We've all been there...a guest has some sort of issue and we graciously over ride our strict policy or moderate policy as the promise they will book with us in the future. They never do. We lose income.
The Solution: A TRAVEL CREDIT that we can issue to guests to use on OUR listing (s) at a future date. Guest is happy, host is happy, airbnb doesn't lose out.
Of course, we can do this ourselves right now by offering to apply that amount to a future booking - but here's the problem. Now you have to dig through old emails to find out how much their previous booking was for, and the guest gets confused as to what the credit is.
Example: Current guest freaking out because there is forecasted rain storms and they are staying on a boat. There are always forecasted rain storms from may-november. It rains for 10 minutes and moves along..it's an island. I tried telling her this, but she is nervous....three days out. I offered her a 25% refund and cleaning fee refund...She declined and said she would stay. The day of she tells me she doesn't want to stay because of the weather forecast asking for a travel credit to apply to a future date. I tell her I will apply the amount she paid as a travel credit when she rebooks if she cancels by a a certain time (allowing me to attempt to rebook the dates). She doesn't cancel until 11pm.
She is now requesting a full refund as her "travel credit." So here we go again...
It would be so much easier if I can just click "issue host travel credit" the same way we do for a refund with a one-year expiry date (or something similar).