Rude host refund help

[Melody22]

Hi all, 

I had a trip planned to New Orleans and requested a cancellation because of Covid. I had to request through the host bc Airbnb is only refunding through the 14th (which is nuts). Anyway he declined and I was a bit shocked. I'm a host and have let people cancel given the current climate. I wrote him and said I was very surprised and disappointed in his response and I would reach out to my cc company. He replied about one week later, saying "You're a whiny baby. Send your request again". At this point I contacted him via phone to work it out, and the host started cursing. It was really crazy. I contacted Airbnb bc I don't want to deal with the host anymore, but they are so swamped I doubt I'll hear back soon.

My question is has anyone encountered a similar issue and what was the result? Also has anyone gone through their cc company to get rid of a charge and did that work? The cc co gave me a pending credit while they look into it. 

I'm growing more disenchanted by this company by the day 😞 

[Sarah977]

@Melody22  As a host yourself, I'm surprised you aren't aware that if a guest sends a "request" for a host to approve a cancellation, that is registered as a host cancellation, and the host is levied with severe penalties, so any knowledgable host will always decline these requests, because the guest should cancel from their end, which they are free to do at any time, there is no need for a host to approve a cancellation. 

That is entirely separate from any refund you are due according to the host's cancellation policy or any refund arrangement you work out with the host.

[Melody22]

that is really confusing to me and I did not know that. That has not been my experience as a host and I’ve had people cancel on me outside the cancellation window and I approved it and was not penalized. I didn’t send a message asking for it. I went through the cancellation process and there was a section where even though his policy was 50% I could still request 100% given the virus situation. That’s what I did. I really don’t think he would’ve been penalized in the situation.

in any case he could have been more polite instead of calling me names and then cursing at me. That is completely unprofessional behavior and I was taken aback by it. I would never treat a client like that.

[Mark116]

@Melody22  Why didn't  you simply cancel yourself and then, depending on what refund airbnb actually gave you, contact them directly?

[Melody22]

Because there was a choice where I could ask for 100% so I did that - if I canceled outright I would’ve only gotten 50% and then had to fight with Airbnb which I did not really want to do especially since they are inundated with calls right now. 

[Melody22]

I guess I am confused by what Sara is saying. Basically the cancellation policy would only give me 50% of a refund. However when I requested to cancel it gave me the choice to ask for 100% refund because of the virus. That is what I selected. He denied my request for a cancellation. I don’t understand why he would be penalized when I asked for the cancellation from my end. Once as a host a guest asked for a cancellation outside of the cancellation window and I accepted  the request and I was not penalized in anyway.

[Helen3]

You should have a better understanding of how this works as a host @Melody22 

You want to cancel outside of the Airbnb EC policy for the virus and get a full refund.

You are not entitled to a full refund so the host has to voluntarily chose to give you the 50% of the promised income. In this case the host refused.

In your case I would just wait Airbnb are very likely to extend the policy and you can cancel then without penalty.

Just because you chose to refund outside of the policy and I would doesn't mean the host you booked with has to.

Not sure why you chose to call this host rather than keep all communication on the platform.

There was no excuse for the host to be rude to you.

[Sarah977]

@Melody22  Simply agreeing to a cancellation doesn't incur penalties for the host. The guest asks you in a message if you'll offer a full refund if they cancel, you say yes, no harm to either party. But if the host gets an Airbnb generated message asking them to approve or decline the cancellation, that is registered as a host cancellation. I know this doesn't make sense, but that is, in fact, what happens. The host is fined $50-$100, if they have Superhost status they will lose it and not be eligible for it again for a year, they will have "Host cancelled this reservation" put up on their review page, which makes guests wary of booking with them. So of course no savvy host will ever accept one of these cancellation messages.

Airbnb is really shafting hosts right now by not honoring their cancellation policies and to add insult to injury, encouraging guests to initiate these cancellation "approval" requests, without any understanding on the part of the guest that this will be devastating for hosts if they accept.

And you shouldn't have called the host to "work it out", although there was no need for him to be rude. That's another thing you seem to be in the dark about as a host yourself- all communication between guests and hosts should be kept to the messaging platform, especially so for anything contentious, so there is a record of the conversation.

I respect you for choosing to refund your own guests 100%, I have done so as well, but that doesn't mean other hosts are obligated to do the same. We all have to live with our own conscience.

[Melody22]

If that is true that as a guest you request a cancellation from a drop down menu which is then sent to the host, and then the host accepts the request and it is registered as a host cancellation then that is completely insane and again lowers my opinion of this company.  That is just awful!  You are right that I probably should not have called but he was unresponsive to my reply and since the trip was booked you are given the hosts phone number and vice-versa. 

Anyway I'm just going to deal with the credit card company; I'm fed up with Airbnb. 

[Melody22]

Just an update; I'm googling this situation and am still just gobsmacked that if the guest requests and you accept the request it looks like you initiated the cancellation. I still cannot believe it.  However I did read that if you do it under "extenuating circumstances" you aren't penalized. In the drop down there was a specific choice for Covid. 

Still, it's utterly absurd that Airbnb would do this to hosts, and it's something that I will be aware of in the future. 

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Melody22  Yes, it's extremely sneaky and totally non-transparent, and I don't think it is mentioned anywhere in the information for hosts that Airbnb has on its site. Many hosts have unsuspectingly been caught out on this, because the way it reads, there is no indication whatsover that this would count as a host cancellation- it appears to be the total opposite. It's another glaring example of the company's guest-centric attitude, even to the extent of trying to trick hosts to the guest's advantage.

The only reason I knew about this was from reading other hosts' posts here on the forum.

And I left off one of the penalties- the host's calendar remains blocked for the cancelled dates, so they are unable to rebook them. Nice, huh?

[Mark116]

@Melody22  Yes it is sneaky and unprofessional.  If you posted on here long enough  you would see that new hosts often have accepted the request to cancel and then don't understand why the dates are blocked because they have no idea the system considers that a host cancellation.

I would guess that since airbnb is being extremely liberal with cancellations now that unless your trip was for the fall, they would just override the host cancellation policy anyway

[Sandra126]

The window is too narrow, I'm sure they will extend policy very soon. It doesn't fall in line with all shut down rules. Better to have waited, if host won't agree. 

[Sally221]

Meanwhile there are hosts in G.B. caught between the pitfalls of cancelling upcoming bookings or abiding by the new restrictions just put into place, yikes!