This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
There is some recent change to the service fee refund language. @JJD believes you have to cancel within 48 hours to get a refund. The 3 refunds per year no longer applies. This has huge implications for the cancellation policies we set.
I have one data point from a guest who says they got the refund. But the guest might not have checked their statement properly.
It would be good to know if others have any data points.
I don’t have the previous text but some bloggers have it
When Is Airbnb service fee refundable?
Yes, the service fee is fully refundable under three special circumstances.
If cancelled within 48 hours:
You cancel within 48 hours of booking and it meets these conditions:
You have not cancelled three reservations in the last 12 months
There is no overlapping reservation on your account for the same dates
The host’s cancellation policy is not super strict
What is the change? Do you have a link? What is “recent?”
I canceled a reservation in October and did not get the service fee back. The host had a strict policy and I cancelled several weeks in advance so I got half back, minus the service fee.
Here’s a screenshot of what I’d get if I canceled an upcoming reservation and you can see it’s also minus the service fee:
As for guests that cancel, I’m not going to bother them. If a host contacted me asking about that I’d be quite annoyed and would probably ignore them or just just give an answer without checking my receipts.
If guests can cancel for free, they can continue making speculative reservations that they cancel before the deadline. But if they don’t get the service fee refund, some of them might not cancel the reservation as they would lose something. People are always averse to a loss.
So for me, no service fee refunds would mean I go on the firm policy. They will book thinking it’s a more liberal cancellation policy than strict.
If they get service fee refunds, I will move to the strict policy.
Yes, because of the cancelation policy. This has always been true that the service fee is refunded if you cancel during the time you would get a full refund.