Cancellation & Refund

[Mari20]

Yesterday, I requested to book a room, but it says I can't complete my "Request to book" if I don't verify my ID, I also asked the host if she received my Request, she said NO. So I just cancelled the request. And it didn't deduct my money in my account. Today, I tried to book a room again, which is "Instant Book", I am done inputting my info for the payment, and I clicked "I agree" and the "Continue", it said again that I should verify my ID. So I was thinking that it won't deduct from my account just like what happened yesterday, I clicked Cancel Request, but it directly cancelled my request, it didn't ask what is the reason why (which most cases they will ask you first why and show you some reasons). When I check my Account, there, it already deducted the amount, and it didn't even Email me about the cancellation. I am afraid I won't get my refund. 😞 Anything I can do to get the refund please? Thank you.

[Clare0]

@Huma0 Hmm.  Well, under your Strict cancellation policy, if a guest cancels more than 7 days in advance, Airbnb refunds the guest 50% and you can refund the other 50% that would ordinarily go to you.  So in essence, if you chose to refund 50%, the guest would have been refunded 100%, less possibly Airbnb's service fees which has other restrictions*.

So let's say the total cost (before Airbnb's service fee) was $500 and the guest cancelled.  Airbnb will have refunded $250 and you would have the option to refund another $250.  If you only wanted the guest to get 90% refund, you could have offered to refund $200.  Does this make sense?

Again, not knowing the details of this particular reservation, at first glance it would seem that the guest was refunded more than she should have been:  140%.  I suspect that the Customer Service agent you spoke suggested that you use the Resolution Center to give the guest more money than she deserved.  

*See this link for Airbnb service fee refunds: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1345/is-the-airbnb-service-fee-refundable

I would recommend contacting Airbnb again about this.  

[Huma0]

@Clare0

Yes, indeed they told me to use the Resolution Centre.

I don't think the guest was refunded more than she paid. It was my understanding that Airbnb would refund her the 50% she was due anyway under the Cancellation Policy and I would refund her an additional 40% so that she got 90% back in total.

I guess it was my mistake assuming because they told me to go about it this way, that that 40% would come from the money she had already paid Airbnb, i.e. either it would be refunded immediately and I would only receive the remaining 10% when it was due, or they would deduct it from my payout when that payout was issued.

In hindsight, I guess I was being naive. The guest ended up getting her refund, I was out of pocket for a few months and Airbnb got to hold onto 40% of the payment for a few months, so a win win situation for everyone except me!

I do need to double check my accounts though to make sure I got the 50% payout to refund me for the 40% sent back to the guest and reimburse me the 10% I was supposed to keep.

[Clare0]

@Huma0. Yes, you should check to see if you got the 50% that was due you under your Strict cancellation policy.  As I'm sure you can appreciate, I don't have access to your account and therefore can only guess what transpired.  I can only give you my ideas on what might have happened which may or may not be correct.  

That said, if the guest cancelled prior to the 7 day cut off for 50% refund, you should have gotten a notice of the cancellation with the ability to offer a refund.  Here's an example of my refunding a guest prior to check in where I refunded 50% under my Strict policy: 

Since this was prior to me getting a payout for this reservation, Airbnb simply refunded the guest out of the money they were holding for me and for which I would have been paid a day after the original check in date. 

If, however, you were paid for the cancellation, then, yes, going through the Resolution Center would have been appropriate since Airbnb already paid you.  

So, yes, it is important to check whether or not you were paid.  If you were, then the refund would be deducted from your next payout. 

What confused me was a situation where you authorized a refund (as in my example) AND sent money to guest through the Resolution Center.  In that situation, the guest would have been refunded too much.  

Clear as mud?  Let me know!

[Huma0]

@Clare0

No, I never got a message like the one you have shown above. In fact, I have never seen this at all when a guest has cancelled. And, this guest cancelled well before the 7 day cut off.

I actually contacted Airbnb about it before the guest cancelled, as I wanted to check what was the best way to change the refund amount from 50% to 90%. If they had told me about the options on the form you posted, I would have just done that instead, but they told me to process it through the resolution centre.

I guess that was my mistake, but they didn't tell me there was another option for increasing the refund amount and I wasn't offered that option at any point.

[Clare0]

@Huma0 Ok, so it seems the guest wasn't over paid for the refund.  Have you checked your Completed or Future Transactions in your Transaction History?  If the original reservation start date hasn't come yet, you likely will see a payout for this cancelled reservation.  

https://www.airbnb.com/users/transaction_history

What do you see there?

[Huma0]

@Clare0

Sorry, the link doesn't work for me. I think they are different dpending on which country you are in.It's fine though as I did manage to check the transaction history.

It seems I received the 10% when the booking was suposed to take place in December. The guest confirmed to me in October when she cancelled that she got 50% back.

Now I just have to figure out what happended to the other 40%. I am sure she got it back, otherwise I would have heard from her! The question is, did it come out of my payouts, or out of the funds she had already paid Airbnb. I am not sure. 

What I don't understand is this. After I spoke to the Airbnb rep, I received this email (names removed):

Hey Huma,

Warm greetings from Airbnb. I hope this message finds you well. This is [rep's name], we spoke on the phone moments ago in regards to providing your guest, [guest's name], with an additional refund.

First of all, thank you again for being so considerate of this guest and providing an additional refund outside of your cancellation policy. As we discussed on the phone, any refund you provide at this point will come directly from your payout and will not be adjusted. The adjustments will only occur when making special offers, and they are accounting for the extra taxes and fees.

I hope this information has been helpful. If you have any further questions, please let me know. I’m more than happy to address any of your concerns. Thank you for such a super host with Airbnb and have a great day."

From this, I understood that it would be deducted from the payout I was supposed to receive from this guest, but at the same time, I received another email saying:

"You sent £X to [guest's name]... We'll deduct £X from your next payout and send to [guest's name]."

This is what is confusing me. If the 40% was actually taken from my next payout, rather than the money Airbnb was already holding from the guest, this should have also been refunded to me when her 50% payout came through, if that makes sense. I can't see the other transactions in my history relating to this.

Oh dear. I guess I'm going to have to call Airbnb and get them to clarify. What a pain. I'm not going to be so generous in future!

[Clare0]

@Huma0, if you received 10% of the cancelled booking in December, it sounds like it is all resolved.  Airbnb refunded 50% and you refunded 40% and kept 10%.   Have you had any payouts since the December payout and have there been any deductions?  If not, I would say that it is all taken care of.  

[Jeremy176]

Hi Huma

Please can you tell me if you resolved your problem as I have a very similar one!   I have a moderate cancellation policy and always have had such a policy. I guessed has canceled so three months old. According to Airbnb the springs I get an automatic cancellation and refund. Airbnb write to me asking me to pay the guest the full price of the booking. I have received no money.  At the very least the wording is appalling - if they require me to agree to them making the refund then it should not give me a button to “pay £xxxx” (there are four Xs because the booking was for a month!). 

You mention that you contacted Airbnb direct - I can’t find any way to do this! Please can you send me the phone number to jezzaharri at hotmail dot co dot uk?

thanks

Jeremy

[Jeremy176]

Good grief! What I typed seems to have been changed by some beast of a spell checker - changing sense to nonsense!

ill try again:

Hi Huma

 Please can you tell me if you resolved your problem as I have a very similar one! I have a moderate cancellation policy and have always had such a policy. A guest has canceled  some three months out.  According to Airbnb the guest gets an automatic refund... the rest seems to have come out ok and my typing is so slow (but accurate) I’d be grateful if you could read that.

Thanks

Jeremy

[Beeleke0]

Hi,

One month back, I have got a mail that my reservation has been cancelled. But, I haven't received my money yet...
Any idea when I will get my refund?

Thanks!

[Mari20]

Hi! Try to contact Airbnb. I sent them an Direct Message in Twitter (@Airbnbhelp), and they responded. Also, I already got my refund 5 days after the cancellation. If you haven't receive yours yet, better contact them and tell them everything. 🙂

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728 …

[Mari20]

Mostly, you'll receive your refund 5-7days, depends on your bank. But if after that days, you haven't receive yet, please try to contact them in Twitter, send them Direct Message, they will surely reply to you.

Other ways to contact them. https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

[Tony76]

Anyone having problems with refunds, email [email address removed]. 

After countless phone calls and emails, a lot of promises but nothing would happen.

So I decided to email my problem to one of the main men in Airbnb.

Refund in my account within 2 hours. 

Hopefully that helps out a lot of people with their refunds...

[Dennis33]

Hi I have had a guest cancel well in advance - he was not due for 4 months. He is requesting a refund and I am happy to fully refund but have not received any funds to refund!  Can anyone advise how this works? Does the guest have to wait until he was due to check in before I receive the money and can refund him?  

[Mari20]

You don't need to give your guest a refund. It's the Airbnb's job to give the refund, not you. When your guest Cancel the booking, he/she will be notified or receive an email regarding the cancellation, the amount, and the expected date.