Guest wants refund for cancellation

[Paula143]

Hi all!
I have my cancellation policy set to STRICT. A week ago I had someone book and I approved right away. I immediately got a message from her saying it was a mistake, she didn't mean to book, she is new to Airbnb, etc. I told her that it was fine with me if she contacted Airbnb help and cancelled. Instead she cancelled and then sent me a request for money. But that money would be taken from my next payment, it's not the same amount I would get paid, it just doesn't seem like the right avenue to resolve her issue.
Does anyone know if I will incur any sort of penalty if I agree to give her money? Will it negatively affect my host status at all?
Thanks,
Paula

[Tim-and-Holly0 · Accepted solution]

Providing her a refund through your AB&B admin panel will not hurt you as a host in any way. Since she did not follow your instruction she will probably incur AB&B booking fees, so make sure you refund the correct amount so you do not lose money.

[Nicole261]

How do you refund 

[Tim-and-Holly0]

Log into your admin panel and navigate to your inbox.

Click on the message thread for the guest you desire to refund.

After the guest leaves there will be a message at the top of the thread that reads [Guest]'s trip has finished. Directly under that is a box with a link that says, "Send or Request Money."

After clicking that link you will see a bright red box on the next screen that says, "Send Money." Click it.

There is a time limit after the trip ends, though. I THINK it is 48 hours.

[Tandy5]

@Tim-and-Holly0How do you refund money when you haven't actually received anything from Air

[Huma0]

@Tim-and-Holly0 

I would be very wary of doing it this way. You never know if the guest is going to apply directly to Airbnb for a refund and be granted one contrary to your cancellation policy. It does happen. Then you are out of pocket as you end up refunding twice.

So, you could tell the guest that the host doesn't get paid until after the check in date and Airbnb holds the funds in the meantime (true) so you can only refund them once it has reached your account. 

Or, what's probably quicker is to call Airbnb and request they do a penalty free cancellation for the guest (make sure they do not count it as a host cancellation and penalise you - explain that it is the GUEST that wants to cancel and you are happy to waive your cancellation policy on this occasion). I have had to do this a few times when I was using instant book. 

Before doing any of that though, check to see if the guest is still within the 48 hour 'grace period' in which they can cancel penalty free. If so, tell them to cancel from their end.

[Clare0]

@Paula143 No, your host status will not be affected in any way if you refund her and there is no penalty.  Many times guest think they can just ask questions with a Reservation Request.  I've learned through the years to detect when someone is just asking questions versus ready to book.  If they are not sure, I either ask them to cancel their request or I decline with a polite message telling them they are welcome to rebook when they are sure.  Saves so much hassle for both the guest and me!

[Denise148]

I am a new host and I agreed to refund two guests...one who "accidently" booked so then cancelled and one who had a "problem" and could no longer arrive in my city - both were on the day of their booking so Airbnb wouldn't be refunding their one night fee of $75. I have to assume that their $75 would have come into my account but because I refunded - the amounts cancelled each other out, so to speak.

I am very concerned that I will be charged for their refunds when my next guests' payment comes in. Surely that won't happen if I never received the original booking amount from those guests that I was entitled to. 

Any thoughts?

Thank you 🙂

[Cassandra22]

I had a guest arrive,

He refused to supply the correct legal paperwork for the resort/laws in Egypt that he is fully aware of being egyptian.

He knew well in advance this had to be supplied, we told him so.

He lied to AIRBNB saying we weren't there to meet him - even though he met with us at the resort.

I think he thought we would just turn a blind eye and break the law!

AIRBNB immediatley gave him a full refund because of his lies....I had but one hour to respond, which I miseed due to other check ins.

How do I contact AIRBNB about this - it is just not right.

[William-And-Heather0]

I had a guest send me a reservation request which I accepted. Then, several minutes later she sent me a note saying that something had come up and she needed to cancel. I replied, No problem. But, then I received an email asking if I wanted to refund her holdback of $144. I hit yes, but thought this would be given back by Airbnb. Now, I understand that it comes out of my next reservation which is NOT what I had initended at all. How do I reverse this refund out of my account??? HELP!

[Clare0]

@William-And-Heather0. Is this what you received?

When was the reservation due to start?  If you had not already been paid for this reservation, then Airbnb will refund the guest out of the amount they were holding.  If you already were paid, then, yes, the refund would come out of your next payout. 

I would be interested to know what the situation was.  🙂

[William-And-Heather0]

Clare,

Thanks so much for your speedy reply. No, I was not paid as the whole transaction involved maybe an hour between when I got the confirmed reservation and when the guest sent me a note saying that somethjing had come up and was I okay if she cancelled. Of course, it was too early for me to even count on the reservation, let along get paid, so I said sure. BUt, then I go tseveral emails from Airbnb asking if I wanted to refund her $144. I just assumed that this was my okay for Airbnb to give her back her deposit. So, I hit the okay to refund link. Next thing I know, Airbnb sends me an email saying that th e$144 will come off my next guest reservation/payment! 

This was NOT my intention to actually pay for her cancellation mistake. But, there isn't any way to contact our good friends at AIrbnb... or is there, to discuss this?

Appreciate your insights...

[Clare0]

@William-And-Heather0. Question: when was the reservation due to start as compared to when the guest cancelled?  If the checkin date was still in the future, and a payout had not yet been released, this doesn't make sense.  In the screen shot I sent you the guest cancelled before the reservation was due to start and I refunded the 50% due me under my Strict cancellation policy.  I just didn't get paid for the cancellation.  Future payouts proceeded as normal. 

If the guest cancelled within minutes of your accepting the reservation, seems to me you would not have yet been paid.  Am I missing something?  Do you have any upcoming reservations and if so, what does your Future Transactions say? 

[Elicia155]

I am right now in the same situation and wondering what to do. I had a nice guest cancel their reservation as they had a death in their family. It was only two nights in March which is a month away. They booked with Instant book As I felt sorry for them Airbnb emailed & offered me to press give a full refund so I did. Now I have an email saying that this refund will be deducted from the next guests...... but I hadn’t received a payment. Would love some help. 

[Jacqui-And-Francis0]

Hi,

i have requested a refund. The guest cancelled last minute with my welcome message. And has requested a full refund.

i am reluctant after doing all the prep work, groceries and Airbnb funds. 

I have given her a night’s accomodation back because it said that if I don’t respond, Airbnb get involved in the case with an investigation?? This is very threatening.

 I thought the cancellation policy was there to protect the host, also, I’m on smart pricing so that I need not enter into any correspondence about money.

i don’t like being bargained with as I believe Airbnb is low end of the accomodation market and not fair to push the price down any further.

what do others think?