Guest wants refund

[Katie1522]

I have a question about a guest wanting to cancel their reservation and get a full refund even though I have a firm cancellation policy.
I have been very fortunate to have our farm-stay rented pretty much every weekend, however
after a few last minute cancellations by guests, I decided to switch my cancellation policy to firm.
Since then I received a booking for a stay less than 2 weeks away.
A day after booking, the gentleman messaged me asking me to cancel and refund him 100% of the booking.
My question to you is how would you handle this situation? I don’t want to upset anyone, however, I have this policy in place for a reason.
I actually don’t really know how to refund as I know there is a penalty by Airbnb for cancellations by the host.
Could I get some advice on how other hosts would handle this? 

[Helen3]

If a guest wants to cancel then I advise them to cancel the booking and any refund will be processed in line with the cancellation policy they booked under @Katie1522 

As a gesture of good will on your part you can offer to provide a refund of any days rebooked after the new guests have booked and stayed off the host fee. 

[Bhumika]

Hi @Katie1522! Welcome to the Community Center!

Seems like you've received balanced and sound advice from our helpful Host member Helen. Did you eventually decide on refunding the guest or choose to go with your cancellation policy? 

However, I also wanted to share some resources in case you want to explore them for future reference:

👉 Guest refunds and reimbursements 

👉 Offer a non-refundable option 

👉 Cancellation policies for your listing

‌👉‌‌ Host Cancellation Policy

I hope it helps!