Airb&b's "Automatic" Refund policy

[Mbua0]

Since I began hosting in January, I've had limited but substantive interactions with AirBnB. In my opinion, they seem a somewhat antihost. My issue is regarding their 'automatic' refund policy. I had a guest book a long term reservation from Feb. 1st through March 3rd, and decided I wanted to cancel/alter his reservation since he left earlier (2/24/19). Disclaimer, there were NO ISSUES between the guest and I; In fact, I never met him during his stay. However, he messaged me the morning of his departure thanking, and notifying me of his exit.

So, I called Airbnb the following day to inform them, and request that they open the calendar so I might accept new offers. Their response was that they needed the guest's permission to alter the reservation, and must refund him for nights unstayed. I then prompted them to close the case, as I was not keen on processing a refund especially if the guest had not requeted it himself.

So, Herein is my qualm. Why is it AirBnB's place to initiate a refund without the guest having requested it? My hope was to open the calendar 1 week early, and begin entertaining others to increase my February earnings. To AirBnB, however, that was 'unfair'.

Am I simply greedy? Please comment your thoughts below.

[John2374]

Yes, you are being greedy.  If you can't see that then you are going to run into problems along the way as a host. Today it's this, what's next? Stop the bad habit now before it gets worse.

[Mbua0]

@John2374 Since I solicited feedback from the community, all feedback is appreciated. However, the tone of your response is offputting. So, please ensure that you reread your comments before posting unless that's your intention. 

So, why am I wrong for not wanting to process an unsolicited refund? This property had multiple solicitations for this time - some of which were longer - and the guest decided to vacate prematurely. Further, I provided a 15% long term discount, and I don't belive that Airbnb would recalculate the cost of a 3 week stay vs the reduceded montly price.

[John2374]

Welcome to reality Mr. Sensitive. If you don't want responses to your questions, do not ask.  You are not entitled to the answers you want that will make you happy.

[Mbua0]

Have a blessed day! 

[Sarah977]

@Mbua0  The guest didn't ask for an alteration or cancel the rest of his reservation, and you didn't initiate an alteration. If he had cancelled it and either asked for a refund or not, hopefully your cancellation policy would have been upheld and the dates would have opened up as soon as they were cancelled. What you were asking Airbnb to do was open up dates that you'd already been paid for and which hadn't been cancelled, in other words, it still showed as an active booking, and a host can't cancel or alter an active booking, unless there's an problem issue with the guest, without the guest's agreement - I think that's what the problem was. So what you were essentially asking Airbnb to do was cancel the rest of the guest's booking, which would have been a host cancellation, in which case the guest gets refunded for unused days, and your calendar remains blocked. And sounds like you got a clueless CS rep who wasn't able to explain that to you properly, or is unclear on long-term booking refunds.

Whether others agree that keeping the $ for cancelled dates if you manage to rebook them is greedy or not is a separate issue. Many hosts feel justified in this, as it's what the guest agreed to when they booked, others may offer to refund something to the guest, whether the guest requested a refund or not, as a gesture of goodwill, if they manage to rebook the dates.

[Mbua0]

@Sarah977 , Thanks for the elaboration. The CS representative was definately not helpful. Consequently, the reservation in question ended today, and I was still able to maintain 100% occupancy. All is well that ends well.

[Inna22]

@Mbua0 you were lucky to get a guest who did not ask for anything for the unused nights. You are now trying to resell these nights to someone else where in reality they "belong" to your guest. Theoretically, he can even come back if he wants to

[Mbua0]

@Inna22, in that situation, what would you do?

[John2374]

**[Inappropriate content hidden - Community Center Guidelines]

[Sarah977]

@John2374  Here's some "adult advice" for you. There's plenty of different viewpoints on this forum, but making mean-sprited, nasty personal attacks on other posters is totally unnecessary and distasteful. 

[John2374]

Explain to me how I am being nasty. Not everyone is supposed to follow how you think they should act

He is asking the same question twice and everyone has pretty much stated he is in the wrong

What he is doing is shady and wrong. 

If you are overly sensitive and cannot handle direct answers then that is your problem.

What he is asking and thinks he is entitled to makes us hosts look bad.

[John2374]

@Sarah977 

Don't be a hypocrite.  This is what you wrote to a guest.

"And you really should book hotels or motels which have 24 hour reception if you want to be able to book at 11:35 PM and expect to check-in a few minutes later- Airbnb hosts aren't just standing by the door 24/7 waiting for guests to show up. Your attitude is clueless and entitled and your reviews aren't so great"

[Sarah977]

@John2374  That was in response to that guest professing a totally self-absorbed attitude, as evidenced by all the bad reviews he has, and not being open to hearing any other point of view. And I spoke to his "attitude", which is something a person can change if they are so inclined. I didn't call him names, such as  "Mr. Sensitive".

The OP here was asking for advice regarding not understanding the response he was given by CS and also asking if other hosts would consider it greedy. In other words, he was open to being told that yes, some do consider it greedy. The guest whose comment I responded to is not open to be corrected on any of his entitled ideas, he is smug and convinced that he is right and that he's gotten bad reviews from the majority of his hosts, yet it has nothing to do with him.

[Mark116]

@John2374  It would be my responsibility as a guest, if I wanted to leave early and didn't cancel the reservation myself.  I'm not sure why hosts are always the ones who are supposed to be 'nice' and lose money because of the guests whims.  If guests want to be able to cancel penalty free at the last minute, then they should use hotels.  

And yes, @Sarah977 is correct that your note is unnecessarily hostile.