reservation showing as cancelled

[Krista23]

Hi there, I'm not very happy at all at the moment. I set up a second listing for my house, to rent the whole place out while on holiday and the listing defaulted to instant book! I don't think this should be possible.

I then got a confirmed booking when I didn't expect to and politely asked the guest to cancel, explaining that I'm new to this and hadn't realised anyone could auto-book by default. He was happy to do this but was then charged twice by Air BNB. And then I get an automatic review and a message saying my listing is "at risk" because I cancelled when I didn't, he did! If he wasn't happy to cancel I would have been prepared to honour the booking. 

None of this makes any sense. Can anyone tell me what went wrong here or if they have experience similar?

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Krista23

The guest sent you a 'request to cancel' which you accepted and you should never do - it means that they put the blame for the cancellation on you and you get penalised. It's quite a sly and sneaky email that comes through which makes it seem like it is guest initiated and everyone is happy. Never ever accept a cancellation request - let the guest handle the entire process.

contact Airbnb and see if they will understand the situation and reverse the penalties 

as for the guest being being charged twice I am not sure how that can happen. They will need to speak to Airbnb if they have been charged twice - which I doubt.

[Gordon0]

>>The guest sent you a 'request to cancel' which you accepted and you should never do - it means that they put the blame for the cancellation on you and you get penalised<<

It was his fault, not the guest's. If the guest had cancelled (and accepted blame) he/she would have lost the booking fee, surely?

And all new listings are set to IB by default. 

[Krista23]

Thanks Gordon, I didn't realise that's how a request to cancel worked. I should have just taken the booking, argh! It met my mininum number of days but was smack bang in the middle of Easter, not either end, so it was just a pain to move out then. Thanks very much for your reply 🙂

[Krista23]

Hi Gerry and Rashid, wow, the penny drops! Yes that is a sneaky way to do it.
I still can't even figure out how to even contact Air BNB. It's like being in a maze, ha ha! I'll get onto it when I have time. 
The guest did end up contacting them and was refunded for the second charge. Weird!

Krista.

[Linda108]

@Krista23  Looks like you unlisted your entire house listing.  While you haven't been a host for long, you do have some experience and have been very positively reviewed.  When you listed your private room did it default to Instant Book as well?  I have been caught off guard by IB but didn't ask the guest to cancel since it was my mistake, not theirs.  It actually worked out.

I hope you take advantage of all the articles found in the Help Center as well as the many discussion thread in the host forum to be better prepared for "surprises".  It will give you a greater sense of confidence.  Good luck with your business!

[Krista23]

Thanks so much Linda for your reply. Yes, I did unlist it as the whole thing freaked me out. I didn't like it defaulting to instant book at all, although I guess it was partly my fault for not noticing that. I have kept the listing for the private room as that has gone really well. 

[Richard322]

I'm also in NZ, in Taranaki actually, have been going since just before Easter. Evereything's cool except for one incident:

the booker (in Canada) booked for a one night visit with 3 others in November. I received the payment, but I then had to try to explain to her she owed another $60 for our linen service charge, which is carefully explained in our homestay description. There is no way on Airbnb to have a linen charge (unlike other sites we use), it has to be charged as 'cleaning.' So on advice from the Forum, I sent her a request for payment through the 'special offer' facility. Well, she spat the dummy, booked elsewhere and cancelled me saying it should have been part of the tarriff. Another guy (Utah) who booked for June, was quite happy to pay the extra charge.

The Canadian lady contacted me a few days later to say she had been charged twice for her cancelled booking. I can confirm the two amounts are in my bank account. I didn't realise at the time they were both for same booking. However the transaction record shows she was refunded once.

She has calmed down and we are talking. It was her first experience of Airbnb and she is not happy. I said I would go into the Community Forum and get help.

So what do I do? Is there any way of refunding her through Airbnb or do I have to make a credit to her bank account? And what about Airbnb's deductions?

Incidentally, as a result of the above, i have added a 'cleaning' charge of $80 to cover the provision of linen and towels etc.