Cancellation on the day and time of check-in

[Jean102]

I received a message from Airbnb has follow;

We regret to inform you that your guest xxxx cancelled reservation xxxxx starting on 2017-08-26. Per your cancellation policy, your payout has been updated to $402.55 CAD. Your guest was refunded $125.00 CAD.
This payout will be released 24 hours after the check-in date. You can review the updated payout in your Transaction History.

I never received the payout or any other message from Airbnb

I called Airbnb superhost line and they are telling me that the guest had a good reason to cancelled so they decided to refund everything to the guest....without asking me or telling me anything.

The guest sents me a message asking me to book another date because her husband wa sick last week-end.....

Why would the host be the looser? i lost over 500$ in tourist season.... I guess you can cancel and call Airbnb with a good reason and they will fully refund the guest? I feel this is very unconsiderate for host.

Did a similar situation ever happened to anybody?

[Maria758]

 Hola @Jean102!!!

Wow!  I have looked at your listings and your reviews and they are great!  Your homes are very beautiful!  

Regarding your situation, that is definitely quite a bit of money to lose out on.  However, in my experience, Airbnb is usually very good about keeping with the policies and procedures they put in place.  If the guests were honored a full refund, it was probably due to some Extenuating Circumstances (https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1320/what-is-airbnb-s-extenuating-circumstances-policy ).

Personally, if I received this information, my initial reaction would have been that of concern for the guests - “What were the circumstances that pushed the guest(s) to cancel and allow Airbnb to override my cancellation policy and give them a full refund?”

As listed on the Airbnb Help Center, some of the valid extenuating circumstances include unexpected death or serious illness of a host, guest or immediate family member, significant natural disasters (like the floods in Texas happening now), or even some endemic disease?!

Despite the reasons, it was reason enough that Airbnb determined that this Guest’s motive for cancelling fell within Airbnb’s Extenuating Circumstances Policy, and Airbnb felt it valid to override your cancellation policy and provide them a full refund.  Like I said, that is quite a bit of money to lose out on, for you and the guests if Airbnb did not assist them.

You seem like a very good host, Super Host in fact, but maybe you are looking at this particular situation from the wrong angle.  You are not the “looser” in this situation.  If anything it sounds like the guests “lost” out on a possible great vacation, in a beautiful home because someone was sick (possibly).

On the bright side, one of the nice features that Airbnb offers is that hosts don’t have to accept every reservation that comes their way.  Obviously this is your choice, but personally, I would try and work with them to see if I can get them rebooked for the future dates they are requesting.  They obviously find some appeal to your listing.  Additionally, this is a great opportunity to add a glowing review to your list!  Turning a negative situation into something good always reflects nicely as a host, or in any business.

I’m sorry you are experiencing such an undesirable situation but I don’t think you really lost out on as much as you think.  I do hope everything works out in the end for both you and the guests. 

In the meantime, “Love, Peace & Adventure!” fellow Super Host!

Happy Hosting!

Izzie, Co-Host

LOV Puerto Rico

[Mark26]

AirBnB is but one of many sources I use to market my rentals. When we started out I wanted to be more than fair to our guests.  10% of the total due would reserve an apartment, the balance due upon arrival.  I never gave cancellations a second thought.   We had a guest and her husband who were great guests, retuning to stay with us several times a year to visit family in the area for a week at a time.  They'd invariably book during our peak travel periods, when most guests book months in advance.  I felt absolutely awful for this woman when she had to call me the evening before they were scheduled to arrive one time, to tell me that they couldn't make it, because her mother had died.  That poor woman.  I sent her deposit back, and we had a week long vacancy, while everyone else was booked up.  About a year later, her sister became terribly ill, and was in the hospital...  Of course, she had to cancel at the last minute. But... such is life.  The damnedest thing happened about two years after that...  The day before she was scheduled to arrive, her mother died again.  We had another last minute vacancy for a time period that I'd had to turn down many many inquiries regarding availability.  That was a turning point for me.  That is when we adopted a Strict Cancellation Policy across the board.  I don't care how you book with me.  Payment in full secures your reservation.  If you need to cancel, I'll do my best to refill the dates that you've reserved, and I'll refund any dates that I was able to resell.

[Victoria632]

Hi Mark! I've been having issues as a host with Airbnb & it's very frustrating and time consuming 😕 I was wondering what other sites you are using to market your rentals? I would really like to have a security net as I'm always afraid Airbnb will not be if any help.. which has happened several times. Thanks & best of luck!

Victoria 

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@Mark26 wrote:

AirBnB is but one of many sources I use to market my rentals. When we started out I wanted to be more than fair to our guests.  10% of the total due would reserve an apartment, the balance due upon arrival.  I never gave cancellations a second thought.   We had a guest and her husband who were great guests, retuning to stay with us several times a year to visit family in the area for a week at a time.  They'd invariably book during our peak travel periods, when most guests book months in advance.  I felt absolutely awful for this woman when she had to call me the evening before they were scheduled to arrive one time, to tell me that they couldn't make it, because her mother had died.  That poor woman.  I sent her deposit back, and we had a week long vacancy, while everyone else was booked up.  About a year later, her sister became terribly ill, and was in the hospital...  Of course, she had to cancel at the last minute. But... such is life.  The damnedest thing happened about two years after that...  The day before she was scheduled to arrive, her mother died again.  We had another last minute vacancy for a time period that I'd had to turn down many many inquiries regarding availability.  That was a turning point for me.  That is when we adopted a Strict Cancellation Policy across the board.  I don't care how you book with me.  Payment in full secures your reservation.  If you need to cancel, I'll do my best to refill the dates that you've reserved, and I'll refund any dates that I was able to resell.

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[Mark26]

 @Izah 

"You are not the “looser” in this situation.  If anything it sounds like the guests “lost” out on a possible great vacation, in a beautiful home because someone was sick (possibly)."

Seriously?  The guest was the "looser" in this situation?   It didn't cost them a dime.  The host lost over $500!

"On the bright side, one of the nice features that Airbnb offers is that hosts don’t have to accept every reservation that comes their way.  Obviously this is your choice, but personally, I would try and work with them to see if I can get them rebooked for the future dates they are requesting. "

On the bright side, the host can mash the decline button and move on.

[Maria758]

Hello @Mark26,

Looking at your listings, and all the great reviews you have received, I can definitely see you have quite a bit of experience!  (A lot a bit!) I definitely appreciate your response to mine and I may even look at more of your previous posts to learn from you.  But I digress.

I certainly also notice a huge difference in your Listings compared to ours.  One comparrison is that we list private rooms in a shared family home, so our perspective on certain things maybe different from other hosts with larger, more luxurious listings, such as yours and Jess'.

We have been hosting since October 2016 and we think Airbnb is an excellent platform for travel and alternative lodging. It’s a great way to get that “local” experience and a wonderful way to share your home with like-minded “strangers,” at least when it comes to the sharing economy. 

I can see you are very professional and probably treat guests/bookings with the same professionalism.  We treat our guests, as if they were guests in our home, because well... they are guests in our home ^_^.  We have had guests mention my professionalism as well, but I think that's because it has been embeded in me from my years of experience in hospitality and property management.  However, we try to keep a casual, comfortable enviroment because it is our home.  

In conjunciton, because we are so small in comparrison, I don't know that we will ever see the amount of revenue that Jean has lost from any one given booking (provided we have a 3-week maximum as well), so I guess I can't fully understand the feeling.

 @Jean102 I do apologize if my post came off insensitve to your situation, that was not my intent.

I do, however, stand behind what I said when I mentioned that my initial concerns would have been what circumtances had/is going through to cause them to cancel.  I do understand that there are some dishonest people in our world and some people will take advantage of a situation, espeically if it meant loosing money.  I don't personally know you, or your guests, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.  At times, in doing so, it has "bit me in the *ss," so I learn to be a little more guarded, but that's how I prefer to do things. 

As I said before, I’m sorry you are experiencing such an undesirable situation and I do hope everything works out in the end for both you and the guests. 

@Mark26, thank you for your reponse.

Happy Hosting!

Izzie, Co-Host

LOV Puerto Rico

[David126]

@Jean102

You can never rely on AirBnB to uphold your cancellation policy, too easy for a Guest to get a full refund. Some guests are aware some ar not, what happened in this case you will never know, AirBnB makes you effectively the insurer of the Guest. Actually more than that as you are at risk well for issues well beyond what an Insurer would cover.

Strikes me as high risk to accept another booking from the same people, perhaps if it was at very short notice and you were reasonably confident you would not be losing another booking.

[Peter445]

I had a guest cancel the day before he was due because of extenuating circumstances, he was due on the Monday of the solar eclipse and said because of all the traffic he couldn't arrive and only would be able to stay 1 day even though I have a 2 days minimum because of all the work of getting the house ready,I have a 5 day cancellation policy but air bnb din't care I even offered free extra days but nothing seemed to matter with airbnb, IT seems even with getting in the house any time with the code for the door, leave early or really late to arrive I don't believe traffic is extenuating circumstances and think I should have been paid!

[Maria758]

@Peter445, that is surprising!

If I was in this situation, I would expect that this cancellation would fall under the policies I posted on my listing, not "Extenuating Circumstances."

Looking at the related article on Airbnb Help Desk (Extenuating Circumstances), the only one I can see, even remotely close, to your situation may be bullet 3, "Significant natural disasters or severe weather incidents impacting the location of destination or location of departure."

However, this event was reported all over the news and social media, here and internationally, I can't imagine the guests' not anticipating for this or Airbnb sending a memorandum to hosts in these areas to prepare for this event.

Have you started a discussion on the forum specifically for this?  See if any other hosts were affected negatively because of the eclipse?

I hope things work out for you.

Regards,

Izzie, Co-Host

LOV Puerto Rico

[David126]

It is down to the Guest to apply and AirBnb rep to agree that any given situation is an Extenuating Circumstance.