Problems with booking

Oleksandra1
Level 1
Odesa, Ukraine

Problems with booking

Good day.

I have booking but people will not come and they didn’t make cancellation of booking. They wrote me to give them back money but they booked with non refundable payment. What I need to do. I’m afraid that they make bad review for me(

Please help me)

thanks a lot

1 Reply 1
Susan1188
Level 10
Marbella, Spain

First, take a deep breath and take some time to think.

You do NOT have to agree to a refund.

However you DO have to take care of how you answer on the platform as Airbnb client support will judge you and decide on the outcome based on your reactions, whether they are professional or not.

If they booked non refundable the advantage is totally yours and Airbnb will take your side, as long as you are calm cool and professional - and a little bit accomodating - in your communications with these people.

Number one:  Get back to the people saying you're so sorry to hear that can they tell you some more about the situation.  They might say something against the terms of service that you can then use to get the review removed.

Number two:  show compassion and maybe make a small gesture to them on the platform, offering a small discount or reimbursement if you feel it's fair.  This can go a long way to stopping a bad review and escalating drama.  For example say that you could perhaps reimburse partially if you get another booking.  Then it's up to you to accept or not another booking!

Number three:  if you really did lose business for example did they book 3 weeks high season a year ago then cancel day of arrival?  If so then explain carefully that you have refused other bookings for them, it has an impact on your livelihood,  and will be unable to reimburse them anything except the cleaning fee.

In my experience, if you issue a small refund for something such as the cleaning fee, Airbnb CS will be much more on your side than if you just tell them to bugger off.

Hope that helps.