Best way to refund guest

[Sean14]

My guest booked for 9 Feb to 2 Mar.  On the 10th he asks if he can change check out to 18th.  I've already changed the dates for him once and agreed to split the cost of that with him (he reduced it on a strict cancellation policy). 

Looking around here I see a popular solution here is to offer to refund 50% back if I'm able to relet it.  But how can this be achieved?  If he requests to alter the dates so the diary opens up I'm effectively giving him a refund.  If he cancels to open the diary then this cancels the entire trip. 

How can I proceed?  Thanks

[Sean14]

I forgot to mention the guest has been very polite and respectful during this time and I'd like to help him out. 

[Marzena4]

Your guest should request to alter this reservation, @Sean14. Then read carefully whatever quotes appear on the screen and double check how much you want to refund the guest. You might also ask Airbnb rep for help, but then it would depend how well they will understand you and how they will procede. 

[Sean14]

@Marzena4 thanks, however, if he requests to alter the days, he gets a full refund for the days he wont be there.

My current idea is to create a dummy advert for the room and open it for that period only, then if I get a booking, to then go ahead of refund him 50% for those dates booked. It seems like a lot of hassle though just for 14 days and the new advert wont have any reviews associated with it.

[Sean14]

What about if I ask him to cancel the stay, block the dates he'll actually be there, and go ahead and let him move in as if the booking were still active. Silly idea?

[Kelly149]

@Sean14 you can alter dates without altering the fee to be paid --- and then if it does re-book, you would give him a refund. My guess is tho that if he gets ahold of an abb cs & they understand that you allowed him to alter his dates then they might go ahead and process a refund for him anyway

[Sean14]

@Kelly149 Thank you so much. I had no idea the price could be altered independant of the dates. I've done just that. Thank you

[Marzena4]

I'm not quite sure it's according to Airbnb rules - sounds like something might go without their service fee on top, @Sean14.

Personally, I'm not that much in favour of guests changing anything. Though it's alright that you want to refund him. Have you checked that breakdown of cancellation policies by airbnb? I'm currently out and away from my laptop to provide the link.

Try to manually adjust the alteration quote, and the idea with a second listing is in fact pretty good.

[Sean14]

@Marzena4 Thanks Mazena. Kelly informed me that I can change the price as well as the dates, so that's what I've done. Thanks for your help also.

[Fred13]

Btw Sean, I make changes and move people around all the time; many different combinations arise: some can't physically come  (I give them a 50% refund and grab the days for myself for improvements), some must move dates into the future (alter), some shorten and/or increase their time. On some odd combinations, we (guest & myself) use PayPal to square things if going through Airbnb proves too strange.

[J-Renato0]

@Sean14

I like the solution given by @Kelly149. 

Alternatively, If you want to refund the current guest, only if you manage to rent again the days he is not staying anymore, you should not accept the resquest to change checkout date.

Explain to him that you will have a loss if you do not rent the remaining days.

Ask him to cancel his stay to set the remaining days available. (If he is willing to do this, of course)

If another guest books for the days that became available, then you can refund him.  

[Sean14]

@J-Renato0 I thought about doing it that way, but if something serious went wrong during his stay and he didn't actually have an airbnb booking, then I think that could cause some big problems. Kelly's solution acheived all the goals whilst maintaining an actual booking for him.

@Fred13 That's a very interesting point. I think I am still in the mindset of a longer term landlord where losing a booking was a serious problem. Allowing guests to cancel with a 50% penalty and re-letting the room probably is a good idea as a more regular option. However due to my proximity to the University I often get bookings of 3-5 months duration. I would not be comfortable cancelling one of these with a 50% penalty. Then again, AirBnB only charges the guest for the first month if they cancel a long term booking (a big pet peeve - that's a lot of $). It's losing these bookings that hurts the most.

[Fred13]

Yes, long term renting is a totally different deal with different considerations.