Changing an existing In house Guest Reservation - There's an alternative option

[Helen427]

Hello fellow ABB Hosts and Guests

I recently had cause as a Host to be able to use the Option of "Changing" an existing Guest reservation who was wanting to leave earlier than their booked term as a Guest and want others to be aware of this Option to use to cover for any financial disadvantage as a Host.

It's a great Option to know about for Hosts to also open one's calendar to other potential Guests rather than have a Blocked calendar if one CANCELS outright.

Where it says select Cancel or Change as a Host take the initiative use the "CHANGE" option and go from there.

One can go back and change the amounts or dates to see if it's the amount you want to offer and receive yourself before confirming the amount.

As a Host you can change dates booked and the sum of monies in this option as appropriate rather than use the straight out CANCEL option.

Use this option to yours and your guests advantage.

They can either agree or decline one's offer but it's a great option to have in conjunction with your chosen Cancellation Policy when a Guest has already commenced their stay.

I understand that this option doesn't impact on ones outright Cancellation as it's a Change not an actual Cancellation as such.

All the best

How Do I cancel a Reservation as a Host

https://www.airbnb.co.nz/help/article/166/how-do-i-cancel-a-reservation-as-a-host

[Ricardo85]

@Helen427 

It´s great!

Ricardo

[Helen427]

Thanks @Ricardo85 

Hope this information is of benefit to all regardless of what Cancellation Policy they have in place, as it's an Option we Hosts can take initiative to use before Guests do.

It's best of course for both Hosts & Guest to ''talk to each other" of course to come to mutual agreements should their be a change of circumstances.

In my situation the guest had a change of their circumstances and I wanted my calendar opened up as they had blocked it without having read my listing before booking my home.

[Sarah977]

@Helen427  I really don't see the advantage to this. Why would you, as a host, cancel the reservation of a guest, which you say this is a good alternative to, if it's the guest who wants to leave early? If the guest wants to leave early, it's the guest who should cancel, and then your dates will open back up as soon as they do this, and they'll receive whatever refund they are due according to the cancellation policy.

[Helen427]

@Sarah977and others

It's not a cancellation, it's "modifying" a reservation that the Guest is already in house for.

Huge difference.

People's circumstances when they have already arrived for their stay may "change" for whatever reason during their stay which is different to that of a Cancellation prior to arrival or if there's extenuating circumstances such as Misrepresented property, Medical matter, death etc.

Why shouldn't a Host "change/ modify" the reservation if a Guest decides for whatever reason to check out early?

ABB is a level playing field, isn't it?

It's so often mentioned throughout here in CC that ABB favours Guests & this Option that is available to Hosts is something to be aware of.

It allows Hosts to have some control of how much, if to refund a Guest for the rest of their stay rather than lose nearly all of the monies they would have been paid had the Guest stayed for the full duration.

It's about balance Libra lady!!

[Sarah977]

@Helen427  You aren't understanding my question- if a guest decides not to stay for their entire reservation after their stay has started, why doesn't the guest simply cancel the remainder of their stay? They'll be refunded according to your cancellation policy. Why should the host modify the reservation? You don't seem to be able to explain this so it makes sense, at least not to me.

[Susan17]

@Helen427 

"ABB is a level playing field, isn't it?"

Come on now, Helen - you're on this forum often enough to have seen more than enough evidence to strongly refute that theory! 😉

Permitting guests to "change" a reservation - as opposed to cancelling a booking they want to wriggle out of - negates the host's cancellation policy, and this relatively recent "tweak" is already causing major confusion and headaches for hosts who are being scammed out of funds that should rightfully be theirs because of it. 

[Helen427]

haha @Susan17 I thought you may like this topic!

In my wisdom I used this for a recent guest as I had a Guest use it on me when I first started Hosting, in that case I lost a night or 3 of payments and bookings so got in first this time around & got paid rather than lose more had the Guest cancelled their current booking, which they may have done as decided to check out early.

I used this to my advantage as a Host just like my previous Guest who used it used it to their advantage & my disadvantage.

It's an Option we can use, so why not exercise that Right??

It's ripe for the picking, try it rather than going down the Cancel option especially if as a Host you have bookings where a situation arises in stays of more than say a week but less than 28 nights.

[Helen427]

@Sarah977 
Go on to the link in my first post, click on "Reservation" in Step 1  which will take you to your existing Reservations, and try the steps on an existing Reservation you have using "Change" Option with different dates & sums of monies without actually clicking on 'confirm'.

I appreciate your Policy for 'cancellation' may be Moderate so you would receive 50% if the Guest cancelled during their stay.

As an example say it's the low season in your area and you know the chance of having another guest booking to make up for a Guest checking out prior to originally agreed departure date is small.

 As an example, an existing Guest has checked in and booked for 25 nights and they've decided they wanted to check out after the 10th day, you may like to use the 'Change' Option so the check out date is brought forward to a date that suits both parties and you may like to as an example retain 70% rather than the 50% on offer to compensate for loss of bookings you may have otherwise had.

If a Guest made the Alteration/Modification to the check out date they may ask for a greater or lessor or no refund, whereas if a Host exercises this alternative option first it gives one the balance of power.

[Sarah977]

@Helen427 Okay, thanks for explaining why you would do this. I get it now, but the key thing is that the guest would have to agree to it- in the example you gave, I can't see why the guest would agree to the host retaining 70% if they know they could get 50% back by cancelling. So I see where this might work for you with a flexible cancellation policy, but doesn't seem applicable or workable for other cancellation policies.

Personally, I try to make things as simple as possible- for instance, I had a guest this summer who had booked for 5 days, but decided to cut her stay short to only 2 days- nothing to do with my place, she just wasn't prepared for how hot it is here in the summer, so wanted to move on to her next destination in the cooler highlands. As I rarely get any bookings at that time of year, so don't count on that income at all, nor would her blocked dates have prevented another booking, I just offered to refund her fully for the days she had left (she didn't ask for that). Rather than muck about with the Airbnb site, as she has a Canadian bank account and so do I, I just transferred the $ from my account to hers online. Had her booking been in my high season, where I would have surely been able to have her non-staying dates filled, but not on such short notice, I'd have just let my moderate cancellation period take over.

[Anonymous]

@Helen427  The guest can always cancel a booking at any time. The refund they receive, if any, is completely dependent on the host's cancellation policy.  For whatever reason, you voluntarily chose to have the "Flexible" cancellation policy, and this choice is the reason that you've lost revenue due to a booking terminated early. 

The "modify booking" option is a request - it only goes through if the other party agrees to it. It may indeed be a better option for hosts who want to have the Flexible cancellation policy. We all know that already, but thank you for the reminder.

[Helen427]

@Anonymous, what's with the "We all know" in you post?

Have you considered there's many more people than yourself & those who have contributed to this topic who are ABB Guests and Hosts, including new users to ABB and others who read in the Community Centre?

As stated, it's an "Alternative Option" to that of either party simply 'cancelling' for whatever reason.

Hosts & Guest, alike, do have genuine reason's for 'Modifying' current In House reservations and 'Good Will' from both parties goes a long way.

Have a great day!

[Katrina79]

@Helen427 Thank you for pointing this option out! I’ve hosted many stays and I wasn’t aware of the flexibility this option allows. I think it could have saved a couple hassles for me in the past. Regardless I’ll keep it in mind when it may be needed in the future! Now if only we could extend a guests stay once it has already started. 

[Helen427]

Thanks @Katrina79 @Mike1034 
I'm pleased to see your words of wisdom and appreciate your input.

One can extend Guests stays through the same avenue of Change to extend @Katrina79 .

Have a fiddle around with an existing reservation...just don't accidently click on 'confirm" or you could have a challenge to sort out 🙂

all the best

Cental To All Home & Location

Remuera, Auckland, NewZealand

[Mike1034]

@Helen427  I agree with you when a flexible cancellation policy is chosen by the host. And may be good in certain cases when a moderate cancellation policy is adopted.

If a host has a reasonable guest, the negotiation with the guest can result in a good deal for the host with flexible cancellation policy so that the host can get agreed amount of payment instead of very little after a cancellation is made by the guest.