Guest wants to cancel and wants full refund

[Shirley0]

Hi

I just had a guest who had booked in on 18 July and she needs to cancel as she made an honest mistake thinking that I have a 2 bedroom apartment when I only have a one bedroom apartment. Because my cancellatio policy is strict, that means she ony get 50% refund. Because she just book and I accepted all in the same day, I am happy to change my policy to moderate. I have now change my policy to moderate but it still says on website that she will get only 50% discount. Why is that the case? and What can I do to help her get out of her mess.?

I don't want to cancel her reservation as I will be penalised and I will loose out of fees, is that correct?

Kind Regards

Shirley

[Andrée2]

Hi Shirley, 

When you change your policy, it will only apply to new reservations, not the ones made under your prior policies...which is good and frees you to rethink your policies at any time. 

In this case you will go to that guest's reservation and use the Resolution Center to "alter" their reservation. There, you can give them a full refund of the portion that you were going to receive. Airbnb will not return their fees so keep that in mind and let your guest know this too. 

[Shirley0]

If I alter their reservation, will I be penalised for cancelling their full reservation?

[Shirley0]

I went to resolution centre and none of the "select a reason" applies to me or my guests. what shouild I do?

[Andrée2]

Just select the closest option and make sure you are only refunding 50% of the total that you would receive as they will be getting the other half back from Airbnb. You will have to let them cancel though because you do not want the penalty. So have them cancel before you provide the refund. 

[Tracy0]

First - it's very common that guests don't read!  You don't have to offer her anything, it's her fault she didn't actually READ THE LISTING.

Second - the booking will be held to whatever the cancellation policy was at the time of booking.  You can only refund her by going to the Resolution center and using 'offer money' and refunding the remaining 50%.

DO NOT cancel her reservation - it goes onto your review list as 'cancelled by host' which is a huge put off to new potential guests.  You also will get fined.  Let THEM cancel.

Hope that helps!

[Andrée2]

@Tracy0

Shirley stated that she feels that the guest made an honest mistake and that she WANTS to give a refund regardless so I don't think she is looking for the community to talk her out of it. She seems to be simply asking HOW to give the refund.

[Tracy0]

@Andrée2 I totally hear you AND I totally got that -- hence giving info on how to do it 😉

I just get concerned when hosts accept the 'penalty' for guests not reading listings.  

[Eileen4]

I wouldn't refund everything...I would hold a bit back for the trouble caused. 

[Rozenn2]

Hello everyone,

I had to cancel a booking I did yesterday for an amount of £104, because the real address of the flat was different from the one indicated on the map. I wanted to stay in the historical center of Mexico-city (near the metro station Zócalo) and the room I booked is in fact located in the "desierto de le leones". Big diference! The mistake comes from airbnb obviously. I could cancel easily, however, the site kept £14 for the service fees. I would understand this charge if the fault was on me, but it's not the case. Do you know how I can get refunded? I cannot find any direct contact on the website page, which systemtically pushes to use this community forum... Hope someone can help me. Many thanks! Rozenn