AirBnB took money out of my wallet when none was paid.

[Dunsmuir0]

A guest made a reservation and cancelled same day. AirBnB emailed and asked to give a refund. I approved the refund, expecting it to be refunded after payment. The next day AirBnB TOOK $60.00 from my wallet. Now I can't find any way to speak to someone. There was a person who called me to make this happen. So AirBnB has personal help for guests, but NO HELP FOR HOST??? I am relatively new to this and payments portions of serving AirBnB's customers has always gone smoothly. I have delisted my place because I cannot afford to PAY PEOPLE $60 TO NOT SHOW UP. If there is a way to get help for hosts from Airbnb, I'd like to know.

[Victoria57]

@Dunsmuir0 that's a lesson for you for the future - never agree to a refund even if Airbnb asks you to. It's a sneaky way that Airbnb can say that YOU have made the cancellation instead of the guest. For some reason they think this makes them look better but as with many things recently at Airbnb it works agains the host (even though without us hosts Airbnb wouldn't exist!). I suggest you phone Airbnb, the details and methods are here, and explain the situation.

[Sharon114]

Hi Victoria, I am sure that things have changed since last year.  Back in 2015 I had a one night booking for a single male who was attending a university reunion.  He phoned me about an hour prior to his expected arrival to say he had broken down (he was travelling from London) and was awaiting the AA.  I hold him not to worry and keep me informed.  He phoned back 2 hours later and he was still off the road.  The AA repairman could not get his car going and he was going to be towed to a garage.  At this point he was still a couple of hours away from us.  He was so lovely and very apologetic but he now felt that it was unlikely he could make it to Lincoln so felt he would have to cancel. 

I received a phone call from airbnb who advised that the guest had cancelled and did I still want payment or would I agree to a refund.  As a mother of 3 sons I completely empathised with this young man and agreed to a total refund.  It actually meant that the room was already for a guest arriving the following day anyway.  There was never any suggestion of it being me doing the cancellation or any problems thereafter.

I don't know why the 'powers that be' at airbnb have introduced a cancellation policy which seems designed to confuse and upset the maximum number of hosts. 

[Karen-and-Brian0]

@Dunsmuir0 It sounds like you somehow ended up cancelling for the guest rather than the guest cancelling for himself, and you are now being penalized for cancelling. Are the dates also blocked? If so, that's definitely what happened. 

Contact Air BNB and hopefully they'll help you straighten this out.

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

[German28]

Airbnb took my money when I hAve paid for 30 nights stay in one of homes they offer and because personal matters I had to cut my staY off for just 6 nights.

Airbnb just refunded half of the money they suppose to refund. No clear explanation about where the money go.

[Meddy2]

Hi everyone, my case is a littlebit different because im a guest that canceled a trip 2 weeks before the check in. The amount was 503$ but airbnb never refund the money back in my account. I tried to contact them and explain them my situation 3 times, but they always said the same thing: that they are sorry, it was a mistake of their computer and that they gone put my case as a emergency for someone to contact me back, but 4 days and nobody ever contact and every time I called, they repeat to me the same song so I dont know what ro do, can someone give me advice please ?