How to handle no-shows and late requests to cancel

Within the 2 hours prior to a confirmed booking, guests are not able to cancel or reschedule their own bookings. However, some guests may experience last-minute changes to their plans. This article is about how to handle no-shows and late requests to cancel. For more information about Sniffspot’s cancellation/modification policy, see this article.

In some cases, a guest may contact a host within 2 hours prior to a booking to inform them that they will be unable to attend during their booked time. In this situation, a host has three options, at their sole discretion:

The host may simply respond to let the guest know that they appreciate being informed and hope the guest will book again when they are able.
The host may respond and include a custom discount code to cover all or part of the cost for the guest to book again at another time. This Custom Discount Code article describes how to create them.
The host may choose to cancel the booking on the guest’s behalf and issue a refund. This article about hosts cancelling reservations details the process and also stresses that host cancellations should be rare occurrences.

In other cases, a guest simply may not show up for their booking. In this situation, please remember safety first. Then, we encourage you to do the following:

Do not enter your spot until the end of the booked time or until you have communicated with the guest. Some guests book specific windows of time, knowing that they will arrive at some point during that time but not precisely at the start time.
Send a message to the guest to let them know they have missed their booking, ask if they are all right, and see if they want to reschedule. By reaching out, you will establish a positive guest experience, and you may prevent the potential for a guest to show up unannounced at a different time or on a different day if they confused their booking times.

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Discussion Topic: No Show

Discussion Topic: Refund

Discussion Topic: Reschedule