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The thing is that in English, “I’m sorry” has two different meanings. One is I’m sorry as an apology for something you did wrong. The other is I’m sorry this happened to you. So I don’t think there is anything wrong with saying you’re sorry as long as you make it clear that what you are expressing is empathy rather than acknowledgement of guilt.
“I’m sorry that you didn’t realize that when a host pre-approves an Inquiry, if the guest doesn’t act on that and go on to book right away, an Instant Book or an accepted Booking Request from another guest takes automatic precedence over a languishing Inquiry” isn’t a host accepting any responsibility, it’s just sympathizing with a guest who didn’t understand how things work.
Same with “It’s unfortunate”. “It’s unfortunate that you didn’t bother to read the listing description before you booked- if you had, you would never have assumed that you were booking an entire home, because it’s obvious in the information provided in my ad that this is a private room listing” puts the blame squarely on the guest.
IF the guest had communicated with you what the “something came up” was and IF it had been something other than finding a cheaper location, then maybe a refund. Maybe. Honestly though, I wouldn’t refund bc they gave you no time or consideration to rebook. Their “something” could be the death of a third cousin twice removed or that your neighbor was cheaper. Or it could be legitimate, but they didn’t care enough about your situation to even contact you so you can’t have that dialogue … So NO to the refund.
Most hosts are not corporations with 10+ (whatever) units to off-set a random cancellation and any guest that treats their host as such needs to be schooled. ABB has left us on our own to do so, as they try to placate the guest by asking the host to concede. NO.
I prefer “it’s unfortunate” to “I’m sorry”. It puts the onus back on the guest, where it should be, but some people (myself included) try too hard to be conciliatory, and people get so darn uppity when faced with the knowledge that they were the asshole. Augh.
Update. Still wondering what’s going to happen? Me too!
I used @Ourbnbexperiment’s suggested response… “I understand that you want a refund…”
This morning I received another email from Airbnb. I let them know that I had responded to the Resolution request for payment and declined to send a refund. Hopefully, that’s the end of it. If there’s more to the story, I’ll post again.
Okay… I think we’re done! The policy stays in place…
Airbnb: “…I will make sure to uphold your cancellation policy for any refund outside extenuating circumstances policy. Thanks in advance for your understanding. I’ll go ahead and close out our conversation.”
FYI - I hadn’t read the EC policy in a while… recommend a quick review. Easy to find, just Google “Airbnb extenuating circumstances” and it is the top result.
Beware, I have read your encounter and agree with most here, do not refund the money. We are experiencing a situation where the guest booked, we communicated our normal greeting response, never heard another word from Airbnb or the guest until 17 days after the stay ended when airbnb took 189 from our account and gave it to the guest ! Now airbnb tells us it was in the best interest of our safety that they return the money and closed the dispute resolution case within minutes of sending us the " case closed" message, BEWARE !
Agreed, rotten in fact. The guest never showed up or communicated with us about cancelation or otherwise. 17 days after the stay airbnb says for your (mine) safety we are taking 189 dollars!!! I am upset to say the least!
6 hours on the phone and responding to Airbnb messenger and 5 or 6 agents later, we get a message this morning 10/22/20 asking if airbnb can call, of course, yes. As we try to verify that it is my account and attempt to understand this persons english dialect, they offer to pay us the money, in which they did, all of it and verified to the account ! Success, keeping on them and esclating this complaint solved our problem, thanks to all who took time to help !!!
Aside from contradicting your own post from 3 months ago, this is a bad practice. There are blogs on the internet that tell Airbnb guests how to lie to get free stays and successful attempts will only encourage more of it. That’s bad for all hosts, but think about scammers that recommend your place to their friends because they got a free stay.
The only guest who didn’t get a refund from me didn’t ask me for one. They asked ABB, and then left a bad review without contacting me. I assume that’s what you’re referencing, stalky.
