I had a guest book for March 2024 and just cancelled about a week after booking. This is my first cancellation. Do you message someone in this situation? What’s the protocol?
I don’t message them unless they send me a message explaining why they cancelled. If I’m just notified by Airbnb that my guest cancelled, there is no need (I think) to reach out to the guest.
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I wrestled with exactly the same question when we first started eight years ago, and I resolved it by asking what my own reaction would be if I cancelled a regular hotel reservation and the hotel contacted me to ask why, and my answer (to myself) was that I would find the outreach from the hotel a little odd, a little “clingy,” a little intrusive and a wee bit “stalky.” With that in mind I just backed off – realizing that if the guest wanted a little chat, they would have started one.
Expanding on that… the guest initially decided that they liked what they saw in my listing, and when – in the future – the time again came for them to want to travel to this neighbourhood, I would be glad I hadn’t annoyed them by overreacting to their earlier cancellation.
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If the guest simply cancelled with no message I can’t see any reason whatsoever to message them. If they have nice manners, they will message you, in which case, of course I would reply. I haven’t had many cancellations, but pretty much all of my guests who have cancelled have sent a nice message saying something like, “Sorry I had to cancel, Sarah, I just came down with a terrible flu and don’t want to assume I’ll be better in time.”
In which case I would message back, “Sorry you’re sick and I hope you get well soon. I hope you can make it another time.”
Guests who don’t message when they cancel are treating it like a pure business deal and don’t feel the need for any personal interaction, so no reason for you to.
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This was my initial thought. Thanks for your input.
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Great point of view. I hesitated to reach out for fear of coming across pushy, but didn’t know how others have handled this. Thankful for this forum. Appreciate your reply.
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Thank you for your reply. I didn’t want to come across “rude” by not reaching out, but see that my initial reaction to just let it be matched everyone here so far. I appreciate everyone’s feedback.
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Definitely not. I don’t see the point in wasting the time to do so.
If the guest has sent a message then yes, I’ll reply to the message usually somewhere containing the phrase ‘hope we’ll see you here at some time in the future’.
But it’s just a bit too creepy to contact a guest who has cancelled without sending the host a message. I don’t see the point.
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Indeed.
202020202020
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Hello Spark, what does 202020202020 mean?
It’s filler – the platform requires a minimum 20 characters or it won’t post your message.
What Spark said. I prefer to hold the period button down on my computer to get the characters. Recently it seemed that wasn’t always enough.
ah thanks … and I can see thanks isn’t enough
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That is a far out reservation! I don’t take anything that far out as life happens and they are more likely to cancel.
I take reservations 3 months or less in advance, and only by request, so I am pretty personal with my guests. I assist with trip planning, recommendations, etc. If a guest cancels, and they’ve done so more than ever before, I message them, say “sorry you had to cancel, hope we’ll have the chance to host them again sometime in the future.” No asking why, or anything, just being friendly. Have received sweet responses.
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Yes, I would never ask a guest why they cancelled. If they wanted to tell me, they would do so in a message. It’s really none of my business.
What are they possibly going to say if the host asks, anyway? We decided to go to Thailand instead of Colorado? We found a place we like better? My brother and family decided to go on vacation with us and we need a bigger place? My husband gave me shit and said we couldn’t afford a vacation? My cousin said we could stay with them? It’s none of your business?
I don’t see what valuable information a host could glean by asking a guest why they cancelled.
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I agree. However, the dates they booked for is in very high demand for our area.
I switched to “traveler” on the app and found very few available homes during that time. Thanks for the reply.
Great! That means you can raise prices compared to what the guest that canceled was going to pay.
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Yes I message when anyone cancels, I just say “sorry you had to cancel but maybe another time”.
And sometimes I’ll get a response back
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