Guests want to Cancel but won't Cancel themselves.....?

[Helen82]

Hey all,

I'm a little new to this so please humor me here if this seems a little basic. I've had a reservation for almost a month for an 8 night stay. I received a notification from Airbnb last night, something along the lines of, "[insert guests name] is requesting YOU cancel" then the options in that message were, "Cancel the reservation (all host penalties apply) or confirm with Guest that you are still able to host them during these dates". I selected I am still able to host, because well, I am still able to host them- and I don't want to be charged or penalized if I am the one canceling.

Now I have received a message from the guests letting me know they are having some family troubles and will be unable to make the stay. I messaged them back and told them I was sorry to hear, take care, and also to make sure they cancel the reservation via airbnb. But the reservation is still active.

This just seems like a really weird option that Airbnb has for the guest to request that YOU cancel at YOUR expense. Surely there must be something on the guests end where they can cancel the reservation on their own without me having to cancel on my end. What's going on here that I'm missing? Advice?

Thank you in advance! 🙂

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

Do nothing - don't cancel. If they don't cancel they may lose the entire cost of their stay (depending on your cancellation policy). Sounds like they have changed their minds and just don't want to be penalised for doing so.

You can if you wish contact them via the platform and let the know that the earlier they cancel the better as if you are able to resell the nights then you are happy to refund most of their stay (depends on you really....)

[Helen82]

Good advice. I worried about that last item you brought up, booking those days once they cancel. But the fact that they don't want to be penalized makes perfect sense, although I do have a flexible cancelation policy; I can see why now this has played out as it has. Thank you!!

[Tammy29]

my guest asked me to cancel I said no I had to stick to my strick policy due to her long term rental and she called airbnb i am not sure what she said, they emailed me at 7:15am then 2:44 and the 5:15 all times when I was at work and unable to retrive or see personal emails, my guest had the guied book and all my personal info with those details and other ways to contact me during work hours did not share with airbnb of course at 5:20 i get a text message thank you for your cancellation. I about lost it I did everything I could on the airbnb site trying to figure out what was going on. When I got home and say my email I responded asap and got 1 response we gave you a 5pm deadline you did not respond in time the 5 pm deadline was at 2:44pm 2 hours and 16 min. So worry, now I have emailed them 10 times in the past 48 hours and no response