Concerns on Strict Refund Cancellation Policy!

[Kenneth201]

I booked and paid half of the booking. I then cancelled and was told I don't have half the refund back. Turns out they base the 50% on the entire amount of the booking (paid or not) and not on what was actually paid. So, the 50% refund, in theory is the amount that was NEVER paid. What a shady business practice. No other business would get away with this policy. You shouldn't be basing a refund on money that was never paid. **!

**[Inappropriate content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

[Dan12468]

@Kenneth201 @Šarka0 @Sarah977 @Ken436 @Mark116 

What would be fair to BOTH parties?

[Ute42]

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Hi @Kenneth201  

to begin with, the only reason I'm answering in this thread is the fact that I haven't seen any guests in weeks and I won't see any many months ahead, so there is absolutely nothing to do and I'm a little bored.

Here we go.

Let's assume You buy a brandnew car. The paymentplan with Your dealer says You have to pay half of the price up front, then You get the car, and the other half in a year from now.

You make the downpayment, get the car and before You take Your car on the road You get Yourself a comprehensive insurance with a 50% deductable. That means the insurance company will pay 50% for damages even if it was You who caused the damage to Your own car, and the other 50% of the damage are on You.

And it happens: In a moment of inattention You crash Your car agains a wall. The good news: You survive. The bad news: Your car is a total loss.

Would You now expect Your insurance company to pay 50% ot the value of the car or would you expect them to pay 50% of Your downpayment?

[Šarka0]

Hey @Dan12468 ,

As already said, in the Strict cancellation policy it is stated that the guest cancelling any time up to 7 days prior to check-in can get a refund of 50% of the nightly rate - or 50% of the total amount.

So, if the total price of the stay is 100 €, they are eligible to a 50 € refund, the other 50 € stays with the host.

It does not matter if the guest paid only 50 €, that 50 € stays with the host, and you can regard the 50 € that the guest didn't yet pay as the refund.

Nowhere is stated that the guest gets 50 % refund of the amount they paid. Imagine that the guest would pay only 20 € at first for a 500 € stay, and then they would expect the 50% refund of the amount they paid... That would not be fair to the host at all.

So, for your previous question, if the guest paid 60 € out of 100 € and cancelled more than 7 days before check-in on a Strict policy, where the 48h grace period of 100% refund has already passed, the guest would only be refunded 10 €, as 50 € (50% of 100 €) will stay with the guest.

That is fair to both the host and the guest. Not reading the details of the cancellation policy and agreeing to them anyway is not an excuse that you should be getting a refund how you feel you should. If the guest wanted a full refund, it would be better to book a listing with Flexible or Moderate cancellation policy (and of course, read the policy carefully before agreeing to anything).

However, the guest always has an option to message the host and ask for the full/partial refund - though it is completely host's decision if they will give the refund or not. I know many hosts give a refund if the cancelled dates get rebooked, and I think that is a right thing to do too.

-------------------

Otherwise, terms of the cancellation policies are stated everywhere:

● The cancellation policies for the listing are written twice on the listing front page, at the top under the listing name...

Cancellation under the name

... and at the bottom below the reviews and house rules (where you can get more information by clicking Get full details). 

Cancellation at the bottom

● Before securing the booking, Airbnb shows you (again) the cancellation policy for the listing.

Cancellation policy before finalizing the booking

... By clicking on "More details" there, it shows you the visual schematic even.

The visual cancellation policy

● And in the help centre, if you go there, you get all the cancellation policies visually shown for easier understanding:

● Flexible: Flexible

● Moderate: Moderate

●Strict: Strict

For more info on cancellation policies see https://www.airbnb.co.uk/home/cancellation_policies

[Stacey411]

Frankly if someone doesn't want to stay at your house, why do you hosts so desperately want them there? Deal with it. Airbnb is so over