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So I woke up this morning to a message that I had a one night booking for next weekend, I messaged the guest offering to give a discount if they wanted to book an extra night which I always do. A few minutes later she emailed back that she had trouble booking. I responded that she was booked and I look forward to hosting her next week. Then she messaged that she did not realize she booked and could I cancel? I responded that’s weird you messaged messaged me right after you booked that you were looking forward to your stay and you will have to cancel on her end. A few minutes later the cancellation comes in and she is getting a partial refund, $200 of $325 and my calendar has been opened up again. I am on Strict with grace period and the reservation was less than 14 days away.
She is now asking me to refund the difference. This is the thing, I think she is lying. She messaged saying she was looking forward to staying with me when she booked. I think she found something cheaper and cancelled me.
What do my fellow host think about this? Reward her dishonesty and refund or let it stand and she pays the penalty?
In my experience most people are honest most of the time. I have no reason to think she is being dishonest. I hate it when people are dishonest, even about the most minor things (like people who lie on this forum about how they are booked all the time or how many reviews they have, lol).
First of all, why doesn’t this qualify for the 48 hour free cancellation? I don’t know why you have an option to keep any money. Second, even if it doesn’t qualify I have no problem refunding the money. Honestly we all like to get “money for nothing” (great Mark Knopfler song, btw, @Jess1) but you haven’t done anything to earn this money, you aren’t out much but a little time and it seems petty and beneath you to fuss over it.
We usually give full refunds if people want to cancel within 24 hours of the booking. It doesn’t seem right to keep the money if it won’t inconvenience you that much. But if people have taken up the dates for weeks or months and suddenly cancel and want the full refund, we don’t give it. They took up the dates and stopped other people from potentially booking those dates.
Is it possible that it was just the standard message that AirBnB puts in the text box, or was it a personalized message? I noticed when creating a booking recently (for the first time) that there is a text box to send the host a message with your booking. There was a canned message already in it which disappeared when I clicked there to type my own message. But I wonder, if you don’t click in the box, will it just send that canned message to the host??
DO NOT REFUND THIS PERSON ONE CENT. Any refunds are handled by Airbnb. They (Air) may call you and ask to you refund more. JUST SAY NO, you have a Strict policy for a reason. This is the reason.
Somehow I knew that would be your response! Yes I am not out much other than a bit of time and likely by midweek next week I would be blocking out the weekend anyway as I am building a guesthouse and the property has open trenches I would not want anyone falling into, although this was a push to get the underground work finished and cover the trenches.
I too was surprised the 48 hour grace period did not offer full refund, it seems to be because the reservation is less than 14 days out.
If she is not being dishonest how do I account for the looking forward to staying message she sent at time of booking?
When she clicked the confirm cancellation button it was clear she would only get a partial refund.
I really wish Air would sell trip insurance to the guest and this could all be avoided, or maybe not in this case because she booked something else.
Okay, well then that’s just dishonest of her. I was hoping maybe it was just a mistake on her part, but that seems pretty unlikely! I’m not sure I would refund in that case. I despise dishonest people.
We pretty much have the same policy. We have someone who booked yesterday who wanted to cancel this morning. The reservation is this weekend so they haven’t tied up the room too long. Even though I told them I would refund them once I received payment, they are still messaging me. Um I am not giving you one red cent until I actually receive the funds. What if they contact their credit card company and somehow reverse the charges? I’m not willing to take that risk especially when I am doing them a favor.
I don’t know. Speaking only for myself I’m not too keen on worrying about it. If someone books and then cancels right away I have no problem giving them their money back. Others have different needs than I do. I’ve had this conversation with many dog boarding hosts as well. I refund if I don’t provide the service 99% of the time. I did once have actual proof someone was lying and I did keep $150 for doing nothing.
WOW! Airbnb refunded her 100% AFTER they gave her a partial refund this morning and gave me the option of refunding the difference. No consultation with me, no call no email nothing. They just refunded her. I am blown away!
Ok just off phone with air CS, Joey tells me that it was done on on their end. He apologized and said they should not have refunded without my permission. He of course has no power and is “reaching out” to the CS person who gave her my money. Now I wait to be ignored, follow up again tomorrow and everyday until I get my money from Air, this is a fight I am willing to take on because Air will pay not the guest. I was considering refunding anyway because I realized the guest would have an opportunity to review me and that would not have gone well considering she was not getting her way.
In addition to my personal philosophy about these sorts of policies there’s all this nonesense back and forth with Airbnb which is not a good use of my time.
You did ask for input and I shared mine but I hope you don’t feel any need to “justify” your actions. My needs and philosophy aren’t any better than yours.
No worries @KKC, I think we agree more than disagree on this. I was likely going to refund her anyway, mostly because I do not want an undeserved bad review, I remembered that Air allows reviews even though the guest did not stay. Not worth the drama.
However I do not mind sparring with Airbnb over this and they will likely end up eating it and rightfully so.
Same day thing? Keep $20 for your time and trouble and to teach her a lesson as I am sure, as are you, that she found something cheaper and bailed on you.
I personally would give her the refund. I know that I have had to cancel plans myself due to health issues in the family. So I would assume that something came up.
