Handling Vrbo reservation cancellations

This guide explains how to manage Vrbo reservation cancellations in Guesty. It covers:

• The difference between declined and canceled reservations
• How guest-initiated and host-initiated cancellations work
• Sync timelines between Vrbo and Guesty
• Troubleshooting sync delays
• Best practices to protect your Premier Host status

Declined vs. canceled reservations

Understanding the difference is key because both can affect your Premier Host status:

Declined reservations

• Occur when you reject a booking request before it's confirmed
• Displayed as "Canceled" in Vrbo
• Can negatively impact your metrics

Canceled reservations

• Occur when you cancel a confirmed booking
• Displayed as "Canceled" in both Vrbo and Guesty
• Directly impacts your cancellation rate and may trigger penalties

Guesty's auto-decline feature

Guesty helps protect your response rate through auto-decline.

• Quote and Hold requests (also called Request to Book) are given a Reserved status
• You must approve or decline these requests within 42 hours
• If no action is taken:
  • Guesty automatically declines the request
  • The status changes to Declined
  • The guest is notified that the booking was not accepted

Learn more about reservation statuses.

Guest-initiated cancellations

Guests can cancel anytime, even after check-in, as long as the check-out date is in the future.

What happens when a guest cancels:

• Automatic sync: Vrbo sends the cancellation to Guesty. This may take 1–24 hours
• Notification: You'll receive an alert in your Guesty Inbox
• Reservation status update: The reservation changes to Canceled in Guesty
• Refunds: You're responsible for processing refunds based on your cancellation policy
• Metrics impact: Guest cancellations do not affect your Premier Host ranking metrics

Troubleshooting sync issues:

If the cancellation doesn't appear in Guesty after 24 hours:

1. Confirm that the reservation was correctly imported into Guesty
2. If the sync failed due to an import issue, cancel the reservation manually in Guesty

Host-initiated cancellations

If you cancel a reservation:

• Guesty reports it as "Canceled by host" in Vrbo
• The cancellation will:
  • Negatively affect your Premier Host status
  • Increase your cancellation rate
  • Risk listing suspension if your cancellation rate is too high

Preventing penalties

To stay in good standing with Vrbo and protect your Premier Host eligibility:

Enable Instant Booking

Reduces cancellations caused by delays in approval.

Manage Quote and Hold responsibly

Approve or decline requests within 42 hours to avoid auto-decline penalties.

Request a waiver

If cancellation is unavoidable (e.g., emergency or double-booking), submit a waiver request to Vrbo.

Learn more in Vrbo's Partner Cancellation Fee Policy.

Cancellation sync timeframes