WWYD - Family booked your AirBNB and backed out without paying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe the people who are saying you should do it for free, WTH?!

How about they give their family members that amount of money for a week, because that’s what happens when you let someone stay rent free.

It’s the time-honored DCUM tradition of reflexively bashing the OP even when it makes you look like an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another voice here that is shocked you charged family in the first place, even at a discounted rate. You should have just said spring break is blocked on the calendar because it’s high season and offered up a different period of time instead, for free.

Either way, I’d express disappointment with the last minute cancellation but I wouldn’t ask for more money or anything like that.

You’re being ridiculous. Not everyone is made of money. Clearly the moochers didn’t want to pay the full price by going elsewhere. No one is owed free accommodation.

OP had a lot of options including saying no. OP just chose wrong and now knows. We have a very desirable rental and never ever would charge family. Even for high season. In fact if we have a free week here or there during high season I send the alert out to family that it is open. They pay cleaning and we love having people use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another voice here that is shocked you charged family in the first place, even at a discounted rate. You should have just said spring break is blocked on the calendar because it’s high season and offered up a different period of time instead, for free.

Either way, I’d express disappointment with the last minute cancellation but I wouldn’t ask for more money or anything like that.

You’re being ridiculous. Not everyone is made of money. Clearly the moochers didn’t want to pay the full price by going elsewhere. No one is owed free accommodation.

OP had a lot of options including saying no. OP just chose wrong and now knows. We have a very desirable rental and never ever would charge family. Even for high season. In fact if we have a free week here or there during high season I send the alert out to family that it is open. They pay cleaning and we love having people use it.

You are free to do what you want. Who says everyone has to do the same? Is there some universal law that you never charge relatives?
OP put her faith in these people and now knows what not to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another voice here that is shocked you charged family in the first place, even at a discounted rate. You should have just said spring break is blocked on the calendar because it’s high season and offered up a different period of time instead, for free.

Either way, I’d express disappointment with the last minute cancellation but I wouldn’t ask for more money or anything like that.

You’re being ridiculous. Not everyone is made of money. Clearly the moochers didn’t want to pay the full price by going elsewhere. No one is owed free accommodation.

OP had a lot of options including saying no. OP just chose wrong and now knows. We have a very desirable rental and never ever would charge family. Even for high season. In fact if we have a free week here or there during high season I send the alert out to family that it is open. They pay cleaning and we love having people use it.

You are free to do what you want. Who says everyone has to do the same? Is there some universal law that you never charge relatives?
OP put her faith in these people and now knows what not to do.

Do what you want. You are free to ruin relationships with family & friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another voice here that is shocked you charged family in the first place, even at a discounted rate. You should have just said spring break is blocked on the calendar because it’s high season and offered up a different period of time instead, for free.

Either way, I’d express disappointment with the last minute cancellation but I wouldn’t ask for more money or anything like that.

You’re being ridiculous. Not everyone is made of money. Clearly the moochers didn’t want to pay the full price by going elsewhere. No one is owed free accommodation.

OP had a lot of options including saying no. OP just chose wrong and now knows. We have a very desirable rental and never ever would charge family. Even for high season. In fact if we have a free week here or there during high season I send the alert out to family that it is open. They pay cleaning and we love having people use it.

You are free to do what you want. Who says everyone has to do the same? Is there some universal law that you never charge relatives?
OP put her faith in these people and now knows what not to do.

Do what you want. You are free to ruin relationships with family & friends.

Looks like the moochers did that for themselves. No good deed goes unpunished.

[Anonymous]

We own a rental property. We pay a low mortgage so the rental income goes towards mortgage and we pocket the rest. It's part of our income. When a friend told my husband she was looking for a place to live, he FOOLISHLY told her our house would be open soon. She told everyone she was moving in. And then was surprised and hurt to learn we weren't offering it up for free.

People suck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another voice here that is shocked you charged family in the first place, even at a discounted rate. You should have just said spring break is blocked on the calendar because it’s high season and offered up a different period of time instead, for free.

Either way, I’d express disappointment with the last minute cancellation but I wouldn’t ask for more money or anything like that.

You’re being ridiculous. Not everyone is made of money. Clearly the moochers didn’t want to pay the full price by going elsewhere. No one is owed free accommodation.

OP had a lot of options including saying no. OP just chose wrong and now knows. We have a very desirable rental and never ever would charge family. Even for high season. In fact if we have a free week here or there during high season I send the alert out to family that it is open. They pay cleaning and we love having people use it.

You are free to do what you want. Who says everyone has to do the same? Is there some universal law that you never charge relatives?
OP put her faith in these people and now knows what not to do.

Do what you want. You are free to ruin relationships with family & friends.

Don’t be an entitled freeloader and you’ll keep your relationships just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe you charged family members. What is with you people? Are you the same poster who lended her friend money? Same principle applies, gift it or don’t give it at all.

Agree 100%. Op, you could've said "no". If your place is so rentable, why wasn't it booked when your family asked to stay?

You both are ridiculous. We have friends with rental properties in very desirable ski locations. They are very generous and offer to let us use it in summer and fall rent-free, and we've taken them up on it (we pay the cleaning fee, and get them a nice gift card for their favorite restaurant). But if we wanted to stay there over Christmas week, or President's weekend, of course we'd pay. That'd be thousands of dollars out of their pockets otherwise

OP is referring to family not friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All these people questioning charging family or friends obviously don’t have rental properties. Our place rents for $ 5,000+ per week. Would you give that kind of money to family? a discount is generous and how we handle. I would take it as a lesson learned, not rent to them again.

Nope, we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone with a rental property, I would charge too in high season. All these “only give it for free” people are nuts. I would have given them the choice of a free slot in the fall or pay for spring break. So don’t feel bad about this. They are the jerks.

I mean that’s basically what we were saying too. No one said family is entitled to a free high season rental in those posts.

[Anonymous]

All of you dont charge family people don’t have a clue. If you are not rich, and family uses your place, when they would never visit otherwise or offer anything in return, they are exploitive freeloaders. My FIL spent his entire two weeks annual vacation repairing and maintaining a tiny cabin that my MIL’s family used to the breaking point. Yeah, she shouldn’t have been handing out the keys, but it was family.

Just say no. Damn hard, but necessary.

[Anonymous]

People only should get discounted or free weeks if OFFERED by the owners. If they ASK to use the place, they should expect to pay full price.

Reserve w/o payment for 24 hours. Inform that your policy is to release any reservation if there is no payment within 24 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WWYD? We run our AirBNB as a business. Never had a friend or family stay outside of when we visit. They asked us to book and we hesitated because we didn't want to charge family but it was for spring break where we make money. They said, no problem and happy to pay. So we gave them a discounted rate, check in instructions, how to pay us.

They backed out day before check in, didn't pay and haven't offered to pay. Obviously they'll never be offered a discounted rate again. Obviously won't be blocking the calendar without payment. But WWYD? Totally disrespectful.

If it was clear to them that they were getting a deal because it was high season then I would ask them to pay the cancellation fee.

I don't agree with all the other people that are aghast that you would take money from family or that you should have blacked out the dates/not entertained the request. That's not how my family would handle either situation and we certainly wouldn't leave a family member in the lurch if we backed out.

Obviously, YMMV.

[Anonymous]

One of my relatives owns a store where I shop occasionally. Should I expect to be given free goods every time I shop there? Or should accountants or lawyers be expected to provide free services to every relative who asks? The usual spin on situations like these is that people shouldn’t be expected to give their services away for free, whether it’s to friends or family. In this case, I think a discount is reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is cancelation policy on the rental for non family?

For canceling 1 day before the stay? Non-refundable