Guests didn’t arrive and want refund

[Maigret1]

Hello! I just had a situation that guests booked our place few months ago for 14 days.  3 days ago should have been their first day in our accommodation but then they wrote that for family reasons they will check in few days later and we should hold their booking. Today I wrote to them and asked when will they check in and the answer was that they got Covid and can’t come to our place and they would like to get a refund.

payout is already sent. Because of their booking other guests couldn’t book their stay to that time. What should we do? Do we have to give them refund?

[Helen3]

Why would you refund them anything voluntarily. Just tell them to cancel and Airbnb will process any refund due to them in line with the cancellation policy they booked under @Maigret1 

By the way it looks like you have chosen a flexible cancellation policy which makes it much easier for guests to cancel at the last minute and still get most of their money back . You probably want to review this and chose another cancellation policy.

[Maigret1]

Okay, but can they even cancel when officially their booking started 3 days ago already, so it seems like they are in our accommodation right now? 

their cancellation policy was “Flexible” so they can cancel until 24 hours before check-in, but check-in time is already over. 

of they can cancel now we still get the payout that was sent? 

[Kate867]

@Maigret1   They will have to pay for any days up until they cancel, so the sooner they do this then the better it is for them in order to mitigate both your losses and theirs.  As @Helen3  stated, you may wish to revise your cancellation policy for future bookings

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/475/cancellation-policies-for-your-listing

[Maigret1]

@Kate867 do I understand correctly that when they cancel today (3rd day of their booking), then we get payd only for 3 days? And airbnb will give them money back for the rest of the stay (11 days)? 

I changed cancellation policy to moderate, thank you for helping 🙂 I’m new in Airbnb

[Lynell0]

@Maigret1   Do not offer a refund, and make sure they cancel, do not do it for them.  Airbnb will probably refund them, but I would think you should still be paid at least for the 3 nights.  You may even get a percentage of the remaining nights if your lucky.

Good luck 🤞😊

Also it's a good idea to tag the person your replying to by using @ infront of their name, like this @Helen3 That way they get a notification.

[Maigret1]

@Lynell0 thank you for answering. I hoped that they can’t cancel because the cancellation time is over 😁 but seems that they still can 😅

I’m new in community center and everybody is so helpful 🤩

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Maigret1 If they booked before the end of May (or June I can't remember) then claiming Covid will get them a full refund I am afraid.