Air bnb not giving refund due

[Jonathan70]

A guest booked our spot back in February for June 26.  Cancelled June 2, well in time for the 50% refund due from Airbnb.  Airbnb has not refunded anything .  I've received nothing and expect the other 50% at 50%.   Guest is furious, Airbnb keeps telling them to contact me.  Now I'm getting requests from Air bnb for ME to send them a refund.  This is outright fraud as they are just keeping the payment made from the guest despite the fact they are due a refund.   The guest is telling me that Airbnb has the wrong cancel date but has not corrected it despite being told repeatedly that they canceled within the 14 days  required for 50% refund under strict cancelation policy.  Help !

[Helen3]

So did the guest pay in full when they booked? Or did they only pay half up front. @Jonathan70 

As you know if they only paid 50% up front they they won't be due any refund and that 50% will come to you after the booking date.

the issue the guest has with Airbnb is between them.

it sounds like if they only paid 50% up front Airbnb is saying you can voluntarily refund this - which of course you absolutely don't have to. 

[Huma0]

@Jonathan70 

@Helen3 's explanation seems the most plausible. I've seen this mentioned before on the CC. The guest gets confused about the cancellation policy. They pay 50% upfront, but think that when the policy says they'll get a 50% refund, that means they'll get 50% back of what they paid, which is wrong. If they never paid the remainder, they are not due anything back.

You only get your payout after the check in date, so you will know a couple of days after the 26th if this has been issued or not, but it should already be showing under upcoming payments on your transaction history page.

Ask the guest what exactly they have paid and you'll be able to figure out if they paid 50% or paid in full.

If the guest paid more than 50%, then yes, something has gone wrong. If not, then it's all according to the policy. You can't get a 50% refund of the full amount if you never paid the full amount!

[Jonathan70]

Guest says they paid full amount up front and have received nothing back.

[Jonathan70]

Is there a phone number any more where a host can speak with a knowledgeable Human ?

[Huma0]

The phone number varies from country to country. Go here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/contact-us/channel?_set_bev_on_new_domain=1655907281_OTZmZjVlZGU3ZWVj

and click on 'call us'.

Doesn't mean you will get through to anyone knowledgable though as much of Airbnb CS is now outsourced to poorly trained reps.