What is the cancellation fee charged by airbnb for a partial cancellation?

[Sandra290]

I have a traveling group booked for 2-nights.  Upon arrival they notified me that because of scheduling problems, they can only stay for one of the 2-nights.  Customer is prepaid and due to my kind-hearted nature want to give them a refund.  Does anyone know if I will be assessed an airbnb cancellation fee, and if so, how much will it be?  I need to take this into account when determining the refund amount.

[Jim75]

You can likely just send the money back to them via Airbnb or PayPal. Probably just the basic room rate for the night; I'd guess that any associated Airbnb fees would have to be disputed or eaten. Good luck. 🙂 

[Susan-and-Fernando0]

I just had someone reduce their stay from 7 nights to 2.  When they initiated the alteration, there was no cancelation fee imposed.  I can't understand why Airbnb would not compute this automatically.  It makes me, the Host look bad when I have to decline the change and resubmit the change and include the 50% cancelation fee for the nights they will not stay.  If I had not declined somone else's stay, I would feel bad about imposing the cancel fee, but that was not the case...

[Denise8]

I agree. Why as a host choose moderate cancellation fee and have guests choose to leave early.  No penalty for them and 5 days of unbboked apartment for the host.  Airbnb should do a better job handling their stated policies.  Seems very tricky...

[Susan-and-Fernando0]

All you have to do is access their Itinery and submit an alteration.  Whether you impose a cancel fee or not, you have the option to change the amount.  The guest has the final say; they have to approve the change. This is not a cancelation; it's an alteration.  No penalty on Host part for this type of transaction.

[Andrea9]

@Sandra290

The correct method is an alteration to the booking as @Susan-and-Fernando0 describes.

@Jim75  - Your suggestion to pay back by PayPal is wrong  since this is against Airbnb policy to keep all payment the platform. and I'm surprised you wouldn't know this or even give this bad advice to another host. It's recommended hosts familiarize themselves with Airbnb's policies and terms of business before starting to host.

[Jim75]

@Andrea9: It was a non-mandatory refund she was talking about. Airbnb got bigger fish to fry. Thanks for the polite reprimand.