Picture this. You have booked yourself a sparkly Airbnb and you’re about to head off on vacation. Next thing you come down with a dreaded last minute sickness the night before. Yes, it can and does happen, and you will be asking yourself can you cancel Airbnb within 24 hours of booking?

The simple answer is yes, you can cancel Airbnb within 24 hours of booking. However, the bad news is you wont receive a refund from Airbnb if you cancel a booking after 12pm. In other words, if you cancel after midnight on the night before, you will not get a refund if you cancel your booking.

Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances where cancelling an Airbnb booking is unavoidable. In this case you may still be in line for a refund, but I will cover that a bit lower.

Guests often ask me many different questions related to cancelling Airbnb bookings. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to answer these frequently asked questions. So let’s get to it shall we? Let’s get those questions answered once and for all!

How late can you cancel Airbnb?

The good news is you can cancel an Airbnb at any time, even on the same day. That being the case, you should be aware that you may not receive a refund, also there may be penalties.

Before we go on, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the Airbnb cancellation policy. Whether or not you receive a refund when you cancel an Airbnb booking depends on a hosts policy. To illustrate, the graphic below is a very quick guide:

So as you can see, it depends on how strict your hosts policy is. A flexible policy allows you to cancel your booking within 24 hours. If you cancel within that 24 hour period, then the first night is non-refundable.

Second, a moderate policy will net you a 100% refund when cancelling up to 7 days. If you cancel within 7 days, you’ll get a 50% refund instead.

Finally a strict policy is much harder to get around. You can cancel up to 30 days before your trip for a full refund. Alternatively, you can cancel within 30 days, but only receive a 50% refund.

To sum up, it pays to know your options at the time of booking. That way you can avoid any nasty surprises should you need to cancel your Airbnb booking.

NOTE: View information about coronavirus cancellation refunds.

How do you cancel Airbnb within 48 hours?

A common question guests ask is how do you cancel Airbnb within 48 hours?

You can cancel an Airbnb booking at anytime, but you must be aware you may not always receive a full refund. When you cancel an Airbnb within 48 hours, you’ll only get a refund if a host offers a flexible policy.

A moderate or strict policy means a refund of only 50% on your cancelled Airbnb booking.

If you know you may need to cancel a booking at the last minute, do it within 48 hours if you can. It leaves you with more options than doing it within 24 hours.

How to cancel an Airbnb booking:

How do I cancel my Airbnb without penalty as a guest?

The good news is, as a guest, Airbnb will not penalise you when you cancel a booking. But if you’re a host, you face much more scrutiny when cancelling. Let’s take a look:

Guests

Guests will not receive a punishment when they cancel a booking. But if you do cancel, you must be aware you can no longer make bookings on Airbnb for those dates.

Airbnb will block out any nights you cancel a reservation. This stops cheeky guests who cancel at the last minute to find bargains elsewhere. Thankfully they have now closed this loophole up.

Also, as discussed above, you may not be in line to receive a refund. It all depends on the policy which the host provides. But apart from this, there are no further penalties for guests.

Hosts

Hosts have the tough end of the stick when it comes to cancellations. Airbnb deem it a mortal sin for you to cancel a booking, and rightfully so.

Cancelling a booking can see you lose the ability to become a SuperHost. It will also see you drop in the search rankings, which in return effects future earnings. In other words, it’s bad okay!

But let’s get back to the original question at hand. How do I cancel my Airbnb booking without penalty as a guest? Fortunately there is a way to do this, but it requires you having Instant Booking switched on.

Airbnb permit hosts with Instant Booking turned on to cancel reservations penalty free. For example, if a guest has a record of bad Airbnb reviews, you can cancel without penalty. Or perhaps a guest is aggressive in their communication to you? That’s grounds to cancel without penalty.

It’s worth noting that Airbnb limit you to cancel just 3 bookings a year. So how do you do it? Follow the instructions below:

1. Go to Your Reservations on your Airbnb profile
2. Select the reservation you wish to cancel
3. Next click on the Change or Cancel button
4. Choose an option such as I’m uncomfortable with the reservation or the guest has broken my house rules

Cancelling for extenuating circumstances

Do you need to cancel a booking due to an unexpected circumstance beyond your control? Well you must file an extenuating circumstances claim with Airbnb. Don’t worry, it’s an easy process that I will guide you through.

In laymen terms, this means you may be in line for a full refund, even if you cancel at the last minute. It’s called extenuating circumstances it’s good to make yourself aware.

Below are some examples of extenuating circumstances that Airbnb accept as valid.

Extenuating Circumstances Examples:

• Death of an immediate family member
• Serious illness
• Airport and road closures
• Political or civil unrest in area
• Changes to Visa or Passport requirements
• Natural disasters, eg. earthquakes, tornados, etc
• Epidemic, disease or illness

Of course though, you’ll have to prove these claims to Airbnb. For example, if it’s the death of a family member, you’ll need to provide a death certificate or obituary.

So how long does it take to make an extenuating circumstances claim? Claims can take up to 14 days.

How to get out of Airbnb strict cancellation policy

Some hosts have a very strict cancellation policy. By strict, I mean a 50% refund up until 60 days prior to check in. Damn that’s tough, and you are taking on risk booking a place like this. So you may be wondering how to get out of Airbnb strict cancellation policy?

In some instances, Airbnb will allow you to cancel a booking, overriding this policy. The website Airbnbhell shows ways how this can happen and how Airbnb often favour guests.

To put it briefly, you’ll need a very good reason to get out of a strict cancellation policy. This great article gives an example of a way one guest was able to get a full refund on a booking.

Take a scenario where you check into an Airbnb that appears nothing like how they advertised it. In this case you would have grounds to cancel for a full refund. You may spot something dangerous, or something a host fails to advertise in their listing. In these instances, you may be able to cancel your Airbnb booking for a full refund.

In addition, you could make an extenuating circumstances claim. Of course I explained this in the section above. This is another valid way to get out of a strict booking.

What happens if Airbnb host cancels?

So what happens if an Airbnb host cancels on you? Never fear. Airbnb will issue with a full refund in the rare case this happens. I say rare, as Airbnb come down like a ton of bricks on hosts who cancel bookings. In fact the penalties are severe, so it does not often happen.

“If your reservation is cancelled by your host, we’ll automatically give you a full refund. You can check the status of your refund in your Transaction History.”

Airbnb.com

This can be an annoyance, especially if a host cancels a booking at the last minute. During busy times, there may not be many availability left, or listings may be more expensive.

Airbnb know how inconvenient this situation is so they may be generous. For example, this family received a full refund with an extra 10% on top of what they initially paid.

When a host cancels, you’ll have two options to choose from:

1. Transfer your payment to a new Airbnb reservation
2. Get a full refund (possibly with an extra % depending on circumstances)

You’ll just have to put this down as one of the risks of using Airbnb. Know that it is rare, but keep in the back of your mind a host can cancel.

#1 tip to avoid an Airbnb host cancelling

The best tip I can give you is to look at a hosts reviews on their listing. When a host cancels a Airbnb booking, they post an automated review to the hosts listing.

It will look something like below:

If you see this on their listing, then book with care. Furthermore, if you see it multiple times, it’s probably a wise idea to move on to another listing.

In Summary

I hope that all those frequently asked questions relating to cancellations. Also, you should now know if you can cancel Airbnb within 24 hours of booking.

But if you have any additional questions, be sure to hit me up in the comments section below. I answer every single question that readers have for me.

To summarise, you should now be aware of flexible, moderate and strict policies. Do you want the flexibility to cancel an Airbnb booking up to the last 24 hours? Book properties with a flexible policy.

Always keep in mind that you can cancel an Airbnb booking under extenuate circumstances. Also, remember to read host reviews when making a booking. Hosts that cancel a booking will have it listed on their reviews page.

Further Reading