strict cancellation refund

[Anja-and-Pete0]

I am confused about Airbnb's refund policy for a strict booking: I enquired about booking an apartment on the 14th of January (I was planning to stay in April), which was replied to by the host on the 15th of January (and was therefore booked and charged for in full). 2 days later I asked the host if I could postpone my stay to the summer, but got no reply. I emailed her again he following day but again no reply. So I changed the booking directly on the Airbnb website and was told that the apartment was available for an additional 69 Euro and that I would be notified as soon as the host was going to accept. 

The host then emailed me to say that the apartment was going to be "a lot more expensive" in the summer than the original charge for April, so I replied that we had already been notified by Airbnb that it was going to cost 69 Euro more and that we agreed to this. She then e-mailed me to say that the apartment was not available anymore in the summer and that it had to be April or nothing.

Her cancellation policy is set to "strict" and I now have to cancel the booking. Will I get my payment refunded? 

[Linda108]

@Olivia87  Always refer guests back to Air BNB to process any cancellation.  You don't have the money.  Air BNB has access to it.  The cancellation will be processed according to the long term cancellation policy.  You can always offer additional refund if you desire and there is remaning funds.

[Olivia87]

@Linda108Dear Linda

My apologies for the delay in replying, I'm traveling with at times poor reception.

Thank you for your helpful comment.

I've received an email from the Airbnb response team, informing me about my guest's intention: canellation and full refund. I have given it some thought but would also be grateful for advice/past experiences with cancellations.

Thank you so much...

[Lynn66]

I still believe that you should at least keep 50%, as they did not cancel within the prescribed time frame of "strict."  If they had a verifiable medical emergency, you could waive the rule.  Otherwise, stick to your rules.  You are in business.

[Lynn66]

Unless a guest has a verifiable reason for s/he's cancellation, they are required to pay you for the cancellation, if you have a "strict" policy.  That is lost business, as you could have rented to someone else.  There is a reason that you set up "strict" cancellation policy, so follow your own rules. Airbnb does not return the full amount  to you and you should check how much you are entitled to receive from Airbnb when a guest cancels and does not follow the strict policy.  

Lynn

[Alice595]

@Lynn66 I agree with you 100%. Once a rule is set up, both a host and a guest should respect and follow it with little exception. Otherwise, the rule will be abused in the future in other cases. If a host provides an exception for a guest, the guest will try to get the same exception again with another host in the future. It may cause other hosts' issues.

[Walter-A0]

In my personal opinion the airbnb platform does not take in consideration the full extend of the importance on having clear "Refund Policies" and we have considerable limitations of what we can choose. Example: the system has a "Strict" Reservation Policy with "Grace Period".

Yet, you need find it and then figure out how to set it up.

Then if you manage to set it up you will find that it remains confusing for guests because the full write-up on this refund option (Strict with Grace Period), conditions which should include a full refund on a cancellation up to 14 days prior to guest arrival. This is left out or not mentioned clearly for example when quotes are issued. This and not having an option to add that local taxes (where applicable) are in my personal opinion serious shortcoming on the airbnb platform and does not really help to make our live easier, on the contrary. Because of this we who declare and pay the local tourism tax (in my case we do it monthly), we end up with arguments with our local tax authority on how we calculate this tax and the end result is that we have pay them (Tax Authority) the Tourism Tax also on the "Service Fee" that airbnb deducts at the end. So in fact, we pay on a tax for a difference we do not collect from the guest. This in my opinion is unfair and unnecessary.

Has anyone have more experience on this?

[David126]

All the value added taxes I can think of are charged on what the customer pays.