Receiving a refund and allowing host to book new tenants

[Connor119]

Hi, I recently had an Airbnb booked for 1 month, however the first day I realized it was significantly different from the advertisement and was not suitable for my needs. I sent a refund request the first night and the host did not respond so I clicked the button to have Airbnb look into it.

I left yesterday (after staying the first night) and as of right now there has been no progress from Airbnb's side. I have since spoken with the host and they agreed to a full refund, minus the first 2 days.

Today I received a message from the host saying that they are unable to book new tenants because their schedule still appears as booked for the month. I moved out yesterday at the time they requested (3pm) and have since booked a new Airbnb for the month. 

[Sarah977]

@Connor119  You can't get any refund if you don't cancel the booking. You should have cancelled as soon as you moved out. Until you do, all the dates of your booking are still showing as booked and unavailable, so they can't be rebooked by anyone else. You have zero chance of getting a refund if your booking is still officially active.

[Connor119]

Well I went through the Airbnb process of attempting to contact the host for a refund, then Airbnb said they would intervene after no response.

Are you saying I have to go to My Trips and cancel the reservation? Because when I look there it says the refund will be $0.

[Colleen253]

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2868/airbnb-guest-refund-policy

@Connor119 

[Connor119]

Thank you, I have read this page. I did report the issues within 24 hours and requested a refund.

This is the last thing Airbnb had said to me:

Okay, I’ve sent your message. The person who responds will be able to see everything you’ve already shared. Feel free to add more details to help our team understand and resolve your issue faster.

If you leave this message thread, you can get back to it from your Airbnb inbox.

[Sarah977]

@Connor119  You had a 30 day booking, which falls under the long term cancellation policy, which means you are not officially eligible for a refund. That's why it says 0 refund. But the host can authorize any refund he wants. 

Again, you need to cancel this booking, ASAP. That's the only way you have any chance of receiving a refund. Every day you wait to cancel is another day the host can't rerent the blocked days and the less refund he would be willing to give.

[Connor119]

Thanks for you help.

I spoke with the Airbnb chat bot and it says that the host has already cancelled my stay and issued a refund.

I am just confused because the host messaged me an hour ago saying they are unable to book new tenants. Perhaps they only just accepted the refund now.

[Sarah977]

@Connor119  I don't know what's going on here, but it isn't the host's responsibility to cancel when the guest wants to leave. A host cancellation is only warranted when the host can't fulfill the booking for some reason. 

Ask the host whether they cancelled the booking, as Airbnb claims, or if he is waiting for you to cancel.

If you haven't received a cancellation notice, the booking is still active and the host's calendar is still blocked. The host may have agreed to a cancellation and refund, but that doesn't mean the host has cancelled, and they most likely wouldn't, as hosts receive penalties for cancelling.

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Connor119 if the host cancels then their listing is blocked for the period of the original booking. If the place was misrepresented then this is arguably fair. If you just didn't like it then I am afraid the host, by their ignorance, has been rather dumb.

[Connor119]

That does seem to be the scenario. I didn't intend for them to lose out on income like that, but they were dishonest about their listing, also not cleaned properly. As well as information they provided me before hand (top floor and quiet, turns out it was second top floor and there was 2 months worth of loud construction above me). 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Connor119 I guess they meant top (finished ) floor!