Funny Math on Host Refunds - Is Airbnb Skimming?

[Zappa0]

OK, so guest doesn't read my check in times and I agree to a full refund.  But I cannot figure out this Math. Can anyone explain?

Original Payout from Confirmation email as Follows:  $92 x 1 night + $30 cleaning fee - $3.66 service fee = $118. 34

On the guest cancellation email (strict policy) it says:  According to your cancellation policy, your payout has been updated to $89.24. Your guest was refunded $32.25.

This is a total of: $121.59 - Which is more than my original Payout. Is this counting guest taxes if so how much? Why is there $2.25 refund tacked on to my $30 cleaning fee? Even without the $2.25  it is $119.34 - still more than my Payout. Why would I be issuing a refund of more than what I'm being paid?

Funny Math Aside, I click the link to issue a refund for the remainder of my payout ($89.24).

BUT it is being displayed differently than before (some new Airbnb Launch) and I only have 2 options:

Issue FULL REFUND of $92

Issue partial refund ________ (line to enter)

WHERE IS $92 coming from?  And why are they randomly rounding like the IRS? 

I have tried crunching and combining these numbers but I cannot figure out how to make them match and make sense. Is Airbnb skimming off hosts when refunds come into play? If anyone can help me figure this out that'd be great. 

[Emiel1]

@Zappa0 

92,- minus Host service fee (3%) = 89,24 That is what you will earn

If you issue full refund (92,-) manually, offcourse no Host service fee is charged.

The cleaning fee is refunded to the guest It is subjec to VAT (=2,25) , i guess in your country/region it is 7,5%  ?

Hope this helps,

Emiel

[Zappa0]

But why is the 2.25 VAT added to my cleaning fee?

If I were to issue the $92 daily rate back, when combined with the $32.25 already re-issued to the guest then the guest is being paid back more than they paid to me. I would be paying them $124.25

[Emiel1]

@Zappa0 

I am not a TAX specialst.....

IMO you pay 30,- back to the guest, Airbnb pays back the 2,25

Maybe this explains more:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/436/what-is-vat-and-how-does-it-apply-to-me

maybe check your transaction history for this reservation, you probably will see the cleaning fee (30,-) is deducted and 89,24 will remain. If you issue full refund,  no host fee is calculated and guest receives 92,- and your balance will be zero. (BTW the difference between 118,34 and 119,34 totals is because of the host service fee (3%) is als calculated over the cleaning fee (30,-) , makes it approx. 1 dollar difference)

best regards,

Emiel

[Jeff158]

@Zappa0  now my head hurts lol

You:

$92 minus host service fee of $2.76 = you get $89.24 (no cleaning fee as its auto refunded) and its airbnb refunding the host $2.76 service fee back to the guest.

Guest:

$30 is cleaning fee plus $2.25 guest booking fee % auto refunded when cancelled.

Guest payed $92  for the room and this is now the option you can refund, although you will only be debited $89.24 after the service fee which airbnb will return.

[Zappa0]

@Jeff158

Oh that's all? Lol. Thanks everyone for helping make sense of all this. 

[Ann72]

@Zappa0  I'm about to face the same head-hurting math - I'm giving a refund, but Airbnb's numbers didn't make sense to me, so I'm going to try again on Monday, using this post as a guide 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Ann72 @Zappa0 What also complicates this refund business is that hosts don't know if a guest has chosen the half-up front option or not. So it might look like the guest isn't getting the correct refund, or that you're being asked to refund a weird amount, but that's not necessarily true. 

However, it's always wise to check on their math. I once had a guest who had just booked the previous day message me to say she had been charged double my nightly rate, that maybe she had read my listing wrong, etc. I had actually just noticed that a few minutes before she contacted me, and had already contacted Airbnb about it, and told her to do the same. They said it was a glitch and that several (I assume that means a whole lot) had been overcharged that day.