Why Airbnb Hosts Cancel At The Last Minute (And What To Do If It Happens To You)

Much time, energy, and excitement go into traveling, and there's little more frustrating than watching your plans unravel at the last minute. Airbnb hosts cancel right before your stay for many reasons, from genuine family emergencies to attempts to give your rental away to the highest bidder. Finding out that your Airbnb host has canceled days before you're due to leave for your trip — or worse, hours before you were supposed to check in — transforms your perfectly planned itinerary into chaos. When this happens, don't panic, and don't cancel the stay through the app. Instead, reach out to Airbnb right away.

Airbnb does penalize hosts who cancel their bookings. Unless there is some major incident going on in the region that the host can't control (think government travel restrictions and natural disasters), something terrible, like a fire, happened to the house that makes it unfit to rent, or they can prove that you were planning to do something against the rules, like throw a massive rager, hosts aren't supposed to cancel on you. If they do, especially close to your check-in date, they can get hit with massive fees, lose their Superhost status, or even get kicked off the platform. Last-minute cancellations still happen, so it's essential to understand what's going on and what to do if you wind up in this situation.

"My buddy and I drove 24 hours nonstopfrom Michigan to Miami and when we got into Florida at about 8am I reached out to the host and he stated that he had double booked his place and was canceling my booking," one Reddit user shared. Unfortunately, they are far from alone.

When potential guests scout out their perfect vacation stay, many don't limit their search to Airbnb. Depending on what kind of place you need for your travels, you might choose Airbnb, Vrbo, or other sites like Expedia and Booking.com. Many hosts take the same approach and list their properties on a few websites to reach the most eyes. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as the host marks any dates booked on one platform as unavailable on the others to remove the risk of double booking. If your host double-booked you, they'll have to choose which reservation to cancel — but unfortunately, this doesn't always happen by accident.

One of the best tips for making your Airbnb stay safer is to check if it's listed on multiple websites (or multiple times through Airbnb.) In January 2024, the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California reported that one couple had ripped off thousands of people by intentionally double-booking their properties. They then canceled on guests who reserved at lower prices, essentially auctioning off the dates to the highest bidder without letting their potential guests know that they might not actually get the stay.

If you've managed to score tickets to an event like New York Comic Con or Riot Fest, one of the first things you'll probably think about is where you'll stay during your trip. Figuring out how far in advance you should book an Airbnb for the best deals can be tricky. Even though you usually don't want to book more than a month out to avoid paying more than you need to, pricing for rentals near major events only gets more expensive as the big day draws closer. Unfortunately, some Airbnb hosts will use that to their advantage.

"They gotta stop allowing hosts to cancel stays just to double or triple the price for it. It's happened to me a few times where a host canceled because they realized it was a music festival weekend and they could make more money canceling my stay and relisting for twice the price or more," one user posted to the r/AirBnB subreddit. Although Airbnb's penalties for hosts who cancel should prevent this behavior, it is so widespread that social media is full of people asking if it's even worth reserving Airbnb months in advance for popular events. Unfortunately, greedy hosts have made many users stop trusting that their listings will be available for them when the event date arrives.

An Airbnb host may cancel your booking at the last minute for valid and unscrupulous reasons, but sometimes it's just a scam. In cases like this, the host may contact you right before your arrival and inform you that something terrible has happened to the place you booked for your stay, like backed-up plumbing or damage from the previous guests. After claiming the rental is unlivable, they might tell you they have a backup. Unfortunately, this second property will likely be lower in quality than the one you originally paid for, and you won't get your money back.

The above scenario is known as a bait-and-switch scam. Hosts lure in renters with good deals on attractive properties, only to leave them hanging with a last-minute cancellation. Because it can be almost impossible to find a place to stay at the last minute, guests often feel like they have no alternative but to accept the subpar accommodations, even though they paid for a nice spot. In some cases, the places where guests end up staying are cramped, inconvenient, or just gross. One good strategy for avoiding this scam is to learn how to spot fake photos in Airbnb listings — but that won't do you much good if the host owns the nice property and wants to force you into a cheap one to make way for somebody else.

Sometimes, a host will reach out to you and tell you that the place you tried to book is unavailable, then ask you to cancel your booking through the app. However, if your host is canceling, they need to be the ones to cancel with Airbnb, not you. It makes sense that they don't want to do it — they can get hit with major penalty fees for canceling, especially at the last minute. However, you may not be entitled to a full refund if you cancel yourself. That means that not only did you lose your place to stay and have to find a new one, but you also lost out on some or all of the money you already paid, and the host got to keep your cash without giving you a place to stay.

There is one exception to this rule: you can submit a cancellation request to Airbnb. You still have to click "cancel reservation," but when asked to select the reason, choose "My host needs to cancel." This will submit a request to the host to cancel on their end. If the host needs to cancel the stay, not you, you should never cancel yourself or click any reason for cancellation other than the truth, no matter what the host may tell you.

If your Airbnb host has canceled on you right before your trip for any reason, you'll need to contact Airbnb as soon as possible. You should be entitled to a full refund once the host has officially canceled through the app, per Airbnb's official policy. Because your host left you in the lurch, you should also be able to get the refund sent to your account relatively quickly. Alternatively, they may offer you what they call a rebooking coupon, which is essentially a voucher to book an alternative Airbnb.

Airbnb will try to help you find a similar place to stay in a similar area for a similar price, though if not much is available at short notice, they might not be particularly helpful. If prices have skyrocketed since you made the original booking, however, they probably won't be able to get you the same type of place without it costing you more money. If your host leaves you high and dry right before check-in, you should take any help Airbnb support can give. If they can't find a comparable place, you may be better off taking that refund and checking into a hotel.