Your calendar is a promise.
Every open date on your calendar can be booked. Cancel a guest to use your home yourself, and the booking sites send you the bill.
Key takeaway
- These fees are charged by Airbnb and Booking.com, not by Guestwise. We can't remove or reduce them, and we don't pay them for you.
- Your calendar is your responsibility. Only leave open the dates your home is truly free for guests.
- If your future bookings can't cover a fee, the amount is charged to your card on file.
- Staying in your home yourself? Block the dates first. Then book a clean in your host app for the day you leave, so your home is ready for the next guest.
Picture the family who booked your home in March. Flights paid, time off work agreed, the kids counting down the days. In July they get an email: their stay is cancelled. The booking sites protect that family, and the cost lands on you: a fine, no payout for the booking, and a mark against your hosting record that can cost you Superhost status.
An open date is a date you are offering
Guests book up to 12 months ahead, day and night, often while you are not looking. If a date is open in your calendar, a guest can book it. Once they have, the only way to get that date back is to cancel them, and that is what costs you money.
What cancelling costs on Airbnb
If you cancel a confirmed booking, or cause one to be cancelled (for example by double-booking), Airbnb charges a fee based on how close to check-in you cancel:
| When the booking is cancelled | Airbnb's fee |
|---|---|
| More than 30 days before check-in | 10% of the booking |
| Between 48 hours and 30 days before check-in | 25% of the booking |
| 48 hours or less before check-in, or after check-in | 50% of the nights not stayed |
On top of the fee:
- The minimum fee is about £37, however small the booking. Airbnb sets it at US$50, so the pound figure moves a little with the exchange rate.
- The fee is worked out on the nightly rate, the cleaning fee and any pet fee, not on taxes or guest fees.
- For stays of 28 nights or more, the fee is worked out on the part of the booking the guest couldn't get back, up to 30 days after the cancellation.
- You get no payout for the cancelled booking.
- Airbnb can block those dates, so you can't rebook them.
- Cancelling without a valid reason can cost you Superhost status, or get your listing suspended or removed.
Source: Airbnb Host Cancellation Policy for homes, effective 9 October 2023, checked 30 September 2026.
What cancelling costs on Booking.com
Booking.com
You pay to move the guest
If a Booking.com guest can't stay, Booking.com asks you to cover the cost of moving them to a similar or better place nearby, on top of its commission. There is no fixed amount: you pay what that place costs for those dates. Booking.com invoices it to you as a customer complaint cost.
If a Booking.com guest's dates clash with another booking or your own stay, Booking.com treats it as an overbooking:
- Booking.com still charges its commission, because the dates were open on its site.
- Booking.com doesn't charge commission on an overbooking if your home has been listed for fewer than 30 days, or has had fewer than five overbookings in 12 months. That exception covers the commission only, not the cost of moving the guest.
Sources: Booking.com Partner Hub, Understanding our commission and Can Booking.com help me with an overbooking?, checked 30 September 2026.
Other booking sites have their own rules. This page covers Airbnb and Booking.com. Vrbo and every other site we list your home on has its own cancellation policy and fees, and those apply to you too.
What cancelling costs with us
Under your management agreement, if you cancel a booking, you also pay our management fee on that booking, as if the guest had stayed. The work to win the booking has already been done.
Work out what a cancellation would cost you
This is an estimate, not a final amount. The calculator gives you a rough idea of what a cancellation could cost, so you can see what's at stake. The actual fees are set by Airbnb when a booking is cancelled.
When would the booking be cancelled?
Estimate for Airbnb bookings only, assuming our 20% + VAT management fee. Airbnb's fee uses its host cancellation policy, with a minimum of about £37. VAT at the standard 20% rate. Booking.com charges differ: you pay its commission plus the cost of moving the guest.
If your future bookings can't cover the cost
Cancellation fees and our fee are first taken from your next payouts. If you don't have enough bookings coming up to cover them:
- 1
We charge your card on file
The amount you owe is taken from the card saved on your account.
- 2
You have 30 days to pay
If the card payment fails, you have 30 days to settle the amount.
- 3
Unpaid debts go to collections
After 30 days, the debt is likely to be passed to a debt collection agency, which may add its own fees.
This isn't a punishment, and it isn't meant to scare you. You manage your own calendar in your host app, and that freedom comes with responsibility for the dates you leave open.
How to never pay a cancellation fee
- 1
Block dates the moment you know
Block any dates you want to use in your host app, at least 30 days ahead. The earlier you block, the less chance a guest gets there first.
- 2
Not sure? Block anyway
Opening a date later costs nothing. Cancelling a guest costs you the fee, the payout and your ranking.
- 3
Never block over a booking
If a booked date is already taken, blocking it won't remove the guest. Call your local team first.
- 4
Never ask a guest to cancel
Airbnb doesn't allow hosts to push guests into cancelling. If something serious has happened, tell us straight away and we'll handle it the right way.
Who does what
We do
- Keep your calendar in sync across every booking site
- Remind fixed-term hosts how many block days they have left
- Deal with the guest and the booking site if something serious happens
- Apply for a fee waiver when your reason qualifies
You do
- Block every date you need, at least 30 days ahead
- Check your calendar before you make plans for your home
- Tell us at once if something could stop a stay going ahead
- Honour every booking you've left open
When the fee can be waived
Rarely, and only with evidence. Airbnb waives its fee when something outside your control makes hosting impossible, such as serious damage to your home (a major leak or flood that leaves it unfit for guests). Airbnb asks for proof such as repair invoices and photos, and decides case by case after checking the evidence. Large-scale events, such as a government travel restriction or a declared public health emergency, can also qualify.
Even when the fee is waived, you receive no payout for the cancelled booking. Changing your plans, wanting your home back or forgetting to block a date won't qualify. We can't promise any waiver: the decision is Airbnb's, not ours.
Sources: Airbnb, Canceling a reservation as a host without adverse consequences and Host cancellations, checked 30 September 2026.