Guest left early

[Nick2071]

On my first booking my guest decided to leave town one day early. He didn't ask for any sort of a refund for the last day but I want to be a nice guy and refund him for the day he didn't stay. What's the best way on my end to do that? 

[Robin4]

@Nick2071 

Hi Nick, welcome to Airbnb hosting, and thanks for being a nice guy and wanting to recompense the guest for the day he did not stay.....many hosts would not be as generous as you!

The best way to give your guest back some money is to first of all message the guest and say you don't feel comfortable fully charging for a part of the stay that did not take place and you would like to offer $xx as a refund. It needn't be the full amount, you can keep something for your troubles and the night you can't rent. But set an amount and send a message to the guest for his acceptance. Do this because you need to get some acceptance evidence from the guest. You never know what can happen down the track, and you need evidence within the Airbnb message stream just in case it is ever needed.

If the guest accepts........on the message stream with the guest on the right hand side you will see a panel like this.

When you click on that field a box will ask if you wish send money or request money, click on the send money, you will be prompted to insert in a box the amount you wish to send, confirm and click send.....and that amount will be sent to the guest and taken from your subsequent payouts.

I hope this answers your question Nick, good luck!

Cheers.......Rob 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Nick2071 

In such cases, I usually send a message to the guest a day or two after check out, thanking them for their stay, for being such a great guest, and that I will be refunding X amount for the night(s) they didn't stay and to please accept. The refund is usually about 75~80% of my normal nightly rate of the night(s) the guest didn't stay.  Using the "send money" function (as per @Robin4 's screenshot) is easy 😀 

[Anonymous]

@Nick2071  Very good tips above if you're certain that you want to partially refund your guest.

But for a contrary viewpoint: while this is a generous act on your part, most in the hosting community would prefer for guests not to develop the assumption that they're entitled to a refund when they spontaneously leave a day early (or, as is often the case, arrive a day late). That unused night does have value, even if you prefer to waive it, as the guest had secured the exclusive privilege of accessing the home on that date and most likely prevented someone else from booking it.

Perhaps you can present it more as a special gift than a "refund."  Alternatively, if this was a guest you'd be happy to welcome back, you could offer to roll it over into a complimentary night on his next stay, thereby encouraging repeat business.

[Rose1610]

I have a similar situation and as a new host I wanted to generate continued interest from this guest in booking with me again.  (The guest indicated another stay in the spring/summer.)  How do I 'roll it over into a complimentary night' in the system?

[Colleen253]

@Rose1610  Whenever the guest wants to book in the future, you can send them a special offer, taking into account whatever credit you wish to apply to their booking. 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1349/what-is-a-special-offer

[Flavia202]

I like .@Nick2071 suggestion to roll the refund over into a complimentary night on the guest's next stay - to encourage repeat business.  Not a fan of refunding for guests who leave or arrive a day early or late.  Guests may mention it in their reviews and future guests take it for granted.