Guests cancels over phone and not online

[Lynette35]

Hi people, I had a guest call on the day they were meant to arrive for the weekend (friday afternoon), they were sick and I advised of our strict cancellation policy (also being a weekend with a big event in our times when not many bookings come in), and offered for them to come another weekend instead.  They were going to think about it and get back to me when better.  I was nowhere to get online and didn't think about telling them to cancel online, so today the booking is complete and we're getting our payout, do I need to cancel somehow with airbnb or them to record that they didn't come?  We also paid our insurance and will have to pay that again next time if they come.  Cheers, Lynette

[Karen-and-Brian0]

Hi @Lynette35 It's the guest's responsibility to cancel their reservation, please don't cancel for them, as you will be penalized. See Help article here:

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/i-m-a-host--what-penalties-apply-if-i-need-to-cancel-a-reserv...

Once the guest cancels, your cancellation policy will kick in & Airbnb will apply it. As it's Strict, they aren't eligible for a refund - but If you decide you'd like to refund any amount, you can do that. I'm assuming the type of insurance you are getting is bought for each booking? I wonder if that's refundable when the booking is cancelled? If not, you might want to consider deducting that amount from the refund you plan to give these guests? Hope that helps! Karen