mutual cancellation with full refund

[Clara564]

I just booked in urgence a flat nearby my university through your platform from 27th of June to August 19th, since we were noticed to leave our dormitory on 27th of June. Due to an erratic problem of communication from the university's administration, it happened that our stay in the dormitory hasn't been cancelled...Which means that we can stay until the end of summer program (until end of August). Thus, I don't need to rent this airbnb. I have checked with the host, and we've reached a mutual agreement for a complete refund. The problem is that she can't cancel the reservation because she will get a penalty according to Airbnb's policies. Is Airbnb quick to answer to this kind of problem? I am not hiding the fact that I am a little bit worried since it represents a non negligeable amount of money. 

I have contacted them on their help platform, if anyone knows a faster way to get into contact with them, I would be very grateful!

signed a broke student

[Sarah977]

@Clara564  If the host has agreed in writing on the Airbnb messaging to refund you in full, then you should go ahead and cancel the reservation. Regardless of whether the host would receive penalties for cancelling, it isn't the host's responsibility to cancel- it's you who wants to cancel, not the host. The longer you wait to cancel, the longer the host's calendar is blocked by your reservation, so they can't rebook those dates to anyone else.

Then if you aren't issued the refund , you can message the host again and the host can send you money through Airbnb. If there is a problem with any this, then you can contact Airbnb about it.

[Kevin1855]

Hello - curious to know how this worked out.  I have a similar situation.  I have a guest that wants to cancel an upcoming stay.  I'm OK with it but I don't want to be penalized or lose any status with Airbnb. How do we accomplish this without either the guest or me taking a hit?  

I think when a host cancels it's a $50 fee..?  Or should I ask the guest to cancel and I refund outside of airbnb once I'm paid?  

Thanking you in advance for your help.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kevin1855 Don't refund outside of Airbnb or you risk the guest being refunded twice!

The guest should cancel and then you should agree to refund. Sadly Airbnb will keep their fees so the guest will be out by 15-20%

[Kevin1855]

Thank you so much.  Do you know if the dates will still be blocked or nah?  Will I take any hit?  thanks again,

[Sarah977]

@Kevin1855  The penalties associated with cancelling are for host-initiated cancellations, not guest cancellations. But if you ever get a message saying the guest wants to cancel, asking you to either accept or decline the cancellation, that is registered as a host cancellation, so in that case, you should decline, which then forces the guest to cancel from their end. Guest cancellations don't require host approval and vice-versa.

[Kevin1855]

I really appreciate the feedback - thank you!  

[Kevin1855]

This is a little bizarre to me.  My cancellation policy is strict but I'm OK giving the guest a full refund.  50% to go back to guest would be $398.  But if I didn't want to work with them I'd get $386.06 24 hours after they were to check in.  When i go through the steps to issue a full refund it states "we'll charge $398 to your payment account and send the money to guest"..It feels like the other half of the  full refund is on my dime...this can't be right, right?  thank you,

[Debra300]

@Kevin1855,

Unfortunately, it's Airbnb's policy to debit the host's payment account for the amount even though it's not yet collected.  Then they will credit the funds back you 24-48 after the scheduled check-in date of the canceled reservation.  Depending upon how far in advance the cancellation is made, you may be out of pocket for some time.  I don't think that I would accept a full refund request unless the arrival date was scheduled in the next few upcoming days.

[Kevin1855]

Thank you!  I really appreciate this community forum! I have a strict cancellation policy to make people think twice about booking with me.  In this particular case, the guests are traveling from NJ and that state recently instituted a 2 week quarantine upon return if traveling to MD.  I'll have no problems rebooking the property.  Crazy times we're living in.

Thanks again!