Guest cancellation due to extenuating circumstances (road closure)

[Denise1145]

Hi, our guests for tonight have had to cancel their reservation as they have no way of being able to get to us (road closures due to storm).  She (guest) is telling us that Airbnb says she'll get $0 refund.  So she will apply for the extenuating circumstances full refund.  In the meantime I've got an email from Airbnb telling me about the cancellation and that I can click a link to 'Issue a full refund'.  I clicked through and saw that I can offer her a 'full refund' which was listed as our listing price (ie. without Airbnb's service fee).  If I click this, will the guest get their service fee back?  Or are they better to go through the process at their end (apply for full refund due to extenuating circumstances)?  I have messaged the guest and she is happy to take my refund (which may be less than she's entitled to) if it is quicker for her.

[Sarah977]

@Denise1145  I'd say it's better for the guest to cancel from her end using the EC- she'll have to provide some documentation that the road is closed- perhaps you might send her something that would make it easier for her? 

If you agree to issue full refund, then Airbnb could apply penalties for a host cancellation- you could contact them to make sure this won't happen if you choose to go that route.

This is a grey-area cancellation- she can't get to your place because of the road closure, so is it a guest initiated cancellation or a host not being able to host a guest? Could other guests get to your place if they were coming from a different place, or is your place not able to be accessed at all right now?

If no one can get to your place from anywhere, that's really a host EC, so in that case, you should follow the procedure for that.

Doesn't sound like it really matters to the guest how it's done, as long as she gets her refund and doesn't have to spend too much time on it.

[Denise1145]

It would be only a few guests who would be unable to travel to us.  Most guests travel from the south to us, and those roads are all open.  It's definitely just bad luck for her, and her current location.

[Denise1145]

Thanks @Sarah977 .  She has already cancelled it.  She has documentation to support her.  It's just that she cancelled so close to check-in time, I guess, that Airbnb says she'll get $0 refund.

I am wondering whether if I click the link from Airbnb to give her a full refund, will she in fact get a full refund, including the service fee?  Or does Airbnb take the service fee?  Is she better to go through Airbnb herself?  Could take her quite a while I guess.

[Sarah977]

@Denise1145  I'm just not sure if you click on the link to issue a full refund, if Airbnb will then apply penalties to you, as if it was a host cancellation- that's why I suggested you contact them about it, although it's really hard to get through to CS now. The other way you can handle it is to wait until you actually get the payout for the cancelled booking, and then reimburse her through the "send Money" option in the Resolution Center. I don't know whether her service fee is refunded in either of those scenarios.

I don't really understand why she she didn't contact Airbnb to ask for an EC cancellation, if you say she has documentation. If they accept it as an EC, she should get a full refund, including service fees.

[Denise1145]

Thanks @Sarah977  for your reply.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about - the service fee being refunded.  I want to try and get it all back for her if I can help.  

She had to cancel no matter what, but I guess she has to provide proof of the road closures before Airbnb will consider refunding her in full.  Which might take some time, so I was hoping to speed the refund up, without getting her to miss out on the service fee.

How will Airbnb get the money back from us?  Do they withhold it from our next booking?

[Sarah977]

@Denise1145  Have you already received the payout for the reservation? If so, then yes, if they issue her a refund, it will come out of your future payouts. Or, if you've already received the money, then as I said, you could just re-imburse her through the Resolution Center. If they haven't paid you yet, it's a non-issue at this point.

[Denise1145]

@Sarah977 No, we haven't received it yet.  Would expect it to get paid out tomorrow, and we receive it Monday.  The email we got from Airbnb telling us about the cancellation says our payment will be released tomorrow.