Refund on strict cancellation policy

[Luke70]

I have received a booking for three days time. I have a strict cancellation policy. The guest has already paid and booked. I’ve received a message the guest says he has booked two places at once and wants a full refund from me. If I were to cancel the booking will there be any negative Come back on my property? How do I refund the full amount?

[Lawrene0]

It will be a very good idea to read about cancellations in the Help Centre, @Luke70 , before you do anything.

It is the guest who wishes to cancel here, and so it is the guest who must cancel. 

You will be hit with penalties if you cancel.

As to refunding, I would say you should not, as you set your strict policy for a reason. If you really want to, however, you will be given the chance to do that after the guest cancels. Hosts sometimes tell the guest they will be refunded if the space gets booked. You can do that if you like the sound of it.

This one is completely on the guest, though. Booking two places then pressuring one of the hosts to cancel is dirty pool. If they get prickly about it, have them contact Airbnb. Keep all communication with the guest on the platform.

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Luke70 

DO not cancel...

If you do you will be hit with an automated review that says 'host cancelled the booking 3 days before the stay' or some such language which will really put off other people. The guest needs to cancel and then you an be generous (or not) with any refund.

There may also be penalties for cancellation but this depends on your booking settings and history of cancellations

Hope this helps

[Lawrene0]

I forgot to mention one more thing, @Luke70 . If you get a message from Airbnb saying something like, "The guest wants you to cancel, and please do it now so they can make other plans", do not agree to it. Say you are still willing to host the guest -- because you are! The penalties would hit you in this case, too. 

Do remember that the guest agreed to your cancellation policy when he booked. No need to feel sorry for him. 

[Helen3]

Just tell the guest if he cancels the cancellation will be processed by Airbnb under the cancellation policy he booked under @Luke70 

If the guest asks through Airbnb for you to make a voluntary refund. Make sure you tick the box to decline this request.

Please familiarise yourself with Airbnb's cancellation policies for host and guests. And NEVER agree to a request from a guest to cancel on their behalf !

[Sandra856]

@Luke70 Personally I would ask the guest to cancel if they can't stay and tell them that unfortunately the cancellation policy will kick in. The place was booked and they blocked it so no one else could book. I would offer a refund in case a new guest rebooks. But you are entitled to get paid and the guest should respect you and your policy. Super rude to expect you to pay for their choice to cancel 😕

[Luke70]

thanks for that, i got back to them and gave some options, either cancel the other booking hoping for a more lenient cancellation policy, or pencil in another date. they ended up going ahead with my property. A relief. Thanks for your response. Luke

[Juan63]

Luke, do not ever permit a date change. If you do that, it will be considered a new booking and if it's far enough in the future, they will be able to cancel without penalty. 

[Alicia242]

@Luke70 DO NOT XCL let them do it! Look at airbnb employee and or expert Lizzie's

about the new xctn rules post that states..."If a guest books 2 places ( airbnb will protect you they are not due a refund they are not entitled to the refund the refund sticks with the rule you the host sets! "Some guests are sly and selfish and try to play the sneaky game do not allow it and DO NOT XCL !

[Alicia242]

@Luke70 

Here it is!

Hello everyone,

The Airbnb team heard feedback from you and the host community about the upcoming change to our Strict cancellation policy. In order to address your concerns, we’re delaying the change until May 1, 2018.

Before the change goes into effect, we’ll share more about what we’re doing to address your concerns, particularly around protecting your listing details from being shared with guests who cancel. But for now, we’d like to clear up some confusion and help you better understand the new policy and how it will benefit the whole community:

Here’s how the new grace period policy will work—and some of the protections we have in place for hosts:

Limited-time refund within 48 hours after booking when the check-in date is at least 14 days away

Guests must cancel within 48 hours after booking and can only cancel if their check-in date is 14+ days away. This means that no matter how far out your guests book, they only have 48 hours from the time they book to cancel for free. We want to make sure that if guests change their mind, you have enough time to get another booking.

Three refunds per year per guest

To prevent abuse, guests are limited to three fully refunded cancellations a year.

No full refunds for overlapping bookings

To make sure guests are not making multiple bookings and then cancelling, any booking made by a guest when they already have an active booking for those dates will not be covered under our grace period policy.

Your hosting success is top of mind for us, and tests of this policy—including among hosts with strict cancellation policies in place—strongly suggest the change will result in increased bookings and successful stays. With this grace period, not only do guests book with more confidence, but they also have the ability to resolve booking mistakes without requiring your valuable time and intervention.

We value your feedback, and will follow up shortly with more insight into how your ideas are shaping this policy.

Thanks,

Lizzie

----------Update April 24th, 2018----------

Hello everyone,

Just to let you know there is now an update regarding protecting your listing details, as mentioned above. 

Here is the link to take a look: An update on the Strict Cancellation Policy

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Susan17]

Bottom line - you can tick the "Flexible" cancellation box, you can tick the "Moderate" cancellation box, you can tick the "Strict" cancellation box, you can even tick the "Non-Refundable" cancellation box...  but they're all about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike when a scamming,, cheating or dishonest guest decides to invoke the Extenuation Circumstances policy against you. If they want to screw you over, they can - and they will - aided and abetted by Airbnb. 

[Tania46]

Something very wrong has just happened. A 9 day booking, already initiated but the guest did not turn up - was cancelled 7 hours into the booking. She claims that she had a bit of a fever and was afraid to fly but I was provided no proof of any of this .... I have a STRICT cancellation policy and I would expect at least 50% payout under these conditions. She is neither from Italy, China nor S Korea. She is from Paris. There are no travel restrictions between Paris and South Africa. There was some kind of message about the days she wanted not being available - Garbage. This is Airbnb favouring guests over hosts. I have put in a claim for the full payout because it was due today, but am curious to see if the guest even responds. To make matters worse - Airbnb did not even inform me via the usual notification means about a cancellation - the guest's message is all that I got. 

[Kathleen657]

A guest from Europe, with a reservation in June, has asked me for a full refund. I have a strict cancellation policy. Are hosts expected to offer a full refund? I'd like to know how other hosts are handling this. I'm expecting more guests to approach me with this same request.