Refunds on cancellations

Yvonne-and-Morris0
Level 2
Cawston, Canada

Refunds on cancellations

How and when are funds returned to clients credit card once a client cancels a reservation well withing the cancellation policy time frame?

12 Replies 12
Clare0
Level 10
Templeton, CA

@Yvonne-and-Morris0 If the reservation hasn't started, Airbnb refunds the guest according to your cancellation policy out of the money they paid when they booked.  There is nothing for you do to except if you want to refund any portion of the cost that would normally be due to you.  I had a guest cancel about 3 weeks before the reservation started and I have a strict policy.  I told Airbnb to go ahead and refung the 50% that would have been paid out. 

 

If the reservatio has already begun and a payout has been released, you would need to go to the Resolution Center to send money to the guest.  The amount would come out of your next payout.  

 

Here are some link that should be helpful to you: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/165/how-do-i-refund-my-guest

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/767/what-is-the-resolution-center

 

All refunds go to the guest's orginal payment method.  Depending on the type of payment method and the company (card issuer) that services the payment method, it can take anywhere from 1 to 5 business days for the refund to appear on the guest's account. 

 

I hope this helps!

Mike292
Level 1
Toronto, Canada

Hi I have a related quesion; my policy is set to strict (and was at booking), but the guest cancelled and was refunded 100% automatically. Is this normal? I did not want to refund the additional 50% and was hoping to enforce the cancellation policy.

 

Thanks for any advice.

Mike

@Mike292

The only reason I can think of for this to happen is if the guest has contacted airbnb claiming extenuating circumstances.  Or it can be a system glitch as the platform, cancellation policies inculded, have changed in the last few days.  The only way of getting to know for certain would be to contact airbnb.

Angela84
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

My guests were not happy and left early. Don't ask!! I want to get the now available days back as available. How do I do it?

@Angela84

 

If they have not cancelled then you have been paid for their stay and can't benefit twice.

 

If they have cancelled the remainder of their stay then the dates will free up in your calendar 

can someone tell me what to do when a person books the reservation and cancels within a few minutes.  It was a mistake.  No problem but now they say that they need their $$$ back which I never recieved in the first place.

What do I do ?

Hi Lisa, We are new to Airbnb and have not hosted guests yet because we are just finishing construction. However, we do have a few confirmed bookings for when we open and one of those bookings had to cancel for a very sound reason. If memory serves we had to approve the cancellation before the refund from Airbnb could take effect. Our client had to use Airbnb's resolution center to get satisfaction. It took what we thought was a very long time to get satisfaction but they eventually did get reimbursed. Cheers! 

@Lisa573

You do absolutely nothing.  airbnb handles all fund transactions.  

Marc242
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

I have a similar problem. I was contacted by a guest late in the evening (who it turns out was asking on behalf of a friend who was asleep) to book my cottage the next day. When their friend awoke they didn't need to stay and the guest cancelled. They want all of the money back (including the airbnb fees) and refused to accept my portion of the money without it. Now I can't refund what I have to give them as Airbnb tell me they have paid me and I can't give it back to the guest. What to do?

 

@Marc242 To refund or not is entirely your decision.  If it were me, I would refer them to Airbnb for a refund of the Service Fee since hosts do not have the ability to refund service fees.  I don't see any reason for Airbnb to do that though.

Marc242
Level 2
England, United Kingdom

I have tried to give them a full refund (excluding the airbnb fees which I don't have any control over) from day one but they refused it as they wanted the extra £30. Now I can't give them anything as the funds have been paid to my bank account. I guess I must wait until airbnb make the decision on their claim. I have never had this happen before and it is not very nice.

Carley4
Level 1
Florence, OR

  Terri, who booked then cancelled due to stairs, and a sick aunt who can't climb stairs. She claims that when she cancelled she got all but $40.00 back. As you know I didn't get any money for her cancelled reservation. Terri continues to ask me for help. The cancellation policy I chose is "moderate" so a full refund is expected if cancelled more tha 5 days in advance. Please help!