Offering refund for long term rentals

[Andréia22]

Hello, I'm a brand new host and my very first reservation is a 31 days long reservation from Oct 23 to Nov 23. Booking date was on Oct 2 and on Oct 5 guest contacted me wanting to cancel as they found another place where they can stay for a year (they are a Chinese family coming to Canada).

They are asking for a full refund but the long term cancellation policy from Airbnb applies. The money is currently with Airbnb and it's showing in my future payouts.

Has anybody gone through this situation and what was the outcome? I don't want to offer a refund of a money that I didn't receive yet, but I do understand the guest's situation as well. I'm thinking that keeping 25% of the reservation to cover for the potential loss of revenue would be fair, but I'm not sure how this can be arranged?

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Andreia

[Fred13]

Wow - high risk type of reservation when just starting out. These people are strictly looking out for themselves and not taking your welfare in consideration. Let Airbnb take care of it and follow your cancellation policy without emotion.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Andréia22 you could tell the guest you will refund them for any days that you manage to re-book. That way you won't need to send any money until the end of their cancelled stay. They will have to cancel quickly though or you will have no hope of filling their dates.