Reimburse Guests

[Andy247]

When hosting and something comes up that is not great for a guest, it would be nice to be able to tell them, "I'm really sorry about that, we'd like to take $50 off your bill to make up for it." But I don't know of any easy way to do that. So we end up having to mail them a check or trading Paypal info outside the Airbnb system.

It would be nice to have a button for current guests to "give them a special discount". Then just say a flat amount discount we want to offer them. This doesn't happen often, but every once in a while something out of our control happens and we want them to feel better about it fast, and enjoy the rest of their trip.

For example, the cable in the area is out for their first day so they don't have wifi. It might take a day to get the cable company out to fix it, and it's nice to offer them a discount for their trouble. 

[Rebecca181]

I've learned the hard way not to ever give discounts, and other hosts here will tell you the same thing. However, you could keep a small stash of gift cards, like Starbucks or a diner near you, and offer the guests one of those to compensate for an unexpected lost amenity or service. 

[Yoni-and-Gabriela0]

It's so easy to reimburse guests. Just go to

https://www.airbnb.com/resolutions

and click send money.

[Kelly149]

@Andy247 it is even easier to refund a guest DURING their stay, just go to their reservation and click the Change/Cancel link. The best part is that if you refund part of their rate, it also adjusts their taxes & fees so they get more than you gave.

Another benefit is that ABB also sees that you have refunded for some reason, so that if later they complain that they still aren't happy they don't get more of a refund than they should.