Canceled long term booking and waiting on refund

[Alessio159]

Hey, I booked two months for a place because I was looking for a long term stay ( I now realize never to do that on Airbnb as there is no benefit and only huge risk) . after I booked Nov 5 to Dec 5 I had to pay half up front and the other half due on Dec 2. I payed $1291 with my visa on the site. I should have been more thourough because I read all the rules and realized that if that I have pretty much no security and the host has all the power in deciding the outcome of my stay. He gave me his number and I spoke to him and decided that maybe I Should do a trial and book a week and then if I liked his place I would book more. I'm new to Airbnb btw and realize I shouldn't be calling anyone and i should have double checked the cancellation policy. Regardless he told me I could cancel no problem as long as it's 5 days before check in. Which it was. I later realized that he was the one to setup the special offer in the first place ,  Meaning he knew about the policy. Anyways I canceled and saw that there was no refund . So I filed a claim and I'm not sure the outcome but if someone from Airbnb could confirm that I am getting a refund or I'm not ? I'm out $1291 of the $2700. Never go long term. Can anyone help please ?

[Alessio159]

[Alessio159]

Does that mean I got it refunded ? He finally accepted I guess after saying Airbnb had to refund me and not him .i have no idea

 do I wait for the bank ? Or continue contacting airbnb

[Emily487]

@Alessio159 Yep, it looks like it is refunded, minus the random $35.

[Alessio159]

Aww thanks so much @Emily0 I've been stressing like crazy. So it will take a week or more to arrive in bank ?

[Sarah977]

@Alessio159    It can take a few days, a week, hopefully not more than that.

Yes, a host doesn't deal with refunds- the host doesn't get paid at all until 24 hours after a guest checks in. There have been many cases where a host who didn't understand the refund process refunded a guest, trying to be nice, only to have Airbnb also refund them, so the host not only didn't get the booking, they are out the $ twice.

I'm glad you got your money back and can stop stressing 🙂

And it's really refreshing to read a post by a guest who takes respoinsibility for not reading the cancellation policy thoroughly, as well as realizing that you should have communicated through the Airbnb messaging. (altho phone calls and texts are allowed after a confirmed reservation, they really should only be used for issues which aren't possibly contentious- like calling to tell a host you got lost, but you'll be there in 30 minutes) .

You wouldn't believe how many guests post here who are irate that they didn't get a full refund, and take zero responsibility for the fact that not only did they not read the cancellation policy, but they didn't even bother to read the listing description, then get upset because they can't bring their dog (when it clearly said no pets) or they assumed it was a whole private apartment, when it was listed as a private room in a shared home.

Guests like you who admit that they should have read something that they didn't, or paid more attention, instead of blaming others, are guests that people appreciate hosting. Hope you have some nice future bookings.