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We have a flexible cancellation policy. Yesterday a guest wanted a refund even though the deadline for cancellation had past. There are fires currently in Northwestern Ontario and the guest does not want to travel. The Trans Canada hwy is open, with no restrictions. I checked with a Facebook site where people are travelling and giving reports on travel from Manitoba to Ontario, the route that the guest would be taking and it was all clear by reports late afternoon yesterday. Airbnb called me and asked if I would consider refunding the guest as she requested such. I told them I would think about a refund once I reviewed the reservation. I messaged guest to say that travel by my research was all clear. Guest went on and on about how dangerous travelling would be with terrible visibility and the 2 deaths occurred in a different fire. The fire that the guest was referring to was quite a bit north of her travel area and not related. After consideration I told her that if I was able to book the night I would give her a full refund. Guest sent another message stating that she just couldnât travel, as she was frightened. It is May long weekend and now chance of me filling the two nights that were booked weeks ago is pretty slim, likeâŚvery slim. In addition, the weekend forecast is very cold and rainy. After further consideration, I decided to refund the guest. I put myself in her place and thought that if I was in that situation I would probably not want to travel either. What would you all have done in similar situations?
In addition, I am super annoyed at Airbnb. This is the message they sent to me.
"Hello Susa,
I hope you are doing well !
As discussed I have processed the full refund to Justine from our end, and even you wonât be facing any consequences.
Be rest assured the amount is already being refund from our end feel free to connect with us anytime as we are available 24/7 for your assistance
Best Regards
Airbnb Support
I wonât be facing any consequences!!! What the holy hell is that? Of course I am not facing any bloody consequences, I refunded the guest her money even though I was not obligated to do so!
I would have been inclined not to refund, unless I got a replacement booking, especially considering that itâs a long weekend that you likely could have booked had it not been blocked by her booking for 3 weeks. I definitely wouldnât have agreed to a full refund.
If people donât want to spring for travel insurance, thatâs on them. Hosts are not their de facto travel insurers.
Iâve refunded guests a couple of times beyond what they were due- I donât consider not refunding to be a hard and fast rule, it depends on the circumstances. If there were really a danger, like a quickly spreading forest fire in the area, I would, but just a guestâs fear or nervousness, no.
I once refunded a guest 2 of the 5 days she had booked when she found it unbearably hot and humid here and decided to carry on earlier to a cooler area where she had planned to go anyway after she left here.
But it is very unusual for me to get bookings at that time of year due to the climate, so it wasnât as if her booking had blocked my calendar to potential bookings.
Also, she didnât ask for a refund- I offered. And she wasnât uncomfortably hot at my place (she left a 5* review), it was the 20 minute walk to town and the beach that was doing her in, which I could fully understand.
People these days seem to be scared about phenomena that they canât control.
In the past, Iâve had cancellations because of weather reports. (We are in a tropical storm / hurricane area).
When guests have cancelled because of apparent forthcoming weather, Iâve refunded. After all, no host wants to have a guest who is unhappy about their stay right from the start.
As a side note, every time Iâve had a cancellation because of forthcoming weather, the forecast has never been accurate and the weather has been lovely
Not a bad idea, however, what if they took the insurance but werenât able to file a claim based on âIâm too scared to travel under given circumstancesâ? Could that cause further problems?
I use strict policy and would not refund money as itâs lost revenue if property is empty due to guest. For the fire, I would ask them to check their travel insurance if they can get costs refunded, so I guess I live up to the strict policy name.
If I was like you, promoting flexible policy, I think I would change my approach to be more flexible to be honest, itâs kinda balancing expectations they get during booking with the response they get in various scenarios in my opinion
I have noticed there is a noticeable trend connecting the Airbnb repâs who seem to be dying to decide against me on things like this and the wording you report reminds me of my conversations with them. My advice is always call, never messageâŚand always feel out the representative for their openness to help youâŚyou specificallyâŚbefore even telling them what you need. If you get an unhelpful vibe from them, hang up as soon as possible and call back later
I would not have refunded any amount on this unless I was able to rent the nights.
Since Abnb said they already refunded âwithout consequence to youâ, Iâd interpret this as Abnb taking the hit on the refund. This would most likely not be their interpretation, by âno consequence to youâ means that I wouldnât lose the rental incomeđ
