Refund for 2 nights of Monthly-rate stay?

[Sandy109]

I have a guest that is staying 28 nights. Because that is considered "monthly" I was paid at the beginning of the stay. For reasons more complicated than may be relevant, the stay was originally booked as 30 nights and I have given my word to the guest that the 2 nights will be refunded by me if Air BnB doesn't "adjust" on its own. I haven't found any information on the site or in this forum, about what (if anything) to expect. I've already changed the end-date to 2 nights sooner (to equal 28 nights) but, haven't seen any adjustment to my account. My questions are as follows:
1. will Air BnB refund my guest (and deduct from me) at some point and, if so, when???
2. will we both (guest and host) be refunded the fees as well as the cost of those 2 nights?

3. if Air BnB will not handle this automatically, how do I initiate it?
4. if "initiate myself" = "issue refund" do fees also get credited back?***

***from what I've figured out in other parts of their fee policies, Air BnB seems to keep fees whenever and however possible. In this case, I do not feel that they should keep 2 nights worth of fees, given that the change was made 30 nights in advance.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Almost all of this is predicated on if they gave you 30 days notice for the change.  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1361/how-do-changes-and-refunds-work-for-long-term-reservations. If the original booking was for 30 days, Airbnb only collected for the first 28 days and paid you only for the 28 days with the first payment.  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/245/how-do-i-pay-for-my-long-term-reservation. When you made the reservation change, Airbnb would make the appropriate calculations to adjust for that reduction in stay.  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1363/can-i-change-my-reservation-during-the-trip.  Any funds coming back to you will be in your next payout or so.  If you agreed to the change and the guest gave the appropriate notice, the guest should see a credit back to their card directly for any fee refund.  They haven't actually been charged for those extra days yet, so there is no need to refund for those 2 days at this time.  If you didn't get 30 days notice of the change, they may be charged based on the long-term cancellation policy.  When you made the change, you should have been asked if you wanted to refund.  If that didn't happen, I would contact Airbnb.  There is a number with the guest's confirmation.   

[Sandy109]

Thanks for the swift reply but, I should clarify that a) I had originally set up the dates for them and, mistakenly had booked 2 days too early and so, booked out 30 days so the end-date would be correct. b) when I saw the mistake, my guest was already considered "checked in" (though, not really) so, I couldn't move the start-date out by 2 days so c) I moved the end-date back by 2 nights to get the corrected 28-night stay. My guest was last minute and about to travel from half-way around the globe as this was taking place, we were in communication leading up to his departure. Meanwhile, the 30-night payment showed up in my account a day or so after I changed the end-date to make the stay 28 nights (his preference and agreed by me). All of this took place within the Air BnB request & approve process and, 30 days before the end-date. I want to be sure he will get his refund in a timely manner and I don't want to mistakenly double-refund him by, doing it manually if Air BnB will correct it. I've seen no notice from them so far, of a correction.

[Deborah197]

I don't know for sure but a monthly rate is discounted because they are staying a month whether it be 28, 29, 30, or 31 days it is already discounted. To ask for a refund for 2 days would be a ok  if the guest was paying a daily rate which would be considerably higher price right? But he is not correct? I would explain that if you were to refund him for 2 days it would be highly unfair to you because in a monthly discount he receives approx. 15% off so he actually received 4 days free as it is. if you refund him for the 2 days its your call. but it seems unfair to you. If you do the refund make sure the calculations are correct you don't want to give him 99.$ if it is your daily rate you want to divide the monthly rate into 28 if you don't your giving him more than 2 days. If it were me I would explain that a monthly rate is just that a monthly rate it is cheaper by far than the daily rate for 28 days and then maybe offer him a discount for his trip if you like him lol Airbnb gave him the discount he probably knows this already maybe just trying to get a refund anyway. Good Luck😊

[Andrea9]

@Sandy109

As I see it:

They got a monthly discount, thus bringing down the single night price lower than if they hadn't booked a month's stay.

If cancelled days bring the length of stay down to less than a month, they would then be paying 28 x your normal nightly rate.

Are you sure that with their cancellation it isn't YOU who should be getting some extra payment.

I mean, if I sell potatoes at a wholesale price from 30 bags on, and at a retail price under that,

then if you buy 30 bags at my reduced price, but gave back 2 bags, you'd not be getting money back from me.

Honey, you'd have to pay me back to cover the difference in wholesale to retail price for the remaining 28 bags!

(Sorry, just realized I'm repeating @Deborah197's comment in other words, but will leave it anyway...)

[Sandy109]

I'll clarify again. I promised the guest a certain rate, the rate that came up for 28 nights on Air BnB. That amount was $1713 including his fees. He only really needed 27 nights but, the "monthly rate" kicks in at 28 nights and that's how I came up with $1713 quoted to him. For the record, Air BnB does NOT (from what I've seen) convert to a true monthly rate – as in, the same price for 28, 29, 30 or 31 nights. It only changes the per-night rate to the deeper discount X number of nights.

To secure this guest before making other arrangements with a 2-night guest I already had, I booked this new guest 2 days earlier than his actual arrival (WITH HIS PERMISSION). Then, I tried to change the arrival date to the correct date and Air BnB wouldn't let me because the system thought he was already checked in. So, I then changed the end-of-stay date to 2 days earlier (WITH HIS PERMISSION) and I did so early on, in order to be "30 days notice".  The guest was charged 30 nights and I was paid for 30 nights. The revision was done before the payment came to me and the very day the guest was charged.

I owe the guest for 2 nights in order to keep my agreement with him. I simply want to know if and when Air BnB will refund him. And, if they don't and I have to do it manually, is there a prompt in the refund system that asks why and then REFUNDS THE FEES to me and to him. I don't want to over-refund him, I simply want to charge him what was promised and not be gouged BY AIR BNB for fees on unused nights.