Guest refund situation

[Dawn1104]

Yesterday I got a message from Airbnb saying that someone had booked our new listing but they were being “verified” and the reservation would be cancelled within 8 hours if they didn’t complete the verification. Then I received this message from would be guest:

“Hi Dawn, I have made this reservation by accident. When I went to confirm my reservations it appeared that the dates were not available and that I had not booked with you. I proceeded to make reservations elsewhere because of this, and now it appears that I have made reservations with you? A fault of Airbnb’s website I assume. If it’s at all possible to get a full refund my family would appreciate it greatly. Thank you”

We have a firm cancellation policy and I’m not trying to take advantage of anyone, but I’ve read other comments on here about “refunds” and scammers. This person had a brand new account and said in another  message that usually she books under her husband’s account. 

Would you refund the is person? I think I’ll also check with AirBnb tomorrow. Appreciate your input!

[Guy991]

Hello @Dawn1104 ,

You didn’t indicate how much time passed between the reservation and the guest’s message, nor did you mention the gap between the reservation date and the check-in. Did they book for tomorrow, or six months from now?

If it’s only been a few hours since the reservation, in my opinion, it’s likely a mistake unless there’s some scam involving immediate cancellations that I’m unaware of.

I do know that people sometimes make mistakes when booking. We all make mistakes sometimes. 

No matter what you decide to do, don’t initiate the cancellation. Let the guest handle it themselves, or let them contact Airbnb for assistance.
Avoid pressing that cancel button.

[Helen3]

Tell the guest they need to cancel if it's more than two weeks before the booking and they are within 48 hours of booking they can do this penalty free .

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Dawn1104 don't refund anything direct. Get them to cancel with Airbnb and then they need to call Airbnb asking for a refund. Airbnb will then contact you and you can authorise a refund if you want.

[Greg2406]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

One hundred percent correct.   

@Helen3    I'm not positive how cancelations work in the UK, but our cancellation is set at FIRM and no refunds within 30 days of booking.  You may set cancelation policies as opted for on the site. I have cancelled due to someone that had a heart attack and was in the hospital.   ABB C.S. then kept part of the money paid and since it was within 24 hrs of check-in, we were not able to re-list or open the dates.   ABB had blocked the dates for 24 hours.   Oh, and ABB said that this was not a 'covered' event according to their policy.   So our home was unbookable and I had to pay a fee on top of it.   B.S. is what I called it. 

@Dawn1104   I mailed you the document,...item #2 at the top concerning Instant Bookings and guest ratings (or no rating).   First paragraph shows the incident rate for us with IB's set,.. damages over $3200 in under 8 weeks.    No time to vet,..   

If you are a seasoned Host or a new Host, if you have IB's set to on in the system, remember, it's not a matter of if, just when.   And that When can be a big, big headache. 

[Zheng49]

Get them to cancel the reservation first, then call airbnb and issue the full refund.