Refund request

[Caroline1544]

Had a cancellation by the Airbnb guest who couldn’t make it the other 3 couples could but there was no contact until 2pm on the day of checking in - had to ask if they were still coming . I closed off the 4th bed bc the  booking couple didn’t come they have asked for a refund for the room - the guests also expected to park there car in my garage which I had locked and wasn’t offered as part of the hosting . Am happy to refund but how much ? Rate was $900 per night 4 beds including cleaning 

[Luana130]

Do you rent a whole house or rooms? If you rent a whole house, I would not refund. If you charge extra for additional guests and you want to make a refund, uou can refund that ( it would had been easier to do it before check-in, you could just make a change to the number of guests).

But since they were bad at communicating I wouln't do. 

Here is what I do with cancellation requests. I tell the guests that if I can get the place rebooked for those nights I will refund 50% of the money. If not, they don't get a refund.

[Susan151]

@Caroline1544 I see that you charge a lot for each additional person who stays in your AirBNB. However, AirBNB does not have a mechanism for charging by the bed so locking up one room means that you did not provide the services promised.

This is a slippery slope indeed, isn't it? I would guess that you are actually being asked to refund the "extra person" charge. This refund will be between you, AirBNB and the guests. Don't be surprised if AirBNB chooses to refund as requested.

[Caroline1544]

I don’t have a problem doing refund ,however the people that turned up for the booking were not Airbnb profile that booked my house .i knew nothing about them so was protecting myself .

[Linda108]

You are now in the area on this platform where you are no longer under the Air BNB system.  This is a third party reservation.  When the booking guest cancelled, the reservation should have change to one of the other guest profiles.  You can accomplish this by immediately contacting Air BNB.  Since you did not do that, I would suggest you establish a private contract in which the guests who are in the house sign. Again, you cannot use the Air BNB platform if the reservation is under someone who is not in the house.

You need to establish this with the booking guest who did not show up though the Air BNB messaging because you are in danger of that guest complaining even if you are just trying to accommodate the remaining members of the party.

[Lisa723]

@Caroline1544 I would refund the difference between what you were paid and what you would have been paid had the reservation been made for the number of people who actually arrived.

The garage, and the third-party booking, are separate issues. Since you don't offer the garage, it's irrelevant to any refund. The third-party booking is also sort of irrelevant, but you got into murky waters once you allowed it.

What technically should have happened here: the original guest should have cancelled, the actual guests should have booked, and you should have refunded the original guest, after you received the actual guests' payment.