Clear overview of cancellation costs

[Erik243]

Hi everyone,

i just wanted to see if there is a possibility to get a clear overview of any possible costs for cancelling our booked airbnb stay? Unfortunately one of the families in our group wont be available on the dates we chose because of a change in employement. This means the house will be to big for our group, or the costs per person will much higher then the budget we set out to respect. I feel absolutely gutted bevause we really loved the house we rented 😞

The host has a strict cancellation policy and we want to respect this. How ever as we are still more than 3 months away, we’re sure they will get it rented for this period. That’s why we hope we can agree to refund the complete amount. But it isn’t clear to me if airbnb impose a cancellation fee for their part.

If I understand there are options:

1) we cancel our reservation according to the policy set by the host. 50% of the amount already paid will be refunded. No surcharge from airbnb. However, this gives us no incentive to cancel in a timely manor, as the costs for cancelling 3 months in advance are the same as cancelling just 1 week before check-in.

2) we cancel and our host accepts our request for a 100% refund. The complete amount already paid gets refunded. No extra costs added by airbnb. In this. Ase we would of course cancel immediately, as this will give the host every chance in finding a new tennant for this period.

What isn.t clear to me is what happens with the airbnb service fee, does it het refunded as well? Or do we have to take in account this fee in every case to calculate if we will be better of cancelling our reservation or just changing the number of guests for the current location. It would be a great help if airbnb could provide a clear overview on their website under the cancellation tab. As there are so many topics regarding cancellation issues i can only assume i’m not the only one who’s somewhat confused.  As i don’t use the platform that often,  i’ve no experience in cancelling just yet...

thanks for your advise,

erik

[Ana1136]

@Erik243 best thing to do would be to contact your host and try to come to a mutual agreement. The Airbnb fee is refundable up to 3 times per year. But you booked your hosts place knowing the cancelation policy and even if you only get 50% refund it would be very rude to wait a week before check in to cancel in order for him to not be able to get new reservation. In the end the cancelation is not his fault, it is your decision. 

[Linda108]

@Erik243 If the booking costs include extra guest fees, changing the number of guests might bring the cost of the rental within budget.  If there is a straight nightly rate no matter how many guests, then you could negotiate a lower nightly rate since you like the house and the host might be willling to reduce the cost as there may be less cost to the host.

As a host, I accept advance bookings because of the many special events in my area.  If a guest needs to cancel, I offer to refund the balance if I am able to re-book the listing.  It is in the favor of the guest to cancel as soon as possible to allow for the re-booking.

BTW, I wonder if you or your friend has travel insurance that would help with the cost of this change.

[Ute42]

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@Erik243 

You wrote:

• Unfortunately one of the families in our group wont be available on the dates we chose because of a change in employement

As I understand it You are a group of several families and You have a, maybe verbal, contract amongst each other to spend the hollidays together. Now one of the families can't participate anymore due to a change in employement. But Your hollidaycontract is still valid. As the change in employment falls into the responsibility of said family, I think they still have to pay their share of the holiday even if they cannot participate anymore.

If everyone could and would exit from contracts just like that, our whole economy would come to a stillstand.

If You cannot come to an agreement with Your host You may and will be faced with cancellation fees and the person who booked, maybe You, will have to pay for it. Are You happy having to pay for something even though it is not Your fault?

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Erik243 

I agree with @Ute42 why should you or the host be worrying about the family that cancelled. That family is the one breaking the agreement and they need to be responsible. Not the other families and certainly not the host. 

You could approach the host, explain the situation, and change the reservation details (total no. of guests) to get a partial refund IF there was an additional guest fee to lower the burden for the cancelling family on their behalf. 

But to be honest.......the thing about your post that bugs me is your comment "this gives us no incentive to cancel in a timely manor (manner), as the costs for cancelling 3 months in advance are the same as cancelling just 1 week before check-in." 

No incentive??? How about doing the right thing instead of thinking of "sticking it" to a host because the host wants the original contract terms to be respected?!?!?!?!?!?! The host did absolutely nothing wrong and your attitude seems very misdirected. You should be talking to that other family about how THEY are going to take responsibility for messing up the plans/reservations that were already made. 

The host has no obligation whatsoever to agree to a refund beyond what the cancellation policy states. Rules are rules and YOU (on behalf of your group) agreed to the cancellation policy when you made the booking. If that other family had already booked non-refundable flights, do you think you/they would be having this type of conversation with the airline??? Do airlines refund non-refundable tickets if they are able to re-book those seats???? 

As for the cancellation policy......https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#strict-with-grace-period

Regarding the guest service fee, this is the blurb~

• The Airbnb service fee is refundable upon cancellation up to 3 times per year. For reservations made by non-South Korean travelers, the Airbnb service fee is refundable up to 3 times per year when cancellation is made within 48 hours of booking. Refund eligibility is determined at cancellation time based on the number of prior cancellations. Separately, if a guest cancels a reservation that overlaps with any part of an existing reservation, we won’t refund the Airbnb service fee if they decide to cancel.

I've also had cancellations before and the thing I can never understand is why guests are okay about not getting their service fee back from Airbnb but they are always upset about not getting a full refund for the accomodation fee?? They don't mind handing over money to Airbnb, but they think a HOST'S time and effort to communicate, deal with their reservation/cancellation, the impact they've inflicted to a host's plans, and the value of the "loss of opportunity" for blocking other potential guests from booking should be for free???? 

[Erik243]

Hi everyone,

at first a big thanks for the responces. I did’nt realize what an active community this forum was. 

I would like to clarify that of course the host is not to blame.The cancelation policy was set when we booked, so we have no complaints about honoring them.  It our party that needs to change or cancel the reservation. Our point of was simply that strict policy are primarly set to protect a host from last minute cancellations, leaving them with little chance to rebook the location. As we’re still more than e months away, we wanted to see if a mutual agreement was to be made. As we’re not (yet) frequent users of airbnb it is a little confusing what the possible fees are when cancelling. 

We wanted to make an informed decission if we need to take in account any extra costs when rebooking a possible other locatio, more suited for the new size of our holiday party.

you can imagine we’re not happy either about our plans changing, but we understand the reason why. That’s why we hoped there was a similar comprehension from other parties involved. 

I’ve checked with our insurance policy’s but they don’t include cover for these instances.

@Jessica-and-Henry0so sorry you misunderstood about the incentive to cancel. Naturally we want to make our decission asap. There is no gain from postponing this. And like you said, it would be very rude to our host.

I’ve contacted our host and I’m sure we can work out a sollution that’s best for everyone.

thanks for the input!

erik

[Helen3]

Hi @Erik243 

The strict cancellation policy is set for hosts who need certainy around their bookings, not as you say primarily to avoid last minute cancellations. I am not sure why you would think that?

As others pointed out, there shouldn't be a need to cancel as the family who are no longer travelling should be contributing so the others can still travel. Or another family might be able to travel.

Should you decide to go ahead with the cancellation, if you want the host to return a larger amount than you are entitled to, why not explain the circumstances and ask if s/he is able to offer a further refund if they are able to rebook some/all of the time. In that way you are suggesting a mutally beneficial solution.

[Erik243]

You're completly right that it's best to discuss with the host how to resolve this. I must admit, when booking the venue I misinterpreted the cancelation terms and thought a 7d period was the minimum amount for a refund. I will look fuether into this for futire use of the platform.

As I'm under the impression most of the people that react here are hosts themselves, perhaps its better to rephrase my question: in a popular period like the summertime, where all dates of your home have been rented out, would you feel 3 months is enough time for you to get an alternative booking and thus agree with a cancelation in this case?

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Erik243 

As a host, your cancellation and whether or I get those dates rebooked are 2 separate things. I've never refunded beyond what the cancellation policy states because rules are rules. But I know there are plenty of hosts that will refund if they are able to re-book. 

One of the reasons I'm adament about sticking to the rules is because I'm pretty sure that there is no guest in the world who would be willing to agree to NOT get a refund they are owed from a flexible cancellation policy because they are sorry for cancelling last minute and inconviencing the host and the host is not able to re-book those dates. 

You are correct that most people here are hosts....... this is a Host Community Center 🙂 But many hosts are also guest users as well so imo just because we are hosts doesn't mean we are biased. 

Several years ago before I became a host, as an Airbnb guest user I was in the exact same situation as you - I booked for our group of 4 but then 2 of our friends couldn't come. We informed the host he only needed to prepare bedding & towels for 2 people. The host didn't offer to refund the additional guest fee, and we didn't feel right asking for it (it wasn't that high). Our friends had already paid me for their share and when I offered a small portion of it back (initially the total was split 4 ways, I was planning to refund them each for just the additional guest fee) they said no, and instead to bring back a nice sake that we could enjoy together later.