If something comes up and you can't host a confirmed booking, you can transfer it to another host in the same city. A transfer keeps the guest's booking in place, which is better for the guest than a cancellation. Both transferring and cancelling affect your booking completion metrics.
How to transfer
Open the booking in your host dashboard.
From the manage booking actions, pick Transfer booking.
Withlocals checks which hosts in your city are approved to run the same experience and are available on the booking's date.
One of two things happens:
Available hosts found. You see them and the platform can auto-transfer the booking to one of them.
No fully available hosts. You see a list of hosts whose personal agenda blocks the date. You pick which of them to notify, pick a transfer reason, and submit the request. Those hosts receive the request and one can accept it.
Once a new host is assigned, the booking is updated and the guest is notified of the host change.
While a transfer request is pending, the booking shows a Transfer pending banner. You can retract the request from that banner if you need to.
You stay on the booking until a new host is actually assigned.
When a transfer is not possible
Withlocals tells you the transfer it is not possible if:
Nobody else in the city is approved for the experience, or
It is too late for a transfer request (the booking is too close to the experience date), or
The booking came through a partner platform and is not eligible for transfer.
When that happens, your only option to stop hosting the booking is to cancel it.
Transfer reasons
When you submit a transfer request, you pick one of these reasons:
Health matter
Requested by the guest
Scheduling conflict
Other
Good to know
A transfer still affects your booking completion metrics, but the guest keeps their trip.
The original booking details (price, itinerary, date, time) stay the same after a transfer.
The new host takes over the chat with the guest.