Refunding after a cancellation

[Melissa387]

Hello,

I had a guest cancel their booking after the cancellation window. However, I told them that if I was able to secure another booking I would refund the full amount. 

I have, indeed, secured another booking and do want to refund them their full booking charge. However, when I go to do this through the Airbnb site it says that the $$ will come out of my next payout. What does this mean?

Thanks!

[Emiel1]

@Melissa387 

If you refunded the full amount on the this reservation via the resolution centre, then the payout for that reservation should show 0 (zero) in Transaction History .

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Melissa387 It means what it says. If you refund the guest now then that refund money will come out of your next payment even if the money you will be refunding will not actually come to you until the original check in date of the guest that cancelled.

If I were you I wouldn't refund anything until the money you are refunding actually hits your account.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Melissa387 Also I should have said that the Airbnb service fee will not be refunded (unless you are willing to cover something you never get) so the guest will still be down about 20%

[Sarah977]

@Melissa387  When you offer to refund a guest if you get rebooked, you should also explain that hosts only get paid 24 hours after the guest checks in, so you will only be able to refund them when you get paid for the replacement booking. (I think most guests assume the host has their money as soon as they pay for a booking.)

This will cover you in case the replacement booking also gets cancelled or something screws up with the payment. In other words, don't refund money you actually haven't received yet.