Cancel a guest's reservation as a host

Vrbo hosts should try to honor all booked reservations. Sometimes, you may need to cancel a guest’s reservation because you can no longer accommodate their booking. You can cancel the booking from your Vrbo Owner Dashboard. In these cases, your property may be penalized with a drop in search visibility, cancellation fees, or a listing suspension.

Cancel a guest’s booking as a host

For bookings that you can no longer accommodate, you should cancel the booking from your Vrbo owner dashboard using the steps below.

Log in to your account.
If you have more than one listing, select the property.
Select Inbox.
Find the reservation. You can select Filters to filter your conversations or enter the guest's name or reservation ID (Res ID) into the search bar.
Select the guest's name.
Select Modify or cancel reservation, then Cancel reservation.
- Note: If you need to make changes to the reservation, see our help article about editing a guest’s reservation for more information and instructions.
Select the cancellation reason.
Include a message to the guest explaining why the reservation is being cancelled.
Review the refund amount and select Continue.
- Full refunds are required for all partner-initiated cancellations except for instances of house rule violations.
Review cancellation terms to understand the impacts before proceeding.
Select Cancel reservation to confirm and process the refund.

The booking will be updated to show a cancelled status, and any applicable fees will appear below the cancellation status. If you have requested a cancellation waiver and it is approved, it will be reflected in the booking details.

Note:

Partner-initiated cancellations that don’t qualify for a cancellation waiver can affect your ranking metrics.
Cancellation waiver requests must be submitted within 10 days of the cancellation.
If cancellations are due to property sold or ownership change, see About transferring a listing to a new owner to prevent negative guest impacts.

Impact on Ranking Metrics

Guest‑initiated cancellations or requests do not affect your Ranking Metrics.
Partner‑initiated cancellations do affect your Ranking Metrics, regardless of the reason.
For IPMs: When a guest requests to cancel, select Canceled by traveler in your channel manager to avoid penalties. If the incorrect reason is selected, the cancellation is treated as host‑initiated, resulting in a fee. A cancellation waiver may be required.

What if a guest needs to cancel their reservation?

If a guest contacts you because they need to cancel their booking, they should cancel their own reservations through their account, even if the booking is not eligible for a full refund.

If the guest is unable to cancel on their own—especially for reservations not eligible for a refund—they should contact Vrbo support for assistance. Hosts should avoid cancelling on behalf of the guest when the guest needs to cancel, as it will result in penalties for the host unless a waiver is granted.

In some cases, guests may not be able to cancel their reservation instantly and will instead submit a cancellation request, which requires host approval. When a guest submits a cancellation request, the booking status will appear as Cancellation Requested in your inbox. These are not considered host-initiated cancellations and will not result in penalties or fees when you approve them.

Date changes

If the guest updates their stay dates, the cancellation policy automatically adjusts to the new stay dates.