Example responses to Guest who ask for a 100% refunds (on strict cancellations)

[Michael-And-Yash0]

This thread is started for example responses - as we have gotten little support from AirbNb corporate on how to respond to guests that ask for 100% refunds.

Rather than first suggesting guest understand this is a "community" and to help their fellow community members by honoring the 50:50 agreement in this difficult time for all, Corporate's new top of the site posting  offering "magical" 100%  refunds has made things worse.

I have lost a lot of respect for Airbnb corporate at this point.  Hopefully Ashton or someone wiser will step in and set them right and hep them to realize their grand contractual mistake and refund hosts their deserved 50% as well.

Example reply #1

Dear Guest,

Thank your for your message. Faced with this unprecedented event, we are disappointed as well you will be unable to be our guest.

What AirbNb is not telling guests is that this 100% "magical refund" they're offering is not from their corporate insurance. They are trying to use hosts as their own corporate 3rd party insurance with 100% refunds coming directly out of the pockets of hosts despite our 50/50 understanding (Airbnb should have offered guests an option of travel insurance for $9 like other sites - hopefully they will implement something in the future).

We are not Marriott or a corporation, we are community member just like you with bills to pay. We are still responsible for our mortgage /ease  for March/April and May. Just let that sink in for a second...we are in financial shock as well. We hope you can understand that we stand to lose is multiple many times over by every continuing guest cancellation (not juts one) . 

As a  shared community, and with our original 50:50 agreement and cancellation policy, it only seems fair to share the burden given the present circumstances. We recommend you go ahead and cancel your reservation via the site. That is quickest and you will be refunded 50% + all fees immediately to your method of payment.  

If Airbnb decides they wish to join in the community spirit  and make guests full whole by offering the additional 50% , we applaud their generosity and community spirit. Once things get to a better state of affairs, we welcome you to reconnect and we may even be able to offer you a discount on another booking

We are trying to stay sane and repeating money isn't everything and hopefully 98% of us will get through this all with our health intact.

Peace and best wishes and thank you for your understanding! 

Your AirbNb Community Host

[Michael-And-Yash0]

Spelling errors corrected!

This thread is started for example responses - as we have gotten little support from AirbNb corporate on how to respond to guests that ask for 100% refunds.

Rather than first suggesting that guests understand this is a "community", and to help their fellow community members by honoring the 50:50 agreement in this difficult time for all, corporate's new top of the site posting offering "magical" 100%  refunds has made things worse.

I have lost a lot of respect for Airbnb corporate at this point.  Hopefully Ashton or someone wiser will step in and set them right and help them to realize their grand contractual mistake and reimburse hosts their deserved 50% as well.

Example reply #1

Dear Guest,

Thank your for your message. Faced with this unprecedented event, we are disappointed as well you will be unable to be our guest.

What AirbNb is not telling guests is that this 100% "magical refund" they're offering is not from their corporate insurance. They are trying to use hosts as their own corporate 3rd party insurance with 100% refunds coming directly out of the pockets of hosts despite our 50/50 understanding (Airbnb should have offered guests an option of travel insurance for $9 like other sites - hopefully they will implement something in the future).

We are not Marriott or a corporation, we are community member just like you with bills to pay. We are still responsible for our mortgage/lease for March/April and May. Just let that sink in for a second...we are in financial shock as well. We hope you can understand that we stand to lose is multiple many times over by every continuing guest cancellation (not just one) . 

As a  shared community, and with our original 50:50 agreement and cancellation policy, it only seems fair to share the burden given the present circumstances. We recommend you go ahead and cancel your reservation via the site. That is quickest and you will be refunded 50% + all fees immediately to your method of payment.  

If Airbnb decides they wish to join in the community spirit  and make guests fully whole by offering the additional 50% , we applaud their generosity and sense of community. Once things get to a better state of affairs, we welcome you to reconnect and we may even be able to offer you a discount on another booking.

We are trying to stay sane and repeating money isn't everything and hopefully 98% of us will get through this all with our health intact.

Peace and best wishes and thank you for your understanding! 

Your AirbNb Community Host

[Marie82]

@Michael-And-Yash0  no offence, even if u send that to guests, in 1 click Airbnb Support will give them a full refund.

We come to a point where CS do not care anymore about hosts, because if they did the silly message they send to host after cancellation is heartbreaking.

[Juan63]

This is a great thread but the OP takes the wrong approach for a couple of reasons. First, I don't think you should try to make guests feel bad for us. If you look at Airbnb's facebook page, most guests don't care, they just want a refund. I think our beef is with Airbnb.  I also think it should be much shorter. My approach is that we are following the current guidelines of Airbnb, simple as that. I don't think you want guests to hate Airbnb more than they already do. We want guests to come back.

[Sarah977]

@Juan63  I agree. It isn't a guest's affair whether a host can afford to pay their mortgage or not and I think saying something like that would have the opposite of the intended effect. It isn't any different than a guest whining about how they should get a 100% refund because they can't afford to lose 50%.