Yet another retroactively refunded cancellation

[Brenda328]

Yet another guest who cancelled about 6 weeks ago outside of the EC policy.  Their stay was supposed to be two weeks ago at one of my most expensive properties.  The area is fully open for travel and they were coming from in-state.  My cancellation policy is set to strict and so I was paid the 50% cancellation fee on the day after their stay was supposed to begin.  Today that amount was taken back out of one of my new payments.

When does this end?  There are supposed to be no retroactive adjustments.  Does customer service look at my upcoming bookings and decide that since I finally have some paying guests they can now take that money back and give it to guests who cancelled even though they are not due a refund?  It's bad enough not getting paid on cancelled bookings that I should have gotten paid 50% on, but now the one or two that cancelled outside the policy that I did get paid on are being pulled back out of my subsequent payments weeks later?  How long will this go on?

And most of these are guests that I already offered a credit in the amount of the cancellation penalty which they happily accepted.  My sister had a guest who cancelled under the strict cancellation policy outside of the EC policy.  My sister offered the guest a credit for the 50% cancellation fee for a later booking.  The guest then requested a full refund from Airbnb which they provided to her so the 50% cancellation amount that my sister was supposed to receive was refunded to the guest.  The guest then came back to my sister demanding her 50% credit after having received a full refund!!!

[Debra300]

@Brenda328,

Thanks for sharing the link.  I wouldn't speculate that Airbnb vouchers will have a higher redemption rate than what's stated in the article due to travel restrictions and financial hardship.  Plus, the vouchers are non-transferable.  I have airplane vouchers from a trip that I was supposed to take to Spain and Italy this past Spring, and have also earned a Superhost voucher.  It is unlikely that I will be able to use them before they expire unless the US can get better control of the coronavirus spread, and other countries allow travelers from the US.  Whoever thought we'd see the day that Canada shut the border on the US, and hold onto the key so TIGHT?! 🔐

[Inna22]

@Brenda328 this statistic is astounding!

[Huma0]

@Brenda328 

Years ago, I used to work at a PR agency that had some travel clients, including airlines. We would often run competitions in magazines etc. with some AMAZING holidays as prizes. I mean those 'once in a lifetime' type of trips with everything included. It really cost the clients next to nothing because, even though they had up to a year to book, hardly any of the winners would end up claiming their prize! 

I always thought this was nuts because surely they were able to go, otherwise why apply? I guess life just gets in the way...

[Huma0]

@Brenda328 

Yes, having to use the voucher in a single booking does increase the chances of Airbnb keeping at least some of the accommodation fees even if the guest does use the voucher.

I host long-term guests (weeks or months). Most of these are doing a one-off long trip for a semester abroad, internship or short term work contract, for example, so we are talking significant amounts for each booking. They are likely not going to need to book another trip on Airbnb that lasts weeks or months during the validity period of the voucher. On the other hand, taking a 50% hit on their accommodation fees + having to pay all the Airbnb services fees seems like a less attractive option, especially when they don't qualify for EC and CAN'T get a full monetary refund.

So, what do they do? They take the coupon, use what they can on a holiday or short trip at some point and Airbnb keeps the rest. The host, as usual, still gets nothing.

[Danielle476]

The same has happened to me, and despite my numerous calls, I get nowhere.  Any time you call now, they say 'I'm sending this to a member of our team and they'll get back to you in about 5 days'.  They never do, and if you try to escalate it or speak to someone else, it's the same canned message.  It's infuriating and goes nowhere.

[Huma0]

@Danielle476 

You are right. It is infuriating. Like I said, it took me roughly a month in each case to get them to agree to reimburse me (slightly longer for the money to actually reach my account). Oftentimes, the case was either closed or just left hanging. I persisted and just kept opening a new case if they closed it.

Dealing with CS right now is generally a nightmare. I used to have a positive view of them in previous times, but those days are long gone. Occasionally though, you do get a sensible, well trained rep on the line. When that happens, I get them to sort out each problem, but only one by one so as not to inundate them. So, once they have fixed one thing, and ask, is there anything else I can help you with, I say yes, there is!!

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I have found that's key in dealing with CS- keep your issue as clear and simple as possible, be clear about what you are asking them to do, and don't overload them with extraneous details or other issues. 

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, absolutely. All of the cases I'm referring to here got rather complicated as they were passed from rep to rep, numerous mistakes and miscommunications made etc. In one case, the guest and I had come to a mutual agreement about the cancellation and refund, but CS didn't listen to either of us totally screwed the whole thing up.

Every time a case was passed on to a new rep, they seemed incapable of reading or understanding the messages that had gone before, so I had to keep explaining over and over and it got lengthier.

In the end, I just stuck with repeating, "This refund was against Airbnb policy, which states XYZ'. I just kept saying that over and over and it worked!

[Ann72]

@Brenda328 - definitely follow @Huma0's suggestion.  In my experience they even try to guilt you into giving the refund by saying things like "in the spirit of Airbnb."  I just keep repeating the policy and terms of service and add that as a host, if I were to contravene any of the TOS, I'd be out on my ear, I'm shocked you would even suggest such a thing, etc.  I never get on the phone with them, just keep copying and pasting the same reply into emails.

[Huma0]

@Ann72 

I agree, but I find that responses via email can be so slow at the moment, that sometimes it's wise to get on the phone just to kick start things and then you can keep the rest of the correspondence to email.

Recently, I messaged Airbnb about a payout that was a month late and still showing as pending. After a week with no response, I called up and the rep got the ball rolling. By the time someone responded to my original email (three weeks later!) the matter had already been resolved.

[Stephanie365]

How did you even get a CS Rep to speak to?  I have yet to be able to reach one on any format.

[Mika8]

@Brenda328... we just had in the german CC a topic about the voucher ... and finally the voucher has not to be used in one further trip ... but ... you need a lot of time with cs rep to get the credit for the rest of the voucher (how many people won't do that...)

here's the thread

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hilfe/Reiseguthaben-wegen-Covid-19-Stornierung-nicht-einsetzbar/...

Further, yes .. so many would not use their voucher ... probably someone could write a good mail/template that we could sent to these guests that if they don't could use the voucher in the time they could book a 'fictitious' stay with us/the original host (I have ficititous listings for that, which I use from time to time to handle things easily) .. that at the end, the money get to the host of which it originally belongs to and not to airbnb  .. plus I'm really sure, that most host's would be happy to give a part of the amount to future bookings made by these guests.