Guest canceled remainder of reservation

[Monique1201]

I booked a month long  stay with a work crew that was cleaning up after hurricane Helene. After one week, their work “contract” is done and they need to cancel the rest of the booking. How do I refund them? Who initiates the refund? What about all of the Airbnb fees associated with the refund?

[Joelle43]

Hello @Monique1201 

If you received a month long stay for your house that the guests want to cut short, it must come from their end and they will be reimbursed according to your cancellation policy.  However, any stay over 28 days is considered long stay by Airbnb and overrides your usual cancellation policy, which means in this case, that your guests cannot receive a refund as it is deemed unrefundable if a guest cuts short their stay within the first month.

Check out the Airbnb link on the subject:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1361?_set_bev_on_new_domain=1679563031_MTRlMDRiMzRhOGU2&locale=e...

Whatever you do, do NOT cancel your end as you will be fined and your calendar blocked.  Any reimbursement will be done by Airbnb - they handle all the payments.  You may be asked by Airbnb if you accept to refund but this is up to you and you can stick to your policy.

As far as fees go, they probably won't be refunded the Airbnb fees, definitely not the cleaning fee as they have stayed.

Let us know how you get on, Good luck

Joëlle

[Monique1201]

Thanks for the information. I am thinking that the guests know this because no one has reached out to me about the refund. They canceled / changed the reservation on their end and I approved the modification bc I had another inquiry and they could not book with the previous booking in the calendar. I’ll just let the payment sit for a week or two and wait to be contacted by Airbnb. 

[Rebecca]

Hello @Monique1201, 

Those are all great questions, that @Joelle43 kindly shared a lot of insights on! Did you get a chance to look through all the information she shared with you?

It would be great to know if you need any more help with this, keep us in the loop please! 😊