Refund and Cancellation Process Issue

[Mark330]

A guest made a booking in April 2016 for New Year holiday period. 

The guest checked in and then decided to leave as was unhappy with condition of place - on day of booking - 30th December

I was travelling in Central America - my property is in Australia.

I contacted my cleaner who confirmed the place was in a clean condition. I offered to the guest to have the clearer return for an hour the next day to sort out any small issues.

Guest was not happy with this so I agreed to provide a refund if guest left promptly and cancelled reservation to ensure property was availble to others on the very busy dates.

Guest insisted I agree to a refund request she sent through Airbnb before she would cancel. This was for the full amount I was due to be paid out ($853). I agreed to the request through Airbnb.

The guest then cancelled and I was sent an email from Airbnb that the guest was to recieve a $400 refund due to the cancellation (Incorrectly labelled as a cancellation prior to check-in) and that I would only recieve a payout of $427 instead of the original payout amount (That I had already agreed to give as a refund!)

When I contacted the guest she insists that she only recieved a full refund (Including Airbnb fees) amounting to around $930. I called Airbnb. This was confirmed by an incredibly rude and unhelpful support person. After explaining the situation to the Airbnb staff she said too bad, you wont get anything back and then hung up on me when I asked to wait on hold to speak with a supervisor.

Is it Airbnb policy to profit from these situations? To my calculation this booking cost me $427 and Airbnb made a profit of over $300 (Even after refunding the guests Airbnb fees).

[Linda108]

@Mark330  Your listings seems wonderful but I am not sure which listing you are referring to.  Assume the rules are the same since it is the same property.  Why did you agree to a full refund?  You have a strict cancellation policy and you should just let Air BNB earn the host and guest fees by finding an alternative listing.  I would not agree to any refund unless I knew there was some problem with the property.  My rviews back me up.  Your reviews do acknowledge some issues, but also acknowledge that it was not problematic, only unexpected.  Look at how you can reduce the unexpectedness of any aspect of your listings.

I am not sure how you got to your opinion that somehow Air BNB profits from your guest dissatisfaction.  Since Air BNB had to deal with your unhappy guest, I am not surprised that the Air BNB fees will still be charged.  What do you think would be the appropriate outcome of an unhappy guest that wants a full refund that you agree to?  Perhaps I am not understanding correctly...

[Mark330]

At the end of the day I did not mind refunding all money I collected - This turned out to be $427 after the guest cancelled the booking (I only changed my cancellation policy to strict after this event!)

What I do not find acceptable is that I refunded $853 to guest and only recieved a payment of $427 for the cancelled booking. 

[David126]

I am not sure why you agreed to the refund but does not really matter.

When a guest cancels then your cancellation policy kicks in, you can go over and above this but that would not include AirBnB fees.

[Mark330]

I know, it was inexperience with such issues that resulted in me accepting the refund request before I was actually paid out - I will never make that mistake again. My cancellation policy is now set to strict, and I will never refund before I have been paid out again.

[Dr-Vince0]

Hi there im new in this platform, my host is kind enought with strict cancellation policy to refund certain amount but i do not know wat to click to proceed with the request to trnsfwr to my account the approved refund, kimdly advise me