Refunding occupancy tax

Stephanie18
Level 3
Port Townsend, WA

Refunding occupancy tax

Hello All,

Hoping someone can answer this question...

I had a guest that cancelled within my criteria for refunds. She was billed the service fee and the occupancy tax despite cancelling the stay. I understand the service fee being withheld from her payment but why was she charged the occupancy tax when she clearly cancelled her stay?

Thanks for any assistance,

Stephanie

11 Replies 11
Naibis0
Level 1
Florida, United States

Hi. IT is happening To one Of my guests too that the summary of the refund does not show the taxes. She is afraid to accept the refund because the money is not complete. Have you found the answer to your question?
Rhonda123
Level 1
Santa Rosa Beach, FL

I am having the same problem, essentially.  I had a guest that had to evacuate (mandatory) due to Hurricane Michael.  Guest requested refund of the unused portion, which I have sent her everything except taxes and fees, which were never paid to me (they never are).  I have been going round and round with ABNB trying to get them to refund her unused taxes and fees, and can't anywhere with them.

Frederick7
Level 2
Horseshoe Bay, TX

Message i sent to Airbnb:

 

I consider my service to be in competition to hotels. Although there are large differences i like to offer the same services as hotels do, whenever i am able to. In this spirit i offer:
* One night stays.
* Cancellation with full refunds right up to arrival day.
* Shortened stays.

 

You send payment on the day after check in. This is not hotel practice. Hotels charge guests on check out. My suggestion is that you change your system and don't make payment until the host has confirmed check out. This will make it much easier in the event that guests either shorten or prolong their stays. This would save hosts the hassle of refunding guests or asking for additional payments. It would also make for more accurate billing. When a guest leaves earlier than expected i request a refund. But you fail to refund the occupancy tax and Airbnb fees.

 

Even if you are unwilling to change the current system of payment, when i request a refund to guests you should also refund, at a minimum, the occupancy tax. It is not right that guests pay taxes on services they did not receive. Even when hosts do not refund guests for early departure, the occupancy tax should not be charged.

 

When i refund guests you do not have an option for me to indicate that the occupancy tax should also be refunded.

 

I feel you open yourself to a class action suit from all guests who are not refunded occupancy taxes on early departures.

Sofia379
Level 2
New Jersey, United States

Hi Is there any way ro remove the occupancy tax  before the the guest pays? I have paid it already as it is a place that had a cancellation and I am trying re-occupy. Any ideas on what I can do? 

Charlie188
Level 1
San Francisco, CA

I have two rooms that I rent through AirBnB in San Francisco, and these rooms are setup as separate listings. I have a "moderate" cancellation policy in place, which means they can cancel and get a full refund up to 5 days prior to their arrival.  I am unable to move guests from one room to the other. One of my rooms is semi-private without sound barrier, and the other room is private and lockable. When the guest books the semi-private room, if the private room is also available for the same dates, I typically ask them to be aware of the semi-private stipulations, and ask them if they would prefer the private room instead (since they apparently cannot readily see that I have two listings in my home for two separate rooms). Since I cannot move their reservation between the two rooms the guest has to cancel one reservation and then book the other room separately. In the meantime the other room can get booked by someone else while the time-delay occurs in the communication process. I recently had a situation with D's reservation (6 weeks in the future from now) where this happened. They are guests from Canada. D' preferred to be in the private room. So the change was implemented by the guest; he booked the private room and canceled the original "semi-private" room. While I received an email from the AirBnB Team that the guest received a "full refund," in fact $119.40 was withheld from his refund.My guests are traveling from Canada if that has anything to do with this.  I called the AirBnB Team to inquire about this and was told that the Service Fee to AirBnB (3% which is justifiable), as well as the Occupancy Taxes (18%!), - (which were supposed to be paid to the City of San Francisco), were being withheld from his refund by AirBnb. I cannot understand why AirBnB would withhold the occupancy taxes on a room that was not going to be actually "occupied." And to the best of my understanding that money was not going to be paid to the City of San Francisco either. I would appreciate further clarification on this issue if anyone knows why this policy is in place, and if it is proper and ethical, particularly if the taxes are not paid to the body of government they were collected for.  I have send feedback to the AirBnB Team and I am awaiting a response and further communication on this issue. (Also, after I called to speak with an AirBnB team representative on the phone about the issue they agreed to send the balance of the full withheld amount as a refund to the guest).

Charlie188. Did you ever get this resolved for the Occupancy Taxes? If so, how? Thanks.

Tiffany540
Level 2
Sandy, OR

I am having the same issue with Airbnb refunding me for days not used on a Travel Issue, but they are withholding the Occupancy Tax. This practice seems illegal & should be investigated for a Class Action Lawsuit. 

Pat271
Level 10
Greenville, SC

For 50% cancellations, it all boils down to whether hosts are required to remit occupancy tax on the portion of the cancelled booking they receive. Since occupancy taxes are “passed thru” from the guest, hosts shouldn’t be required to pay occupancy taxes to the government out of their own earnings. If unoccupied rental income does not count as occupancy, the full occupancy tax should be refunded to the guest. If, however, the government requires occupancy taxes to be remitted on cancelled rental income, then it should be passed through from the guest.

Karin2
Level 2
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hi, 
I've had contact with Airbnb regarding this policy question, Dec 20th.
The answer is that in case of a non-refundable booking Airbnb will still pay the tourist tax to the city, regardless if the guest will cancel the booking or checks-in.
The guest will not receive back the tourist tax when they cancel, even though they will not visit the city. So only the city profits from this (not the guest, Airbnb or the host).

In that case airbnb is overpaying taxes and it's coming out of guest's pocket. If host refunds the tax portion, then host's pocket. Either way it doesn't seem right way to handle this. I suspect it's because if airbnb makes adjustment for taxes they may also have to adjust and refund portion of their fee. I think once federal authorities get a scent of this it will become a problem for airbnb.

Suzanne302
Level 10
Wilmington, NC

I just ran into this with a guest who had to cancel. This policy really doesn't sound legal.