Guest and Host service fees in a 'guest cancelled' booking

[Nicole996]

The issue:

Our Guest cancelled and received a 50% refund according to cancellation policy.

The reason she cancelled was lockdown in Sydney due to Covid-19 so she could not travel.  Air bnb no longer recognises this as an extenuating circumstance, but we would like to give her a refund.

The balance in the booking is $1860

The payout to us is $1804.20  with a Host service fee of $55.80

The question I am hoping some can answer with certainty is: 

If I refund the guest $1860 (option 1 on the 'send Money' section for this booking, option 2 is an amount of my choosing)  Will I also be charged the Host Service fee by Air bnb even though the funds have not made it to my account... the booking was to start on the 03rd July.  

I am already in a chat line which has involved 2 Community experts and 1 Air bnb Customer service agent but all communication which was initiated on the 24th June has ceased. 

Last note from  Air bnb CS   "I'm forwarding your inquiry to a member of our team who can better assist you regarding this refund. They'll be getting in touch with you soon."   4 more notes requesting help have been sent by me since then.

It is now the 29th June and as the funds are due to be transferred to our account on the 04th July, I would really appreciate help before this happens.

I thought CS at Air bnb was supposed to be getting better but their 'soon' does not line up with my idea of soon!  

[Sarah977]

@Nicole996  You actually want the funds to be paid to you before you give a refund, because sometimes if a host refunds first, they find that Airbnb has actually issued a full refund to the guest.

I don't understand why you want to give the guest a larger refund than what your payout will be, though. Wait to see what you are actually paid and refund that to the guest. ( I don't think the host service fee will be waived- if it says your payout will be 1804.20, that is what it will be.)

[Nicole996]

Thank you Sarah.  That's helpful to know.  The refund centre offered me the option to send $1860 with no explanation on whether I would be charged the host fee in addition to that. 

Because it is Covid-19 related and out of her control, I was hoping to give her the maximum refund by avoiding a host service fee if I could complete the transfer before Air bnb credited my account.  With automation the way it is, you probably can't do that!  It seems that Air bnb collects their fees regardless.

The other issue is that we have had to re-enter our payment details for some unknown reason as these have not changed.  At the moment they are 'pending' so the transfer on the 04th will most likely be delayed.

Thanks again for your comments.