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.

[Jacquie2]

Hi Clare, I am with you.  I advertise on 4 other sites, but have never had to cancel a booking  in 5 years.  Hosts who are unorganized or just plain dont care give other hosts a difficult time and lessen the Airbnb name.  This is why I love the "superhost" platform.  It shows the guest that their booking is with a reliable host and one they can count on.

[Jamie187]

Hi Clare,

I have a similar problem and wonder if you can advise?

A guest cancelled 4 weeks in advance. She has been refunded the money she has paid but without the service fee (£80). It seems unfair that she should loose such an amount of money despite giving plenty of notice.

Is there anyway she can get this money back?

Jamie

[Clare0]

@Jamie187 Airbnb will refund the service fee based not on how far in advance the cancellation is made, but how soon after booking the guest cancels.  Airbnb will refund the service fee if the cancellation is made 48 hours after booking providing the guest has not had more than 3 cancellations within the previous 12 month period.  See this link: 

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies

While I cannot speak for Airbnb, I suspect that this is because Airbnb has provided platform support for the reservation.  

"Plenty of notice" is really subjective in the sense that for some hosts, depending on the time of year, holidays, special events, etc., might not be applicable. 

The best advice I would offer is that the guest contact Airbnb and ask for a refund of the service fee since this is not something you can refund. 

In the future, please add "@" with my name so I will be notified by email that you are contacting  me.  :). I hope this helps!

[Jamie187]

@Clare0 Thank you so much for your reply that was really helpful. 👍🏼

[Radia7]

@Clare0 I am running to this exact situation as we speak. I made a reservation on June 12 for July 12 twice within the same host because she advertised it for cheaper price. I contacted the host but no response. Shouldn't her home be blocked for the dates I reserved? I feel this is not ethically correct as if she want to give it to somebody else and cancel my reservation later.

All this to say, I no longer feel comfortable with this host and more importantly, I don't even know if I can travel from US to Spain given the COVID19 situation.

I spoke with Airbnb  explaining the whole thing to waive the service fees based on this unethical experience. The agent said that they can't waive the fees because I have overlapping reservation. I explained again the reason for the overlapping (cheaper price offered as the home is still advertised). Unfortunately, she said that I will be charged for service fees for both reservation if I cancel. I found this unacceptable! 

Any thoughts?

[Clare0]

@Radia7 , I am not sure that I understand your situation sufficiently to give you an exact answer to your question.  

When you say you made a reservation, did you book it through Instant Book or did you make a Reservation Request?  If the latter, then, no, the dates would not be blocked until and unless the host accepted your request.  If the Instant Book feature was available for this listing then the reservation would have been automatically accepted without explicit approval from the host and the dates would have been blocked on the host's calendar. Keep in mind that since I am not an Airbnb employee I do not have access to your account to see what actually transpired and can only make an educated guesses about what happened. 

So, I have to assume that the first reservation was not accepted by the host.  In that case, you would not have been charged for either the reservation or the service fee. 

If you had used a credit card you might have seen a pre-authorization which would have disappeared in a few days and no actual charge was made. 

Was the second reservation with the lower price successful?  Did you get a confirmation?  If the answer is yes, then it would be appropriate for Airbnb to charge a service fee.  

Since I'm flying blind here I'm afraid I'm not much help.  I can say, however, that the unresponsiveness of the host is problematic.  Again, since I can't see the host's account it is impossible for me to be certain of what actions or lack of them the host took. 

Wish I could be of more help!  😞

[Marit-Anne0]

@Jamie187

That is the deal and the terms and conditions your guest agreed to when the booking was made. So in my opinion it is fair. Any further refund would have to come out of your own pocket and that would hardly be a fair solution.

[Anna720]

Life is not always perfect with bookings and we got a double booking due to calender syncing not working properly and a parent who died around the same time.

We understand that it is not good for a host to cancel as we get severley penalised. So when we mutually agreed for the guest to cancel to avoid this, the guest then gets penalised with a service charge.

Its no wonder that agenices like Booking.com are becoming so popular with guests as they don't charge the guest commission and they do not have these ridiculous strict cancelation policies where both parties loose even when you mutually agree to cancel - theres no easy way out with ABNB ... they are too strict and a bit scary to solely base your business model on, as it seems that they can 'switch you off' whenever 'they' feel justified!

[Tricia24]

@Alice-and-Jeff0 you're right.. I guess in most cases people are just going to look out for themselves, which renders the decision-making a little tricky. I have since told her to contact airbnb to resolve this and hopefully she can get her service fee refunded in full, if she has a valid case. 

@Clare0 Thank you so much for your detailed reply, really appreciate your thoughts! There was a confusion with the amount we charge for an extra person per night, it is written in our listing as aud but the guest had thought it to be rmb as we were chatting in messages. We couldn't agree on the price so i suggested she cancel from her end, she is since unhappy to be losing out on the service fee but i didn't want to cancel to have my dates blocked as a penalty as well. 😞 what a headache!

[Jane145]

A guest booked with me 2 days ago. Changed his mind. Cancelled with me but not with Airbnb as does not want to pay fee.  I cannot open these days to new guests as days are still marked as booked, so will lose my income. Must I now cancel and pay a fee.  How can Airbnb resolve this for me?

[Clare0]

@Jane145 Under Airbnb's new cancellation policies, Airbnb's service fees are refunded when a guest cancels.  As for the reservation refund, that will depend on your cancellation policy.  The only time the service fee will not be refunded is if the guest has previously cancelled more than 3 times in a year.  

You can see this in this link: 

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies

You should inform your guest that in order to be refunded he will need to cancel through Airbnb.  Do not cancel yourself as it was his choice to cancel, not yours.  

[Dora52]

@Clare0 I am the first time to book a house for my holiday.  I am considering to book another one since I overlooked there is no-WIFI on my booked house... in view of the refund of Airbnb's service fee, I also read somewhere that guest can get a refund of service fee as long as not more than 3 times in a year.   I just try to proceed the cancellation, the breakdown of a refund didn't take the refund of service fee into effect.  It means the refund amount is only covering the rental fee plus cleaning fee, but no refund on Airbnb's service fee.  I didn't proceed as I just worry no way to appeal to Airbnb (seems so hard to access Airbnb's customer service, no email address for me to send an inquiry, only with FAQ as posted on the website).

Do you know how to request the refund of service fee if I have not ever make cancellation in the past (ie. this is my first time booking )

[Clare0]

@Dora52 Yes, this is very confusing as Airbnb keeps changing its policy on refunding service fees.  If you are cancelling within 48 hours of booking and your are not getting the service fee refunded, then I would suggest contacting Airbnb through this link: 

www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us

Or, if you have Airbnb's app installed on a smart phone, tap on your profile picture then on Get Help. Then, at the bottom of the screen press the blue/green button that says Contact Us.  There you will be able to select either Message Us or Call Us.  This is probably the easiest way to get in touch and ask for the service fee refund. 

I hope this helps!

Clare

[Karen408]

not in my case. Host cancelled. service fee not refunded.

[Lisa1879]

First time using air bnb i cancelled a reservation and i am wondering how to fet my service fee refunded?