I am now already in a +10 day discussion with Airbnb on an i...
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I am now already in a +10 day discussion with Airbnb on an issue of blocked days that are being switched to 'active' in the c...
Latest reply
We have guests schedule for a two week stay but they are arriving 4 days late because doctor advised them not to fly for 5 days after one of them fell. The time that they are not going to be here is over a weekend and we are always booked on weekends, so if we refund them we are just out almost $500 with no recourse. They are an elderly couple, new to the airbnb scene. While I have compassion for their situation I don't feel it is our problem. They requested the refund on day two of the planned visit. The payout will take place in a couple of hours and I think I will just let that happen since it such a last minute request, and make a decision later. The woman communicates by phone and not the airbnb message system (except for the refund request) so we are always playing phone tag...annoying! She also wanted to extend their stay for two days since their stay was cut short on the front end but we are booked on the same day they check out. I'm worried about damaging our 5 star reputation but $500 is a lot of money to throw away. I was thinking of offering them to split the difference once they get there, which I think is a fair compromise. Our cancellation policy is moderate, but I think it's a moot point after the fact. Advice, anyone?
Sounds like this is an extenuating circumstances claim?
Once they knew about their change of travel plans they should have put in a change request to you. That at least would have opened up the first few days again for you to book and also enabled them to tag on two extra days.
Depending on the medical condition, if they apply to AirBnB for a refund and they can prove it falls under extenuating circumstances they may get the refund they are asking for. I would go with your suggested approach however and see what they say.
@David126 is right, @Marie389. If your guests go to Air BNB with the cancellation request and have the documenation to back up their concern, then Air BNB will waive your cancellation policy. Sounds like the guest is willing to make up for the shortened booking by adding days to their reservation. If you cannot accommodate them, then you will lose money. But if you can accommodate them then you may be okay. I have been a traveler on Air BNB and understand that sometimes things don't work out as we plan.
I would have loved to extend their stay but those days were already booked. Sigh.
Thanks so much for all of the helpful comments. I think I will explain the extenuating circumstances claim and decline the refund until such that we can work things out as fairly to both parties. I truly want to avoid unpleasantries from the outset of their trip so I will be as diplomatic as possible. Stay tuned!
We recently had guests who were booked a few months in advance. The day before check-in we get a message from our guest saying her father had a medical emergency in transit from Brazil and had to go to a hospital in Toronto. We were very compassionate and they asked if they were able to get any refund. We said that we would look into it as we are fairly new to Airbnb as hosts. We brought to their attention of the Extenuating Circumstance Policy. We mentioned they can cancel the reservation and send in a claim as we weren't able to issue any refund due to our Strict Cancellation Policy and we didn't know what steps we need to take. Our guest said she wanted to keep the reservation open in case things changed and her father and sister could continue their travels and end up staying in our suite. After almost seven days into the reservation and after Airbnb issued payout, we received a note from Airbnb that due to our guest's extunuating medical circumstance, they decided to give our guest 100% refund. Initially guest wanted partial refund and expressed her sincere apology for the inconvenience. In the end we were inconvenienced and weren't able to open up our calendar to release the dates for potential bookings.
And now we have another set of guests who are booked in advance too and have just sent us a message saying they may or may not have to cancel due to one of the members having Crohn's disease. The check-in date is just less than two weeks away.
How would you respond?
@Gloria-and-Mark0, tough call. The worst part for me would be 2 weeks of living with the uncertainty of whether the guest would actually show up, so I think I might remind the guest of the cancellation policy, but, given the circumstances, offering to refund them if they cancel within the next 24 hours. That puts you in the role of nice guy, giving them a break and hopefully avoids two of the worst outcomes: you cancelling the reservation or them cancelling at the very last minute and then putting through an extenuating circumstances claim that leaves you with no money and no time to fill the booking gap. The I would also be sure to document everything with AirBnB while you wait for the guest to respond, so that your side of the story is clear and available to the case manager if the guest does make an extentuating circumstances claim.
Hope it works outy... let us know what you decide to do!
Thanks so much for your input! The offer to refund in the next 24hrs instead of waiting, as you mentioned, may open up our ability to allow for bookings. You are right, based on our last experience, leaving it for the guest to decidevwell into the reservation that they wish to cancel AND successfully make an extenuating circumstance claim wasn't very rewarding for us, even though we were compassionate and helpful in guiding our guest on a successful 100% refund. And we also don't want to come across as being insincere, but also feel uncomfortable asking for proof of one's medical condition.
In our last case, every communication was done in writing and responded in a timely manner with much assistance provided, but the case manager decided we as the hosts weren't going to be compensated in any way for our inconvenience.