Refunds

[Natasha45]

Hey All! 

I've always refunded people their money when they cancel. If they cancel the day of, I have given back half and told them if they rebook, I will take 10% off. I feel bad keeping people's money for a service they did not use - up until today! 

A guest ammended her reservation on Sunday saying her boyfriend decided to come with her. Today she messages me and asks me what the latest is that she can check in. I think my listing says 11:00 pm, but it really doesn't matter as it is a separate structure from our home; I let her know. She then responds and says it's going to be really dark when she gets here. Then she immediatley sends another message and says her boyfriend can't come, and asks if she cancels can she get her money back. I tell her I have a lenient cancellation policy but didn't know it off the top of my head, but she should go ahead and cancel if she is not coming. She responds that if she cancels, she will not get a refund and tells me I need to cancel it for her---Ummm, no. So I told her that if she cancelled and IF my listing rebooks for that night, I am happy to refund her. She then wants to know if I can go ahead and Venmo her or Cash App her the money. After I tell her 'No! I can only refund through Airbnb', she cancels, and sends me a message asking when I will be able to Venmo her.

Ermegah...

Do y'all refund in certain cases or do you always stick to what you've choosen thorugh Airbnb? I wish I would have never told her I would refund her if my lisiting gets booked. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Natasha45

if you always refund your guests, if you feel bad to keep their money when you don't host them then why don't you have a flexible policy?  🙂

I have it because I don't want unhappy guests, their lies, dying grandmas, extenuating circumstances,  beging emails, retaliation reviews etc...  etc...

[Natasha45]

@Branka-and-Silvia0- they are more apt to NOT cancel if they think they won't get their money back.

I have been lucky though, every time someone cancels, someone else books. 

Yes, I have heard it all too! 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Natasha45

we hosted arround 170 groups of guests last year.

I don't remember exactly but we had less than 10 cancellations. With flexible policy  🙂

[Natasha45]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 - that's great! I rarely have a cancellation as well.  This is the second time in about a year and perhaps the 4th one ever - your 2 places book more than mine!

This is the first time someone has demanded a refund and then told me I need to VENMO it to them. Just was a little shocked when I made my post! 

[Sandra856]

Hi @Natasha45 🙂

I got the strict cancellation policy and I do not refund last minute cancellations. And especially and definitely not if they just expect it. So I really understand you when it comes to your current situation with this guest. How respectless of her! She doesn't even consider your loss. 

I explain that they will get refunded according to the cancellation policy and that all of it happens automatically. I tell them I'm sorry but I can't cancel from my side as airbnb will penalise me hard. I also tell them that airbnb handles everything that has to do with cancellations and that I can't do anything. I try to be over the top (creepy..haha) sweet and understanding but also firm in order to prevent bad reviews. Usually they have not reviewed at all. 

[Inna22]

@Natasha45 I have a strict policy and I stick to it. I used to refund if got rebooked but changed my mind about that after a long thread here. You should try to look it up. To summarize: some days I get rebooked and some don’t. When I don’t, all my past refunded guests do not pitch in to help me pay mortgage. 

[Natasha45]

I told this gal that I would refund her IF I got booked...do I refund her if I get booked or should I say 'After careful consideration I've decided I can not refund people who cancel after the 48 hour grace period.' ---??? Or ' After speaking with other Airbnb hosts, I've decided that I can't give refunds outside of what my cancellation policy states"---??? Or do I refund her if I get booked and never offer again? Her demanding email and insistence thatt I pay her through Venmo is too much!

[Natasha45]

@Inna22 oops forgot to tag you above! 

[Inna22]

@Natasha45  no Venmo no matter what you decide to do – that’s for sure. In terms of refund, I would say at this point if you promised it to her, go and head and give it. But it should be prorated based on what you get when you get rebooked. In other words, if you end up lowering the price and renting it only for half the money, then you keep the difference from the guest. If you end up booking for the full amount – then refund everything. I generally just separate myself from refund requests and tell the guests that I do not get paid until they stay, Airbnb has the money and there for the  is nothing for me to refund them. After I  emplemented this new policy, interestingly most guests just chose to complete  their stay.  

[Sandra856]

@Natasha45 Personally I would never let the guest think or believe that I have a lot of saying in the matter of refunding. 

If I do then the guest has me to blame for not refunding and not the system and it will most likely end in a bad review. I would write to her that if you are rebooked you will be able to give her half of the money back and if not because of your cancellation policy you can't really do a thing. Blame the system 🙂

[Cherilyn4]

Are guests able to leave a review even when they do not check-in and stay?

[Sandra856]

@Cherilyn4 Yes, if they cancel last minute /within the last 24 hours before check in (I can't remember the exact hours). It is because that if they show up and the place is nothing as described/a dumb or something like that they should be able to review the place 🙂

[Ben551]

@Natasha45. I kinda think it's the guests responsibility to get cancellation insurance, not ask a host to be their insurance company. It's the flighty opportunistic guests that seem to think no cancellation policy applies to them....

[Natasha45]

@Ben551 yes. And she was such a bully about it too - so odd. After her cajoling I told her I would give her back her money IF I booked and I did - for a little  more money to boot. I will never engage in another guest who demands a refund outside of the cancellation policy terms. I HATE to give her the money, but since I already told her I would, I guess I need to - UGH! LOL!