Cancellation

[John347]

Guest had booked way back in May.  They are set to stay next Thursday, and they just canceled.  I have a strick refund policy set (to protect my interest on these prime dates) so they get half their money back.  They are requesting the rest of it.

In their original contact with me about the rental, they were coming for a family reunion and now that has changed to a wedding that has been called off.  Also, they are trying to deal with damage from Hurrican Harvey.

My property is extremely seasonal, as I am sure most of the hosts on here are. I am not sure what to do, I dont feel it very fair I be out all the money and they walk away clean, yet I am sympathetic to the Harvey situation.  The hurrincane was a month ago, had they canceled even 2 weeks ago I am sure I could have rented it.

I wanted to get some opinions.

Regards,

John

[Jeff158]

Hi @John347

I think you stick to the terms agreed and tell them to contact airbnb, although airbnb will probably refund in full due to extenuating circumstances.

[Helen3]

Hello @John347

In your situation I would suggest the guest cancels with airbnb and this will be done in line with your cancellation policy. Suggest that when they do this, the dates will be opened up and if you get these dates rebooked you would be happy to offer them a refund for any of the days that get rebooked.

I feel this is fair to both guest and host.

They can of course approach Airbnb  under extenuating circumstances, but I would have thought if there was a problem due to Hurricane Harvey they would have know they couldn't travel due to this a while back.

[John347]

Thanks Helen, they have already canceled through ABNB (yesterday).  So they get half their money back.

I had responded with this:

"Hi (their name), let me start by saying I am sympathetic to your situation. The cancelation policy is there to protect me from someone canceling a week that I otherwise would have rented. Our rental period is extremely seasonal and you have not left me with very much time to find a new tenant. Originally when you booked you had told me you were coming for a family reunion not a wedding and the hurricane hit almost 1 month ago. I would be pretty confident I could have filled your rental had you canceled even 2 weeks ago. but now with a week to go it is going to be a problem. So, let me see if someone rents the property and I will gladly refund your money. As it is, I am already out (amount of half the rental) and you are asking for (the other half of the rental)."

[Rene-and-Zac0]

@John347 I'd stick to your policy. Every single time I deviated from my OWN set policy, it bites me in the burrito sack. It's a business, not a chairity. There is a mechanism for requesting a refund and skirting around that process just opens up a Pandora's box for you. I wouldn't even entertain the request, I'd simply "let it expire". On the other hand, a nicely worded "Please contact Airbnb directly regarding any refunds. Thanks" would get you out of the crosshairs as well. You cannot be afraid to say "No" in this business or guest will run roughshod over you. Good luck and let us know how it turns out in the end. 

[John347]

yes, more often than not I fall under the fact that "no good deed goes unpunished".

[Eric437]

Stick to your policy. They had time to cancel and they should have taken advantage of any goodwill while they could.  However, let me add my experience with the recent hurricanes.

During Hurricane Harvey, I had a rash of cancellation requests. I had a total of 6

cancellations over a week period (ouch). I gave them full refunds despite having a Strict Cancellation Policy and I contacted airbnb to make sure all those guests got all their fees returned also. 

I did contemplate whether or not I should uphold my policy, but knowing how airbnb is with guest satisfaction, I agreed to cancel and fully refund them. Figured what's the point when in the end Airbnb was going to refund them anyway. It would just make me look greedy.

Airbnb CSR sent me a gift and it seems they bumped all my listings up in search. I can't really confirm the bump, but all of a sudden my listings were on the 1st page of search results and I received tens of thousands in new bookings for months that are normally very soft for me. It's anecdotal evidence, but it worked out very positively for me.

[Lori83]

I am hearing LOTS of excuses.  First, a family reunion, no - wait  a wedding, no - wait - a hurricane.   If there hadn't been so many chapters to this story I would say refund.  But this is different.  I would stand by your policy.  It may be in the end that Airbnb refunds them, but I would certainly like confirmation of their mutiple stories beforehand.