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I had a guest cancel their reservation over the Thanksgiving weekend on the day they were set to arrive due to a road closure (they live in the Denver area and roads were closed due to the snow on Wednesday). Their communication throughout the day was great, but eventually they decided they wouldn’t be making the trip, and canceled. AirBnB refunded about $60 of their $300+ reservation costs. That seemed a bit harsh, considering the circumstances, so I told her that if I re-booked any or all of the stay (while unlikely) that I would refund a portion of their stay.
As luck would have it, I was able to get a last minute booking for two of their three nights. However, I haven’t yet received the payout that Air says I should get (should have been issued on the 27th) so I’m hesitant to issue any refund at this time. They would definitely qualify for the extenuating circumstances, but I have no idea if they’ve requested it.
How long do they have to request a refund due to EC? Will ABB notify me if they do?
Thanks RR. Thats what I’ll do. I just don’t know how the “extenuating circumstances” thing works. Is that why their payment has been delayed? Will I get the money, then have it taken back after I’ve issued a refund? It would be great to know if Air is planning on issuing a full refund, so I don’t issue one as well…
And even then Airbnb can pull back part of that money from the current guest’s payout if they want. So, unfortunately I’m now recommend waiting until not only receiving both payouts but waiting until the 14 day period AFTER the newly booked person has checked out.
Honestly that I don’t know. I just know that the second guest’s payout is what you need in order to cover refunding the second and I just lost at least $1600 in that very scenario of refunding a guest once I got payment for the rebooking because then Airbnb reversed payment on about $1100 and refused to require the payment of about $500 still due for extra people, etc, not paid for up front.
Ouch! That is exactly what I’m afraid of happening as well. My loss wouldn’t be quite that much tho. Were you notified at all that the guest had requested EC? It sounds like you were not…
Mine was not considered EC because the guest was still in the house but she had left when they pulled the trigger and terminated the month long reservation early and refunded her, with zero notice to me. I will just not take the chance in the future until the rebook is over and done by at least the 14 day period. Not sure if there is a time limit for EC but I would think after that time period it SHOULD be a done deal.
If ever a guest has requested a refund, I have referred them to Airbnb. I explain that it’s Airbnb who they have paid, and not me, so therefore it is Airbnb they need to talk to.
I don’t have their bank details or their credit card details or their Paypal details - no information at all about their finances - so as it was Airbnb who took their money that’s who they need to speak to.
I only had one extenuating circumstances claim and mine was a bit our of order, but this what happened with ours:
The guest told me about their circumstance and I told them how to do the EC so they would get the full refund, rather than the strict cancellation. There might have been a cleaner way, but I was trying to help, didn’t know much about the process, and also didn’t want anyone to be penalized so I thought this would be best.
I called ABB to pave the way for them and tell ABB that I was in agreement. (That was the out of order part but I knew they were legit and I wanted to help). They called ABB and explained the situation and since I called, they didn’t have to submit any personal paperwork. ABB refunded them immediately.
I’m not how it would work, but for us and them it was as painless as their issue could be.
Like @jaquo I let aAirBnb do any and all refunding for any reason. That’s what they get paid their Service Fee – to handle the money side and reservation side of my listing.
Lots of helpful info, thanks! Yes, I told her to cancel thru air and go from there. To be fair, I’m not even sure she will be filing the EC claim - I didn’t mention it, and neither did she. She just seemed a bit surprised that she got about 20% refund when she was expecting 50%. Which is why I said I’d refund a portion if I re-booked those nights.
She would technically qualify for EC, and my payment that was due yesterday has been held up, so I was just kind of assuming…
Is there a way for us to know if she filed for the EC or not? Does ABB notify you of that, or do you just find out when they take/keep the money? I would like to refund her a portion, if she isn’t already getting it all back thru EC.
Update:
I waited another day to see if the funds were released. When they weren’t I broke down and called CS. They said it was “a payout account glitch” which is weird, because my payout account has never changed (I use PayPal) and none of my other payments, either before or after, were affected. But they did release the funds. So all is well (so far!).
how it would work, but for us and them it was as painless as their issue could be. 
