I authorised a full refund for a guest, and am unclear how this is funded.

[Pandora15]

I was happy to authorise a full refund for a 3 night stay of a guest as he had booked the wrong flights and I really don't care as will re-let easily, so it seemed mean to keep 50% of his money.  Can anyone explain how this then works? I get a message saying I have paid the guy the balance; I have received zero of course as this visit is in August.  Am I airbnb's banker? they had 100% up front; cancellation would have returned about 50% immediately to guest and I would have received the other 50% in August.  I authorise a full refund so the second refund to him is authorised and I am told by airbnb that they will take this out of my next receipts.  Am I making a gift to airbnb of 50% of the rent, or will I get this back in August when the guest should have arrived.?  I have been 45 minutes on the phone to a moron who kept talking about my cancellation policy then I think he said, that because it was my choice to  'refund in full' as is the option when you receive a cancellation notice, I was making this payment myself....this cannot be true?  I asked to speak to someone who could understand in less than 45 minutes and who could tell me that although it is totally dishonest of airbnb, yes, they do make me refund the 50% balance so the guest gets the 100% if I so choose but I will get the payout when it would otherwise have been due.  

The fact that they are not paying it back right now since they have had it for months, but are making me fund it is already bad enough but this man seemed to be suggesting I am making the gift to the man of about £500.  

[Ted307]

I have not refunded a guest in full. But I have refunded partial amounts due to my error in not remembering to turn on the hot water heater! It came directly out of the credit card on file with Air for our travels. If you do not have some form of payment on file, they would most likely deduct it from your future payouts, or even the bank account they make payouts into. This is why we use a totally separate account to receive AirBnB payments. I do believe that you will be paying this, not AirBnB. After the guest has the money, you may be waiting a while for your refund. Air will keep their fee, always.

For myself, I would stick to the policy I posted regarding refunds and only refund the half that is stated in the listing.

[Pandora15]

this was a refund I authorised for a future guest so he  could receive a full refund rather than partial as I know I will re-let and he made a stupid mistake with his flights.  Anyway, it seems the 'customer service' person (NOT HELPFUL AT ALL) was wrong, and that airbnb just word their messages badly and say  in their message, "you have sent X $500" or whatever when they mean "we (airbnb have sent x $500"  

We shall see.  I don't mind funding the refund if I am going to receive it at the future date, though it is annoying to be banker for airbnb, allowing them to invest in crypto or whatever they do, and we have to hope they still have our guests' money at payout time....

I refunded through covid way beyond when we had to or when airbnb were just doing it anyway.  tightened my belt and got on with it with a clear conscience.  Booking.com don't take your money as a guest til the day you arrive, so I NEVER use airbnb to book places to stay, always BOOKING.com.

the second human I spoke to was very helpful at airbnb.  Not reading from a script.

[Sandra4958]

It is great that you are refunding the money but that does not help the person who is out of a place to stay!  My booking (not your property) was canceled twice in Toronto.  Something is definitely going on in Toronto that they keep canceling reservations.  Going to a hotel.

[Pandora15]

I didn't cancel the guests!!  they wanted to cancel as they booked themselves on flights on the wrong dates and I couldnnt help them on their new dates.  I have NEVER cancelled a guest. 

Sorry you misunderstood  my post.