will be deleted = too much confusion on it.
Ah, that’s why we’re confused. You could have cancelled it yourself without incurring any penalties under the IB terms, as outlined in the article I linked above.
By asking the guest to cancel you’ve muddied the waters. If you’d cancelled he’d be fully refunded, including Airbnb’s fees. To make him whole you’d need to refund the 50% Air paid to you AND pay out of your own pocket the Airbnb guest service fee (which you’d be relying on him to honestly tell you - its about 10% of the total booking fee, but can be higher)
I think you’d be best off calling CS and telling them this should have been an IB “penalty-free host cancellation” so they can set it straight and refund the guests’ Airbnb fees.
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Glad it wasn’t just me who misunderstood
Thank you Allison, and for the link to this article.
I have up to 5 listings, yet only 3 get out of jail cancel reservations, I try to minimize use of them.
You may want to consider not being on IB if you need to verify these items for all guests. Could avoid this situation.
Actually my questions are straightforward. Thete has never been an issue with them till now, as they are easy to answer. And for 3 weeks it helps both of us to have a clear understanding of expectations of each other.
I went off IB on this listing because the incident made me uncomfortable.
First…other than check in time…the rest of the information you requested is none of your business. Who is working for, his itinerary and plans is not your concern IMHO. Since he already had one 5 star review what made you believe that he would be a bad fit. How much time did you give him to answer your questions before you asked him to cancel? You are asking him to divulge private information and maybe he wasn’t comfortable providing this information to you. He stated he was waiting for his apartment to be finished and was going to book 3 weeks so he must have an estimated time when his apartment was going to be finished. You of course have the right to ask and they have the right not to answer and in this particular case I believe you are both are going to be a lot happier. A guest has their right to privacy which seem to think you should be privileged to . Good luck to you!
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IB forgiveness happens under a few circumstances; this would qualify. Just call support and “Im uncomfortable with this guest” they won’t ask questions because as an agent, we don’t want to know why… it’s more paperwork. Don’t push for this more than three times per year or it’ll get a bit sticky. All IB forgiveness cancellations are usually done as an admin cancel, some agents do it as a CBH if the host has a history of cancelling multiple times. EIther way you do this, you will not get to keep any of this money regardless of your cancellation policy in place. The guest will get a full refund and additional 10% coupon from Air to rebook as long as their reso was within 4 weeks.
To each their own, if I want to book a place for three weeks across the street and lounge naked all day, that’s what I’ll do. Nothing against you but I think hosts are getting a bit too worried about local people nor will I typically answer my employment related questions over messages on Air (#1 I cant with my employer #2 I really don’t think it’s anyone’s business) The guest in question had a 5 star review and is a new user. This is one I will have to disagree on cancelling.
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By cancelling, you didn’t do anything. It’s policy for Air to do a full refund in this situation, you had no say so in that decision once you said you want to cancel. I’m confused at what fee’s you covered??