Cancelation of an instant booking

[Selim-Mawad0]

Hello guys,

i am new to airbnb and i started on the wrong foot. I was toying with the website and listing my house. I did not read all regulations (my fault) and before completing my listing i decided to leave it for another time. To my surprise booking (instant booking) start coming through while i was still under teh impression that my house is not listed since i was not given any chance to save my work or even confirm the listing. 

Now i have two reservations with a conflcit of one day and another one during a period when i wish not to rent my place. The guests agreed to the cancelation as long as i do it myself. I have been told that the first cancelation does not have any penalty but it will impact my visbility. Could you please give some advise? 

Cheers 

[Nancy83]

Hi, I had a similar thing happen to me.  I had two listings, and did not block out the date on one after the other had a reservation.  I was also asked to cancel by the people wanting to reserve the space.  I did that and it affected my standing.  No big deal, just annoying that when future people look under reviews it says I cancelled out a reservation within __ days of the time wanted.  Lesson learned.  Now as soon as one reservation comes in I block the other calendar.  It is reasonable that this happened to someone newly hosting as it can be confusing.  Also, word of advice, if you go with the instant booking you will proably get slammed with one reservation after the other.  That happened to me and it was great as far as the money.  Alot of work if you are cleaning and doing laundry yourself!  Good luck!  Nancy

[Josiba0]

I have need for help two tourist reservation in my house ,But I could not found them, and they went to reserve somewhere another apartament . I do not know for what reimbursement speak because I have not received any money even though they made their reservation because we do not have an account trancastion in  AIRB

[Victoria57]

@Selim-Mawad0, as you are a new host and you were using Instant Book Airbnb will probably remove the cancellation without imposing any penalties, but you will need to call them. The methods and numbers are at Contact Airbnb and the current best method for getting a response seems to be via Twitter.

[Bob43]

In addition to Victoria's reply, you might be interested to learn that there is another way out for IB only. You could actually cancel the reservation without penalties:

"For Instant Book hosts only

Hosts who use Instant Book may be able to cancel penalty-free if they have concerns about the reservation or a guest’s behavior. Calendar inaccuracy, confusion about pricing or availability, and extenuating circumstances are not covered by this policy.

If you're an Instant Book host and have concerns about a reservation or a guest's behavior:

1. Go to Your Reservations and find the reservation you need to cancel
2. Click Change or Cancel
3. Select “I’m uncomfortable with the guest’s behavior”
4. Provide a reason for the cancellation

Once you complete these steps, the host cancellation penalties for this reservation will be waived, and we’ll help your guest find another place to stay for their trip.

If it's within 24 hours of check-in, contact us instead."

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990/how-do-host-cancellation-penalties-work

[Amy38]

The best way is have the guest send you a "reservation alteration request". You agree and she wipes out the reservation....no one is harmed or charged.  The button for thatis on the reservation confirmation page which give her and you all direct contact information.

[Andy103]

This advice no longer appears on the cancellation information page. When I switched on Instant Book the confirmation referred to being able to 'cancel penalty-free' but I can't find this explained anywhere on the Airbnb website. Hopeless!