My experience with a guest cancellation

[Mike-And-Jane0]

Dear @Catherine-Powell ,

I thought I would post my experience with a guest cancellation as many seem to write about poor experiences here.

Our guest cancelled as his daughter has been selected to play for her country and hence wouldn't be attending a local tennis tournament. The date was about 5 weeks in advance so they were refunded 50%, our calendar was opened up, and our payout set to 50% of the original payout minus the cleaning fee.

The guest asked nicely if we would refund the rest.

The website options available were to send money to the guest but this wouldn't have got the guest their service fees back.

A quick call to Airbnb Customer Services (1 min wait) got everything sorted such that the cancellation changed from 'guest' to 'Airbnb' and the guest was refunded in full with no impact to me (other than the service chap making it clear we would be paid nothing).

All in all a simple process that could only have been bettered if I could have done it all online.

[Z-2]

@Mike-And-Jane0 We refunded full a few times because guests asked to cancel. They canceled first and got half plus clean fee. I got an email which includes a “issue full refund” button, I clicked that button and select “issue full refund” and confirm how much they get it (they will show how much you refund and the total they got (tax plus fee). No guests complained they didn’t got full refund so I assume they got all. I think Airbnb refunded them all services fee. In Airbnb help site, it stats that if host decides to refund in full after cancel, it will refund Airbnb fee.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1345/service-fee-refunds

"Service fee refunds

If you need to cancel (It’s okay, things happen!), you may be able to receive a refund on your entire reservation, including the service fee. So how does it work? 

Most importantly: check your reservation’s cancellation policy to find out if the service fee is refundable. The service fee is refundable if you cancel before your reservation’s free cancellation period ends (or any time before check in, for reservations in Italy and South Korean travelers in some cases) or if the host decides to refund you in full after you cancel. "

[Emilia42]

Like @Z-2, I have never had a guest complain "Why don't I get the service fees back?" when issuing a full refund. As far as I can tell they are receiving the fee back when I issue a full refund and this change was made when so many people were canceling at the start of Covid. Even when they weren't getting the fee back, I never felt that it was my responsibility to act on their behalf. 

[Michael5689]

The "full"'ness of the refund has always been a bit opaque to me.  I've offered "full" refunds a number of times to my guests when they had emergency situations and I didn't feel like I was being completely scammed.  I've never had any guest come and ask for an additional fee back after having a phone call with AirBNB customer support and authorizing a full refund through the years.

[Gillian166]

I've done this online. Recently had a guest cancel due to covid and I issued a full refund, inside my cancellation period. it was all handled online, painless and easy. 

[Debra300]

@Gillian166,

How did that working?  I know I am missing something in what you did, because it sounds like you gave the guest money out of your pocket, because you weren't going to be paid for the stay until 24 hours after their arrival.  

[Michael5689]

I think it's relatively new.  If a guests wants to cancel before the booking starts I remember a new button that gave me the option of cancelling with providing a full refund even if it's not within your free cancellation policy.  In my case I think the guest contacted AirBNB first and then support may have "pushed" the cancellations options to me.  It was easier than some wildfire cancellations I had last year so the process or options does seem to have changed recently.

[Gillian166]

@Debra300  no, they were refunded by abb, who had their money, as they take the money at time of reservation. 

[Helen744]

@Debra 300 the fees are generally paid to Airbnb at booking . So it is these that are sent back and you can easily see how much you are entitled to and therefore refunding. The money due to you is already there and attached to the reservation of individual guests  not some amorphous lump sum . you have not literally received it but it has been paid into a form of escrow, It is the future money that you are refunding Hope that helps. H

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Debra300 we haven't paid the guest anything. I have read horror stories on here whereby guests are refunded out of the host's other earnings until the dates of the cancelled stay but that wasn't the case with us. I was very happy to see how smooth (and fair) the whole system was. 

Perhaps if we had just 'sent money' rather than authorising a full refund things would have been different.

[Debra300]

@Gillian166, @Mike-And-Jane0, @Helen744,

Thank you for your responses.  It was Gillian's comment, "I issued a full refund" that was unclear to me, because it implied that she gave a refund for a reservation which she hadn't yet been paid.  It appears that the guest systematically requested to cancel during the free cancellation period, and was issued a refund from Airbnb per the cancellation policy.

I believe that Mike and Jane would like for hosts to have the ability to systematically override their cancellation policy without engaging customer service.

[Helen744]

@Debra300  I use IB and have a flexible cancellation policy so never really have a problem with the refund . The refunds I have a problem with are not really a problem but just a nuisance and that is those people who run out of money and just cancel,or cancel part of the booking in a three bed house because ,there friend is sick ,or decided not to come or ask for refunds because one of the guests 'will only be here for a day' or want to add different people in and out of a booking in progress,which they do not mention until after arrival no one ever leaves early except if going to work on the day of checkout which to me is a bonus. H

[Debra300]

@Helen744,

I totally understand and also have frustrations with these same types of guests and their requests.  We cannot offer the flexible cancellation policy, because there is limited opportunity for a replacement booking.  

[Gillian166]

@Debra300  in my case they were cancelling inside my no-cancel time (i might have worded that weirdly, to be clear: they would have lost their $$), so it was up to me to allow a full refund. 

[Dora486]

Sorry to jump in on this one.   We have a guest who has been booked for 4 months, her date of arrival is 20th August.  We have a strict cancellation policy.  She’s not happy she will only get 50% refund even although we’ve said if we can rebook we’ll refund the difference.   She doesn’t want this option!  At this stage I’m more concerned she’ll come, be an absolute pain and stress us out.  She got a good rate as bookings were slow earlier in the year and I’m  confident I can now resell for more.  How do I refund in full?  I know not to cancel on her behalf.  Suggestions please.