Technical question - how to generate credit, and other ideas

[Rose123]

Hi hosts! Quick technical question here.

I have a guest for late April asking for a refund outside the ECP period. They want to stay, instead, in September. I'm thinking about letting them shift the dates penalty-free just to be kind, even though I don't strictly have to. However,  I'm not sure how to do this as a credit/date shift whilst retaining their payout *now* for much needed cashflow? The guest is happy to work with me and do the payout immediately, but I don't really see how I can do this unless I go off-platform and ask them to send it via another route (like Paypal, Square, Venmo, wire, etc). 

In other words, I'm wondering a) how to get paid out now but offer a credit to book later on, or b) how to get paid out now but directly shifting the dates on the Airbnb calendar. There doesn't seem to be a clear directive on how to do this. Yet it seems like it would be a great solution for both guests and hosts.

Doing it outside Airbnb seems unnecessarily complicated, so I'm looking for a solution on-platform firstly. If it's not possible, I'd love to hear how other hosts have done this or anything similar, off-platform. Any solutions would be much appreciated! Thanks so much 🙂 

[Mary419]

Sorry if you mean you can't use alteration but I cannot tell for sure from your post if you mean you know about it and don't want to use it. Have you not used the alteration tool before? You click cancel or change, then select change, and all the changes are in your hands and the guest has to click accept after you send it over to them. You won't get your payout early. If you want the payout early I guess the only way is that the guest trusts you to save those Sep days for them outside the system, like block it off 

[Rose123]

Hi Mary! We actually worked out a better way to do it, see below 🙂 

[Alex-and-Vaughan0]

How certain are you that you can fulfil the commitment to the guest in September? Will Airbnb be around then? Will you be a host then? Will the guest want to travel then?

[Rose123]

@Alex-and-Vaughan0  this is a good point and one I've thought about! I have no idea what happens to future guest's reservations if Airbnb goes under. To be honest based on the way that they've been treating their hosts, it's a real possibility. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Rose123 

I don't think you can get paid until the guest has checked in so unless your guest is willing to just leave the booking in place and then you block dates in September for them (effectively outside of Airbnb) I don't think there is a way to do what you want. It would be risky for the guest.....

[Rose123]

Hi guys! I just wanted to resolve this - I workshopped the issue with a few other hosts and we decided the easiest thing to do would be to ask the guest to cancel and get the 50% refund, then offer a credit voucher for the lost funds minus Airbnb's fee of 15%, to no greater than the value of lost funds, for future bookings. 

So as an example, a trip which is about $1500 USD would look like:

1500-15% (Airbnb fees) = 1275

50% of 1275 = 637 to be issued as credit (and 637 to be returned to the guest)

Guest could book a stay at any future date, and the 637 would be applied at a 50% rate until fulfilled.

Eg; they book a future stay for $2000, they would receive 637; if they book a future stay for 800 they would receive a bit less; ie. $400. 

Seems a little complex, but the best workaround we could figure out so far! Thought to share. 

Of course, no one *has* to do this for bookings outside the ECP, but it seems a better option than the "all or nothing" policy Airbnb is currently lumping on everyone.

[Russell49]

I think AirBnB needs to start picking up the tabs on these issues.

[Rose123]

lol yes it took a little while to work out!

[Fred13]

@Rose123 If the guest is willing to work with you, and is willing to leave the reservation as is, so you get paid now, why just not reserve the dates they want in September, honor it and keep it simple.

   Whether Airbnb is in business then (I am willing to stake my life on it they will) what difference would that make? You do not loose the booking (nor Airbnb loose their fees) and everyone should be happy.

   Personally I make all kind of unusual arrangements with my guests, oftentimes without making Airbnb part of the decision process and the main objective always is to preserve an existing reservation because you never know if you get another for that future time slot. 

[Rose123]

Hi @Fred13  it's because the guest and I are happy to work together, understanding that cash flow is a major hosting issue at present due to 100% cancellations under ECP and high overheads in my metro region. Many others in same boat for my area. But yes! Great idea for other circumstances! Go for it!

[Rose123]

Hi guys, I just wanted to update this post. Unfortunately before I could administrate this Airbnb extended their ECP dates to late May and all my guests cancelled outright overnight, leaving me with 12.5% of the original booking and unable to cover my overheads. Not a very positive outcome for hosts who were trying to work with their guests to resolve things on their own terms. Not very "partner-like".