Refund service fee?

[Coco108]

Hi everyone,

A guest from a country that is on the UK'quarantine list has just booked a room and seems to be planning to use it for self-quarantine as he states that he plans to move to permanent accommodation after the stay. I had instant booking on as I did not know that Airbnb would allow guests from certain countries to instant book given the current circumstances. I already have a guest staying at the property and I have promised him that I will not accept guests from such countries to protect him from COVID. Additionally, my health is not the best and a family member of mine has asthma so we cannot risk exposing ourselves to COVID. The guest has already agreed to cancel but wants his service fee back (he booked on the 1st September and is scheduled to check-in within a week). Is there any way I could make sure he gets his service fee back (my cancellation policy is strict)? I have had another guest who cancelled her stay for a similar reason and I agreed to issue a full refund. I later received a phone call from Airbnb confirming that I am willing to give a full refund and that's the end of the case. I have already tried to contact the customer support team via Twitter, telephone and through the app but received zero replies.

If anyone has any idea how I could resolve the issue, please let me know. Thank you.

Regards,
Coco

[Emiel1]

@Coco108 

The guest can not cancel under Covid-19 external circumstances (as the policy shows quarantaine is excluded), so the guest has to do normal cancel. The strict policy will decide about refund, but if within 7 days before check-in, there is no refund (except cleaning fee).So then you have to manually refund the guest via resolution centre. But Airbnb service costs are not refunded by Airbnb.

You can contact Airbnb and explain situation and ask Airbnb to do the cancellation penalty free for you, and then the Service costs are also refunded to the guest.

Otherwise you need to cancel yourself, so guest will have full refund including service costs, but penalties aplly for you

But after that you still can try(!) to file a claim for extenuating circumstances, just to get rid of penalties

Added: if your on Instant book, maybe other options available to cancel (I do not use Instant Book, so maybe other hosts can advise)

Best regards,

Emiel

[Coco108]

Hi Emiel, 

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, I will just have to keep waiting for someone from Airbnb to reply then.

Regards,

Coco 

[Helen3]

I would call not message @Coco108  and hold on until they answer.

I got through after waiting for five minutes regarding a live booking.

[Coco108]

Hi Helen, I have tried to call them but it's all automated messages. It seems that I cannot call them unless the check-in date is less than 72 hours as it just keeps asking me to check the website and hangs up on me.