Airbnb service fee refund - difference between a guest and a host cancelling?

[Tricia24]

I'm a new host, just had my first cancellation last week due to a miscommunication. Guest had thought i was charging $50rmb as opposed to aud (i'm hosting in australia and my listing has also specified aud). I've thus refunded her in full.

My question is... is the airbnb service fee refundable to the guests if the host cancels the reservation? The repercussions are that the hosts will be liable to cop a penalty? My guest is now arguing that I should have cancelled the reservation as a host to save her the airbnb service fee that she isn't able to get back.

[Ana1136]

@Lisa1879 if you canceled before 48h after the initial booking passed and your reservation doesn't overlap with another reservation it should be automatically refunded. 

[Mie-Funk0]

I recently cancelled a reservation due to I have found a larger unit for my family.  the new unit is via airbnb as well.  Shouldn't I get the airbnb service fee refunded as well?  Also, the amount is quite high and I find it's not reasonable.  Furthermore, I have cancelled at least 2 months before the booking date.  For this, I strongly feel I am mistreated as a customer.  Furthermore, Airbnb is not very clear in communicating that airbnb service fee is not refundable in the event of cancellation.  When we book and review the booking policy,  we can clearly see is full refund which can be easily wrong interpreted as 100% refundable.

[Rajiv18]

@Clare0 sorry to revive this post but wondered if you had any help for me

had booked a 30 day stay at a property where the service fee was 0 (paid for by host). However the property was not at all as advertised - had water damage, different to photos etc. So the host agreed I could move out and they would refund the remaining nights... now I am only receiving 70% of the refund amount as the rest is apparently service fee.

Are there any options for me to get this back?

[Clare0]

@Rajiv18  so sorry you encountered this situation!

The best course of action would to have contacted Airbnb within 24 hours of the check in time to obtain a refund of the service fee as hosts do not have any control over that.  In other words, hosts do not receive the service fee that Airbnb charges so they can only repay you what they have received for your reservation.  

That said, depending on your experience, you may still be able to get Airbnb to refund you the service fee.  Before contacting Airbnb you should familiarize yourself with Airbnb's Terms of Service.  Judging from your profile name, you are a European User and these links would apply to you unless Brexit has changed your status:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2908/terms-of-service#EUTOS

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868/airbnb-guest-refund-policy

On the second link go to Travel Issue which describes the meaning of inaccurate description or depiction of the listing.

After reading Airbnb's Guest Refund policy, contact Airbnb to see what they will do for you.  Depending on the particulars of your experience you may or may not succeed.  

I sincerely wish you the best of luck as I'm sure the service fee for a 30 night stay can be a considerable amount of money!

Best, 

Clare

[Rajiv18]

thank you so much for your fast reply Clare. Really appreciate it! 

[Rajiv18]

in case it helps others - it turns out Airbnb  "mis-calculated" our refund amount by a significant amount! now trying to figure out the rest (incl. possibly service fee), but worth asking them for a clear breakdown if in doubt