Refunds

[Amy3680]

I had a repeat guest reach out saying they just got a cancer diagnosis and wanted to see what was possible for cancellation. The reservation is 4 months away. I let the guest know they needed to cancel and I would let Airbnb know that I would offer full refund. After the guest cancelled I contacted Airbnb support. Then I noticed on my payouts the refund was being deducted from my current payout. Yet the payment to offset it was scheduled four months out when the reservation would have taken place. I called support and was assured this would not happen. That the charge would stay pending until my payout. That is not what happened. They took the $ from a different houses payout. Expecting the host to float the refund and they will hold the money for FOUR months. Creating a accounting nightmare. As the fiscal year is about to end. I have escalated the case and been told repeatedly that  there is nothing they can do. I will get the $ in April. One support person said you agreed to give $ to guest. But I never got $ Airbnb has it. Yet they took it from me and plan to pay in 4 months. I asked where in the policy I agreed to this and was told it was internal policy. This is a final straw for me. This company has become so unethical. I will start to transition all my properties away from Airbnb and start sharing not just this but the many ways Airbnb does not take care of the host anymore. Treat your partners crappy and you will lose your partners. They may not feel the impact of my measly 20 properties but wait till the hotels start footing bills for class action suits. I can imagine it is on there radar. Look what they accomplished in Las Vegas. I do my best to take care of guests despite the lack of help from Airbnb. They have lost their way. 

[Emiel1]

@Amy3680 

Below is the useally procedure to provide full refund to a cancellation done by a guest:

(BTW Airbnb guest service fees are never refunded)

1. The guest cancels the reservation

2. The refund to be received (if any) is calculated according cancellation policy.

3. The remaining payout to the host stays in the transaction history until next payout-session

4 The host goes to resolution centre and order Airbnb to provide a  full refund for the specific reservation.

(No need to contact Airbnb support, it is a simple  procedure)

After that the payout to the host will show zero (00,00) in transaction history for the specific reservation.

Case closed !

If the remaining payout has already been transferred to the host, it will be deduced from a(!) next payout.

Therefor it is advisable to perform option 4 asap after the cancellation:  no payout at all, no deduction, no administration.

[Frances3408]

@Emiel1 . So in this case Step 4 wasnt actioned? Surely Support could have notified @Amy3680 ?