Cancellation and (full) refund

[Syros1]

I have been working with Airbnb as a host of multiple houses for 3 years now. I was always a fan of the platform and a strong supporter and advocate of the system they have created to equally treat guests and hosts, and resolve any issue that came up easily, painlessly and fairly. Today, I feel so disappointed and betrayed, so furious and helpless.

In between Covid19 crisis, all of us (hosts and guests) were asked to support the platform and each other, understand the difficult situation we are going through and treat each other with respect and humanity. So when I asked the platform to consult me on a cancellation that both me and my guest had agreed on, and for which I specifically said that I am aware that the Extenuating Circumstances Policy does NOT apply but still, I am 100% understanding and want my guests to receive a full refund, they actually thanked me (!) for being so generous and assured me that my guest would get a full refund. But they didn't.

A note here : the cancellation would have to be made partially because of Covid19 travel restrictions, half of the group could not travel. Let me also point out that I told the support that if my guest cannot receive a full refund, we could figure something else out, since the rest of the group was still willing to come either for fewer nights, or transfer it for next year.

I had sent at least 3 messages to begin with to their support with no answer, so I said ok, let's call them. Our first call was the one where their representative assured me that my guest would get a full refund.  Like I said this didn't happen, because the platform charged them for their service fee (a.k.a. 850 euros!) so...after texting them again, with no answer,  I call again. This time they tell me that this happened because my guest cancelled the reservation themselves through their app (although they didn't), so my strict cancellation policy applied, but "don't worry, I will take it to the corresponding department... and make sure your guest receives a full refund". Then, silence for more than a day (I am sending the messages I previously mentioned in the meantime of all this, with no reply again...) nothing happens but still, trusting the platform and knowing that because of Covid19 issues the waiting time is longer,  I went to sleep reassured that my guest would receive their refund. The next day, my guests receive a note that explained how they will not receive a full refund after all and they will still be charged the service fees, BECAUSE MY STRICT POLICY APPLIES.

For those of you who don't know what a strict policy stands for, in a nutshell, my guest would receive half their money back and I would receive the other half. Wanna know what actually happened? My guest did receive their half and my half (great for me, this is what I wanted) but Airbnb gets to still charge their service fee to my guest!  So to be fair here, one should say that the strict policy doesn't ACTUALLY apply, the full refund we asked for doesn't apply either(full means...full right?), and what actually happened is Airbnb charging guests for their own incapability to just figure out what policy DOES apply to this matter and just let us know from the beginning. That's all. Did they tell me that my guest will still be charged the service fee? No. Did they tell that to my guest? No. Do I have it written somewhere as proof at least to my furious guest that thinks I am trying something behind their back? NO, because like I said, my written messages were never answered.

So, to sum up, what do you think happened here? Airbnb support just... got a little confused and messed up? Is it because they are not trained properly or don't have all the info? Are they understaffed and too busy to handle the workload? Or is it my fault? Maybe I got confused or didn't hear very well, or didn't understand the language being a non native English speaker. Maybe I am stupid. Are they trained on how to serve only smart people who speak fluent English?

They are sorry, they say. Yeah, I am sorry too. Sorry for expecting the least help and support, and receive...whatever you call this.

[Helen3]

Your English is amazing, well done for being such a thoughtful host.

I am rather confused though @Syros1 as to why are you getting involved with a guest refund. That is between Airbnb and the guest.

Your only role would be when Airbnb contacted you to ask if you were willing to refund the guest more than they were entitled to under your cancellation policy was to say yes. Beyond that it is between Airbnb and the guest.

As an experienced host you will know under any host cancellation policy whatever we decide to refund/  Airbnb always retains their service fee, so that should have been no surprise.

The only time they haven't done so is where it falls under the Covid EC policy (in which case you wouldn't have had to agree anything as the booking would have been automatically cancelled with a full refund to the guest).

If you go into Airbnb Help it has a good explanation of how Airbnb's cancellation policy works which you can share with the guest.

It is not your role to chase Airbnb on this. You no longer have a booking and they are not your guest. If the guest wants to chase airbnb regarding retention of their booking fee then suggest they do so.

[Syros1]

Thank you @Helen3 for your reply.

Indeed I am an experienced host and for this, when any issues come up, I take it that it is my role to help the guests figure out how the platform works and of course contact the support, when I feel it will be useful. Please note also, that I might be an experienced host but had very few cancellations in the past (2 or 3?) besides this year with Covid19, so excuse me for not being 100% familiar with the procedure. I believe this is where Airbnb support's role is more essential, in order to explain to me (for the 100th time if needed) how things work. 

When my guests explained their concerns, I felt I am the one that should do something about it, especially now that waiting time is long and things are complicated. I find it hard to understand why you don't understand my doing so, and it could be partially because we have a different opinion about hospitality but please don't forget also that my guests, if left to figure it out alone, could have not cancelled and could have come after all, and me having not helped them in the meantime would mean we already have a bad start. I think you can completely understand the basics of guest-host interaction.

It was not my intention to chase Airbnb on anything, I was told that there is nothing to be done anyway. I just wanted to share my experience and my thoughts, mainly about the failing communication with the support and not so much for the actual full/not full refund issue.  It is good to know for the future how this works and I will suggest to my cancelled guests to ask for further help, if they are willing to. Thank you!