Hello 
I’m new to Airbnb we listed with the expectation that the renovation work would be well finished before availability/ booking dates. We got a few bookings with the first being about 8 weeks from the intended stay. However were 4 weeks away now and due to significant issues our builders run into he’s told us we will be only ready days before if at all!
As our first booking I don’t want to have only a host on my profile and any bad review. I’m not sure how it all works?
It’s for 4 people for 1 night and I gave them a good price as were just starting and have no reviews. So I can’t afford to pay for somewhere else in the area for them. Any advice would be much appreciated.
I would be honest and let them know what the situation is at your property. It is upto them if they want to cancel and find somewhere new. If it is 4 weeks away there is plenty of time.
I think what we forget is that this is not a hotel business and it is run at the convenience of the host as well as for the guest.
Honestly though, I’d let them know. The sooner the better.
We need more information in order to be able to give you advise. What is the scope of the remodel? Will the guests have bedrooms and bathrooms? Will it be noisy? Will there be fresh paint smell? Will guests be denied access to the property?
A word of caution for anyone reading this. Construction virtually always takes twice as long as predicted not to mention city and/or county inspections. As you can be up an running with your Airbnb listing in one day, it is prudent to wait until the construction is complete before you list the space.
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@Gumtrees I feel for you because I’ve just been through the same scenario. I rent out a studio underneath our family home. A simple bathroom installation estimated at 2-3 weeks turned into a 6 month long nightmare involving the demolition and rebuild of a third of my home and I had bookings before, during and afterward. I messaged my booked guests and was completely honest with them, gave them the option to cancel or alter the booking to staying in a portion of my own house (with a partial refund). Out of 15 bookings, only two cancelled and I wasn’t penalised by Air under the extenuating circumstances policy. Stressful at the time but it all ended pretty well under the circumstances! Keep your chin up and try to turn a negative into a positive
I had exactly the same thing… only my remodeling went in several stages and lasted a bloody year. The worst that happened to me was I had to turn away a lot of inquiries. I am way down for the year because of it. You can let them know and ask what they’d like to do. Maybe offer them half. Most construction takes place between 730 and 4. At night it’s all quiet!
Thanks everyone It’s a three bedroom house were renovating the bathroom and giving the rest of the place a facelift. The expected timeline was originally 3 months and it’s not our first renovation however it turns the house wasn’t built to building code so now we are very over our timeline and budget. All the renovations will be finished by then and no new paint smell just things like the windows won’t be able to open, no landscaping, bare bulbs for lights and no decorations (pictures up, kinick knacks etc).
I’m going to contact the person today and will let you know what ends up happening. Thank you for all your valuable advice.
Also wanted to add as soon as we found out about the delay we took our listing down and our next booking is not until January