cancellation request

[Susie34]

Hi my guest wants to cancel in good faith and I am happy to wave my cancellation fee.

I have asked them to cancel and now I have a refund request.

My payout has been updated to £886.88 yet they are requesting a refund of £920.

I'm confused. Does this mean that if I agree to this I will be out of pocket?

Why is the amount different?

Is this the Airbnb fee?

Also when does this payout happen?

The reservation isn't until August so if I refund now do I have to foot the bill until August?

So I have to pay them now and I only get paid in August?

Could someone please explain so that I can take the correct action?

Many thanks

[Emiel1 · Accepted solution]

@Susie34 

When the guest cancels the refund (if any) and your payout (if any) are caculated immediatelly based on the cancellation policy attached. If the Airbnb guest service fee is refunded depends on several factors, but is out of your scope of control (it's something between the guest and Airbnb).

The maximum you can manually refund is what is now mentioned in your Transaction History as the new payout. If you would do this the payout will be zero.

[Susie34]

@Emiel1  thank you that is very clearly put. Do you know if I am able to schedule a manual refund for August when I actually will revive the payout rather than now before I have the money? 

[Colleen253]

@Susie34 "Also when does this payout happen?

The reservation isn't until August so if I refund now do I have to foot the bill until August?

So I have to pay them now and I only get paid in August?" Possibly.

Everything @Emiel1 said is correct. But regarding  ".....If you would do this the payout will be zero", just know that Airbnb is inconsistent with this process, and you need to be aware that you may have to foot the bill until your original payout date. See the following posts for more. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Cancellation-refund-rip-off/m-p/1322616#M286863

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Authorizing-refund/m-p/1321915#M314269

At the end of my post, you see I copied the response I got from CS when I inquired. Because of the inconsistency, in the rare event I agree to refund completely, I'll only ever return funds once I receive the payout. 

[Susie34]

@Colleen253 Thanks so much that’s super helpful. I understand it now. Do you have any idea how I can agree to refund them what I am paid in August rather than now? 

[Colleen253]

@Susie34 You can send them money through the resolution center at that time.

[Sarah977]

@Susie34  If you get a message saying the guest wants to cancel, for you to accept or decline, always decline. If you accept, that is registered as a host cancellation, with all the attendant penalties. 

And yes, any amount you agree to refund comes out of your pocket.

[Helen3]

Why is your guest cancelling @Susie34 

 If there are extenuating circumstances they will be able to cancel penalty free themselves  under Airbnb's EC policy without involving you.

or they can claim on their travel insurance for an illness within the family etc. 

I would never agree to refund a guest myself that long in advance - you will be out of pocket for months . 

[Nathalie-Et-Gilles0]

@Susie34 

NEVER repay before having the money on your bank account.

Airbnb pays after the arrival date.

If you are happy to repay for any reason, you can change your cancellation policy to moderate or flexible.

Strict cancellation policy is for strict hosts.

The problem is that your guests won’t understand why the next host refuses to repay.

Simply because they were badly educated by some previous hosts.

[Bradley146]

I have a slightly different situation.  I am new to hosting (two weeks).  I had a booking and the guest came back to me that she used the wrong credit card.  I have the "strick policy".  She tried to cancel and said she would lose 50%.  I changed the setting to the least policy, but it must have been locked when she confirmed.  Does anyone know how she can cancel without losing any money?   

[Sarah977]

@Bradley146  I'm not sure what she means that she used the wrong credit card. If the card didn't have enough credit limit on it, the booking would be cancelled by Airbnb. 

The cancellation policy you have in place when a guest books is the one that applies to their booking. Any settings a host changes only apply to future bookings, not confirmed ones.

It's also not beyond the realm of possibility that she is just wanting to completely cancel, but doesn't want to lose the money, so is just making an excuse to try to get you to refund her in full.

This is something you shouldn't get involved in as a host. Guest payments are between the guest and Airbnb. Just tell her to contact Airbnb and work it out with them, there's nothing you can do about it on your end.

On another note- you need to edit your listing ASAP- it says 8 guests and 0 beds. Also you should have a photo of the bathroom (toilet seat lid closed), and if there's a backyard, show that, too.

[Glen658]

Hi, I have just had an instant booking for Saturday-sunday where the guests then asks me if they can stay Friday too, in which of course they can't due to it being booked by someone else, and has been booked months in advance. Then I got the boyfriend calling me asking to stay friday and bla bla he works away bla bla. So I explain to him too. So then the woman wants a refund but sees as I have the strict policy she will only get a bit of money back. So then the guy rings me again telling me I have to send her all of the money. He was telling me, not asking. Then she is asking how she can get all.the refund and I said try to contact Airbnb to see if they can help. They said friday was free when they tried to book then it wasn't when they booked, which I don't believe. Then she asks me to cancel so they get all their money back and I said kindly I can't do that as it will give me a bad reputation and I can get penalties.  To which she said you will get bad reputation anyway if we don't get our money back!! Then I get a cancellation request from her to which (I didn't know this before) I agreed to to get them off my back and try to be nice. So they got all their money and I could be facing penalties! Even though I did nothing wrong. I've had super host 4 times in a row. I'm really upset about the whole thing and Airbnb say nothing.