Why can’t I send my own refunds anymore???

[Natalie243]

Why has Airbnb made the process to refund a cancellation completely inefficient? I used to be able to refund guests who canceled their stay no problem, now I have to contact Airbnb support? What is the point of this??? Complete waste of time. 

[Helen744]

@Natalie243 Natalie , maybe because there is a glitch. Most refunds need to be done before the host receives payment . I am not sure how you are or were doing refunds? There is a possibility that a guest can ask for a refund and you send one and then never receive the full payment because Airbnb have also automatically processed the refund .Cancellations are something that now attracts fees from the host in some cases.I had a situation wherby a guest asked to extend their stay ,I sent a request for extra funds to them plus the variation the dates. I thought it was accepted. the next day the guest informed me that they would not need the extra day and asked for a refund. I sent the refund but they denied receiving it and of course it did not show up until after the guests had left the state. The guest eventually found the payment on their credit card and returned it but not before accusing me of trying to extract extra fees,because according to them they only saw the whole of the fee plus the extra day and thought they were being charged twice.Very convoluted but never refund money that you have not received ....On the other hand people who ask to do part payments and then change their minds and ask for refunds are often not entitled to them depending on the hosts cancellation policy. There is little chance of recieving the second part of the payment as the guest can and will block payment. Airbnb is probably the best set up recieve payment . Its worth getting to know  the desk top.... H

[Natalie243]

It was a simple cancellation made 2 days before arrival that fell outside of our cancellation policy, however, I wanted to override our policy and give a full refund to the guest. In the past, I was able to do that by simply clicking a button that said to send a refund. Now, that button no longer exists, and I have to contact Airbnb to process the refund. 

[Helen744]

@Natalie243 I think from memory that button only exists if Airbnb send you a guest refund request, otherwise all you have to do is wait until you are paid or if you wish to open for another guest then the guest needs to do the cancellation .H

[Natalie243]

The guest DID do the cancellation. I have done this in the past many many times. Guest cancels before arrival, it shows I’ll still get a payout due to cancellation policy, I choose to fully refund anyway. Without having been paid out yet. 

[Natalie243]

Now, if I choose to do that, I have to ask Airbnb Support to send them a refund. Makes no sense. It’s very very simple. I didn’t have to wait to get my payout in the past. They have removed an option that was previously there, for no apparent reason. I suppose they make more money this way since most hosts do not want to deal with the extra step (just to graciously give out refunds they don’t have to), thus they keep their service fee. 

[Helen744]

@Natalie243 the guest will receive the refund they are entitled to without the host having to contact Airbnb. If you are talking about refunding instantly then that is out of your own pocket. Some hosts will give guests cash money for a minor inconvenience,but most will offer a dinner or movie tickets or a bottle of wine. why did you refund these guests ?... H

[Natalie243]

You aren’t getting it, although I’ve clearly explained it three times now. The guest was not entitled a refund per my cancellation policy. I decided I wanted to override my own policy and give them a refund anyway. I used to be able to do this myself. Now I have to ask Airbnb to do it. Very simple here. 

[Bhumika · Accepted solution]

Hi @Natalie243 ,

I wanted to put forth this article that shows the easy steps on how Hosts can refund guests : https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/165. It should be simple.

As I read through this thread, it seems that it may be due to the chosen cancellation policies as well, that you are not able to refund the guests easily: article link.

Did you manage to get in touch with Airbnb Customer Support regarding it? What did they say?