Airbnb should stop begging us to give refunds

[Inna22]

Now that Airbnb seems to have started to read these boards and take action (I am personally pretty impressed so far), one of items that needs to be addressed next is begging hosts for refunds against host policy for cancellations. If I wanted to give guests refunds against my cancellation policy, I would have either not selected that policy or refunded them when they asked me directly. Airbnb is stretched thin as far as customer service yet they have a team dedicated to quilting hosts into additional discounts. I find the tone of their emails and calls insulting. Typical message: "I am reaching out as a third party mediator to make sure that this will be resolved fairly". It is already resolved fairly- the guest got exactly what was stated in my cancellation policy and I got at least something for the weekend I am not able to rebook most of the time. There are always discussions here about giving money if the weekend books or fairness of strict policy overall. We can continue discussing it but at the end each host should be able to do what they feel is right without Airbnb's involvement. 

[Inna22]

Thank you for sharing this @Dale711   Did you end up keeping the money?

[Dale711]

Salut @Inna22,

 " no "

Deducted to our future payout, a FULL refund to the guest

- local guest make the reservation on July 10, booking for 22 days

- he stays for 2 nights, then left. He claims that he needs to settle his family issue and uncertain to be back or not

- we advise him to make cancellation immediately and get back his refund if he decides not to stay. So that we can open up the date to other guests

-Again, he told us " not sure,  return or not"

- the booking active till September, on  September 15, the support team decide to refund him,

- even we responded "disagreed "

We lost payment from future payout 🙄

[Inna22]

@Dale711 that is horrible! You should fight that

[Russell49]

Likewise, they send me guest requests when I have days blocked out and these guests do not meet my criteria of at least 1 recommendation. I accidentally accepted a request and was going to let them stay anyways, but when it came to getting any communication about checking in and acknowledging my house rules from this 0 review guest, I got no communication until I cancelled his booking! I wish Airbnb would quit trying to deliver it's uninitiated guests to me and send me guests that meet my requirements.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Inna22 

Recently I had an unannounced cancellation. Unannounced by the guest and unannounced by Airbnb who did it.

Don't give them an inch.

I fought the cancellation and won.

Because of the re-introduction of lockdown in the UK, I've had guests:

a) Cancel according to my cancellation policy.

b) Request to reschedule, which I have had done twice.

c) Insist on a full refund, then when shown the Terms, agreed to reschedule.

d) Had Airbnb interference, cancel on behalf of the guest, refund the guest then pay out my cancellation policy.

e)Airbnb attempted to disguise a travel voucher for a booking. The guest cancelled.

^^ Airbnb... keep your noses out of our business. We're quite capable of handling cancellations, bookings and booking enquiries without your (costly) interference.

A word of advice: @Airbnb Your booking system doesn't work. It needs fixing. A guest wanting to reschedule a booking under the same requirements / circumstances / or contract as the booking they want to cancel - can't. Your system cannot handle this simple task. Not from the Guest side, not from the Host's side. It doesn't work. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Inna22 

During 3yrs of hosting, I only had one guest cancel (exchange student, 1 month stay, changed her mind about staying in our single occupancy private room about a week after booking, saying she changed her mind and wanted to cancel to book private home with a group of friends) - and she was very very upset about the long-term cancellation policy (1st month's payment not refunded).

At first she claimed that we (hosts) falsely advertised our cancellation policy. Then she kept saying that she didn't mind not getting the Airbnb service fee back but she *deserved* to get her money for the stay (= the HOST payout) back because she didn't stay a single night. While it was frustrating for us, we told the guest we'd consider a refund according to the *strict* cancellation policy (which is the cancellation policy we chose for our listing) IF we get an alternate booking for the same dates. 

A couple hours after having the above conversation with the guest, Airbnb CS *reaching out* on behalf of the guest, trying to to pressure us into agreeing to a refund, using their typical condescending wording was the worst!!!!!! It was upsetting to the point that Henry and I both felt like WE DESERVED to keep the full payout with no refund for the stress and frustration we endured. 

The end of the story was..... we did succeed in getting an alternate booking for those dates - exchange student from the same school/program. We didn't *reach out* to the guest about the refund - Henry and I decided, if she or Airbnb contacts us about the refund, we'll see how we feel about their tone/attitude and decide whether or not to refund. No one contacted us about the refund after we actually got the payout for the cancellation, we did not feel like we had to go out of our way to refund someone who was pushy and rude, so that was that for us.  😆

[Inna22]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 sounds like you deserved the pay out. I know they are just words, but somehow that entitled tone just gets me

[Cave0]

And of course, the biggest farce in all of this is that the Terms of Service include "As the provider of the Airbnb Platform, Airbnb does not own, control, offer or manage any Listings or Host Services. Airbnb is not a party to the contracts concluded directly between Hosts and Guests"

How very convenient, Airbnb avoids any repsonsibility when it suits, but feels it is appropriate to become involved when it suits.

In essence, it is clear that Airbnb is trying to provide a social service to guests as opposed to running a serious business, it's quite disturbing really.

[Francesco1366]

@Inna22 , @ann72, @Dale711, @Cave0 and all. 

Did you see? All is finish in oblivion. Do you want to use this platform to push Airbnb to change? Keep this discussion in evidence with new comments.

Do you want insurance to refund cancellations? No higher rates for strict terms? Create discussions for these topics and keep them in evidence.