Uncancelled reservation

[Kenny181]

What happens when a reservation is not cancelled? Can a guest still get a refund? 

Background story - first time hosting a room. I got a reservation which I wasn't prepared to host. Told the guest not to come as the room is not ready. I tried cancelling the reservation but the cancel option on the menu was greyed out. I tried calling Airbnb 855-424-7262 & 415-800-5959 and no help. This is a totally self help with no life customer service to assist. This was for a 30 day stay. I haven't gotten the payout but will need to refund this immediately upon receiving funds. Can the guest do anything on their end to stop the payment? Since I'm new I don't know what's going to happen next.  

Kenny

[Emiel1]

@Kenny181 

A 30 night stay is a 'long term reservation" , so the "long term cancellation policy" is applied automatically, overruling your default cancellation policy set. Only you (or Airbnb if special circumstances) can cancel the reservation to provide the guest a full refund (which the guest is entitled to, as it is not the fault of the guest you can not host him/her). But you will face penalties when cancelling, see:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/166/how-do-i-cancel-a-reservation-as-a-host-of-a-place-to-stay

I do not know why the cancel button is greyed out. Are you sure the reservation is confirmed and the upcoming payment is scheduled in Transaction History ?

The guest also has an option to let you cancel the reservation, does it work either ?

BTW

If the guest can reschedule the stay to the date when room wll be ready, maybe a "change" on the reservation also is an option ?

BTW payouts will be submitted to you on the day after check-in of the guest.

best regards,

Emiei

[Kenny181]

The status now is checked in. But the guest was not allowed to check in  on 9/3/20 check in date because my communication prior day was I will cancel this reservation and refund you everything. However I was not able to deliver on my promise as the cancel button was greyed out since a day prior to check in. I never got any support from Airbnb on this matter despite keep trying everyday. If left alone, I believe the 30 day ordeal will only end at the day of check out 10/2/20 and the guest card to be settled on that day. In which case if I get the proceeds I will have to cut the guest a refund check. What a nightmare.  

[Mark116]

@Kenny181  You'll want to be careful about refunding the guest yourself, because it is very possible that at some point, Airbnb will get around to the case, and then they will issue a refund in which case the guest will be paid 2x, and you will have a long road to get your money back.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Kenny181 You don't appear to have a listing which is probably good news if you let guests down this badly.

[Sarah977]

@Kenny181  Why would you list a place and have a calendar open for booking when the place wasn't ready? You don't seem to have informed yourself about how anything on Airbnb works, didn't bother to read any of the information for hosts on the site, aren't aware of how Instant Book works, and don't understand that you can't just cancel a guest's booking the day before they are due to arrive.

Are you even sure this was a confirmed reservation or was it maybe just a booking request? Do you know the difference?

As it appears that your listing has been suspended, I would suggest that you spend a few days getting clear on how Airbnb works before attempting to list again.

[Kenny181]

@Sarah It seems to me this community provides no support but more like a judgement forum. I find that I have not gotten anywhere despite trying. Everytime I call Airbnb I land here over and over again. Is it fair to say that this platform does not provide proper support? Only a real tech bonafide Airbnb employee can assist me at this point - which is non existent. I'm real sorry I got into this Airbnb thing - it was very obviously a huge mistake and not my cup of tea.  

[Sarah977]

@Kenny181  Sorry you feel you are getting judgement rather than assistance. The thing is that your posts are quite confusing and it isn't clear at all how you managed to get a booking for a place that wasn't ready to accept guests. This forum is actually very good for getting advice from other hosts, but you are quite right that no one here (we're all just other hosts) can really help you with this, it's a CS matter.

And yes, Airbnb customer service has fallen off a cliff into a bottomless abyss. It's totally unacceptable, ridiculously unprofessional, and frustrating, but everyone, both hosts and guests are experiencing exactly the same no-service you are right now.