Request for Refund outside of Strict Policy

[Tiffany944]

Hello! I am fairly new to hosting and have had a future guest reach out to me indicating she needs to cancel. My policy is "strict" and she is cancelling 9 days in advance so she would get a 50% refund. She reached out asking for a full refund. I am fine to offer that if I am magically able to rebook her week long reservation within the next 8 days. Should I have her initiate the cancellation and let her know that I can refund the additional 50% if someone rebooks the time? How would I do that after the fact?

I've reached out to airbnb and the chat bot keeps sending me a link to send to the guest. "Your guest’s reservation isn’t eligible for a full refund under your cancellation policy, but if you both have agreed on an additional refund, you can send them a link and ask them to start a request." I'm assuming that I wouldn't send that link at this time because we have not agreed on a full refund. 

Thanks a bunch for the help! 

[Jennifer1897 · Accepted solution]

@Tiffany944  Yes! The guest needs to initiate the cancellation. Under no circumstances should you do so as you will face penalties. 

I too have a strict cancellation policy and offer the same thing you do, which is a potential additional refund if any portion of the cancelled dates are able to be rebooked. I would send her a message stating something along the lines of the following 

"HI XYZ, my apologies that you are unable to complete your stay. I would advise you to cancel the reservation as soon as possible, therefore my calendar will be opened again for potential bookings. In the event I am able to rebook any of your cancelled days, I will happily refund you that additional amount. Thank you so much." 

[Tiffany944]

Thank you so much @Jennifer1897 ! I used your response. It was perfect. 

[Bhumika]

Thanks so much for sharing further updates @Tiffany944 and letting us know what worked best for your situation. Appreciate you so much for marking the best answer. I'm sure it's gonna help many Hosts who visit this thread with a similar concern. 

Many thanks to @Debra300 @Beth90 @Jennifer1897 for sharing their support and helpful comments to help you navigate the concern with guest! 🌻 

Did you receive any follow up response from the guest? What did they say after receiving your message? 

[Beth90]

Hi @Tiffany944 

This happens to me about once a summer.

The guest must always initiate the cancellation first. Then if someone asks for a further refund than my strict policy allows I always answer that I will do that once I get a PAID booking for the exact same dates. So they have to wait until the payment arrives in my account and then I refund them. Where I live this always does happen.

Once I refunded someone this way even though they didn't ask. I felt that it was the right thing to do.

Regards,

Beth

[Debra300]

@Tiffany944,

I concur with everyone's comments.  We tell guests to cancel ad soon as possible to increase the possibility of a replacement booking, and that we will refund the room rate for any dates of their reservation that are booked.  We do fully refund any additional fees that they may have paid us and inform them that we have no influence on  Airbnb's service fee cancellation policy.