Refuse to refund service fee for double booking

[Emily1437]

I accidentally booked a second reservation for the same time period before cancelling the first reservation. I immediately went and cancelled the first reservation after booking the second one. But they deducted the service fee.

They are now refusing to refund the €60 service fee. It seems really harsh. It's natural for people to make multiple reservations with free cancellation and then cancel the one they don't want.

Never using Airbnb again.

[Colleen253]

@Elise410 

“It's natural for people to make multiple reservations with free cancellation and then cancel the one they don't want”. That’s what the OP said, and that’s what folks took exception to. 

That statement reveals her intent. If we all misread her intent, then our bad, but perhaps the OP could choose her words with more care, if that’s the case.

PS, whether you tie up someone’s calendar for 1 hour or 1 month, it’s all the same. In that time period, no one else even sees that listing, and it can’t be booked. There is potential for lost bookings, and therefore income. 

[Emily1437]

@Colleen253 you are clearly very invested in Airbnb, and this seems to be preventing you from seeing things clearly.

Think about it. If Airbnb wanted to protect hosts from the kind of behaviour you dislike so much "tying up multiple hosts' calendars" however briefly, then wouldn't they make it impossible to make overlapping bookings? Or wouldn't they give the host some compensation? No, instead they set up a system where they benefit from someone doing this without compensating the host.

It's a bad system that exploits the false sense of security that the words "free cancellation" creates.

[Colleen253]

You can have the last word, @Emily1437. This post is headache inducing. Happily out.

[Normen0]

We will all have guess what the intent of the policy is but perhaps it’s to discourage guests tying up multiple AIRBNB’s so they can decide which one they like best, rather than just research the different AIRBNB’s and make inquiries before booking the one they want. Let’s drop the arguemebt that there are differ t reasons. The OP clearly stated this was normal behaviour.
If they were to reward hosts for this type of behaviour by guests, most certainly there would be scams by guests who know hosts.  My thoughts on that.  
Having said that I hope this isn’t a trend that people are booking multiple places and canceling the one they decide they don’t want.  Imagine if multiple people did that for the same property for popular holidays.  What a pain!!  Then there would be a glut of bookings at certain times and everything would  remain booked in popular locations until the cancellation policy was about to kick.  And then a rush of cancellations!!! Guaranteed, the majority of AIRBNBs would move to a strict policy.  
min case you haven’t clued in, this is very entitled behaviour. Just don’t. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Emily1437 People often make overlapping bookings on purpose. We had one recently where, due to our minimum 1 week booking in the summer the guest had to overlap us with another booking to get the holiday they wanted.

There is a clear warning when making an overlapping booking - More fool those who ignore it.

[Janet1148]

Thanks for this.  My issue is that airbnb keeps the fees from BOTH bookings.  Just plain wrong.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Janet1148 If you cancel more than 3 (I think) bookings then the service charge is retained by Airbnb. Was this what happened to you do you think?

[Janet1148]

I had a long-term booking that I had to cancel as I am moving to another country.  I booked the same dates in another country before canceling the other and now airbnb gets both service fees. 

[Susan1188]

You blocked two hosts  - for LONG TERM bookings so stopping them from renting to anyone else for your dates!
Were you fully transparent?  Did you tell each host, listen I'm blocking your property and also another one in another country, not sure which one I'm gonna take?

[Susan1188]

She went over her 3 cancellation limit - obviously - because "it is normal to book multiple properties for the same holiday".

[Susan1188]

In fact, no, it is not normal for anyone to book multiple places while they are "deciding on the best place to go".

When you book someones HOME, they start preparing for you AND refusing other guests.

So I fully agree that you had to pay something for your gaming strategy of playing off multiple reservations with multiple families, while you were trying to find the best possible deal.

As for "never using airbnb again", I would say, that's a good idea.

[Susan1188]

In fact, no, it is not normal for anyone to book multiple places w. hile they are "deciding on the best place to go".  You can contact hosts and correspond through inquiries, without selfishly blocking the dates for yourself.

When you books another persons home, the host starts preparing for your stay  AND refusing other guests.

So I fully agree that you had to pay something for your gaming strategy of playing off multiple reservations with multiple families, while you were trying to find the best possible deal.

As for "never using airbnb again", I would say, that's a good idea.

[Julian1443]

Is this still up-to-date? It happened to me too, but now I cannot find anything about it anymore.