Process for guest to request full refund - strict policy

We have a strict cancellation policy, but I’ve agreed to refund a guest in full for their cancellation. If I cancel, we’ll be penalized some way. She’s more than 7 days out so she’s technically only entitled to 50%.

What do I tell her is the process to cancel and get the rest back? Will there be an option to request the full amount, or will she need two steps (cancel, then separate Resolution Center request?)

She’s ill right now, so I’m trying to help her as much as I can.

TIA

Just tell her that she must contact AirBnb directly; not through you. What they decide is up to them.

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Why is she cancelling @PitonView ?

I’m thinking this means the woman is sick.

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  1. Have the guest cancel and just wait until Airbnb pays you and then provide a refund of that amount back to the guest via the resolution center. Make sure the guest understands that Airbnb is still going to keep their fees (the guest ~14% and host 3%) from amount you refund. I.e. “in full” only means 97% of the nightly rate, not 100% of what the guest paid.

  2. Have the guest call customer service to request refund. Airbnb will contact you to authorize it, then you will confirm. However, they will pay you the 50% amount at the normal time (24 hours after the guest’s scheduled check-in) but they will pay the guest’s refund today out of any payments you receive before then, so you get screwed if you have any reservations between the refund date and the guest’s original check-in date. Basically, you might be making a loan to the guest until 24-hours after their check-in date when you get the money back.

  3. There is also “mutual cancellation”, but I haven’t personally done it and I remember reading that Airbnb customer service agents might try to steer these into either a host or guest cancellations instead, and you definitely don’t want it to end up being a host cancellation.

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I am sure air will give you a prompt to refund the difference once the cancellation goes through. Just have her cancel and tell her you will authorize a full refund. Make sure you are clear you cannot speak for AIR , their fees may not be refundable and you have no control. Once you get the cancellation then message Air to refund the full amount.

RR

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Yes, she’s ill, but there are other reasons, too. One of those is that our government hasn’t confirmed that we can even be open for her dates (two weeks away) although they announced it tentatively. We’re a fly-to location, and she couldn’t wait any longer to have a definite answer.

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When does AirBnB keep their fee (alternatively, when do they refund it)?

Oh gosh, what a headache. It’s been a long half year.

The answer is: When it suits them.

My understanding is that they would refund everything including their fees for a mutual cancelation, but that is also why they try to steer it to either a guest cancellation or a host cancellation because then would still be able to collect fees (either the service fee or the $50/$100 host cancellation fee).

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@PitonView - Hello! Good to see your name again, and I hope you are well and safe.

Early September I had a guest that was trying to cancel bc she is pregnant and with Covid it was unsafe for her to fly. I was agreeable to the cancellation. She was new to Air and unable to get the cancellation completed and I discovered that I was able to cancel for her. Maybe it was a Covid update since she booked pre-pandemic, but there was a cancellation option for all to be refunded to her and it to be cancelled by admin. My system shows a full refund to her, -0- fees by either party, and cancel by admin now listed on the reservation.

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Hello, @LCL - thank you for the kind words. We’re OK, but our rental business is horrible, as we are still forbidden by the St Lucian government to accept guests.

I suspect the reason you did not have problems is that your guest booked “BC” (before Covid). Mine booked about a month ago, and she knew the potential issues, but I agreed to give her a full refund for a specific list of circumstances.

So here’s the update: I asked her to cancel, and she refused since her dashboard was showing she would not get a refund of either the full rental fee or the service fees. It was rather interesting - AirBnB was born to promote an environment of trust, but she said she didn’t trust AirBnB to refund her the rest of the money if she cancelled!

Anyway, I call the service line, and was sent a link to the help system and then they hung up. I kept selecting “other” until I was given the option to send an email to AirBnB CS. I did and explained that it was a mutual agreement to cancel (without using those words). About 90 minutes later, the CS person had contacted the guest and confirmed her desire to cancel (odd, since it ALL of the conversation was through AirBnB messages), and that they would cancel. It came through as a guest cancellation, but she was refunded the whole amount and presumably the service fee.

It took several hours but it got done. At least my boss is out on vacation this week and not there to see me screw around with this!

I’m grouchy, though, because I could have cancelled and refunded 100%, including the service fee, on Vrbo in 3 minutes without having to get texts or long emails.

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Nice of you. We would have required the guest to cancel then refunded them - or forced them to deal with the long wait times with Air. Not gonna waste our time with it …

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I was probably going to have to cancel on them in a few days anyway, as our government STILL hasn’t told when we can accept guests again (they had said the 5th of October, then took that back and stopped saying anything). This way, I’ve left her with a good impression of us and she’s already promised to stay with us when she can come visit the island. Yes, I know that and $5 can get you a latte, but I just felt this was the right thing to do.

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Doing the right thing has a value not measured in currency.

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I hope someday I will rent your house. I am sorry for you and what is going on. I am in Jamaica right now for 4 days and jumped through hoops to get the govt authorization from dept of health. It was a complicated system, including a covid test, and I only got permission to come in 18 hours prior to departure from usa. I am keeping an eye on St Lucia opening soon!

I’m glad it worked out, and under the radar of your boss :wink: if I remember correctly, you had people at the house caretaking for you and I hope they are doing well. This is such an awful time. Hang in there and best wishes :purple_heart:

Yes, we have three employees and a driver that all count on us for the majority of their support. We’ve kept paying them salaries to get them through this time, although I think I’ll have to postpone my retirement a year or two :cry:

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Don’t hold your breath. My take is that the government is so afraid of doing something wrong that they aren’t doing anything at all. We just had a cancellation for January - just because they aren’t certain that they will have their “dream vacation” and aren’t willing to wait to find out. I don’t know where they are going, but that’s money that won’t go into St Lucia’s economy soon.

I recently had to cancel 3 weeks of vacation on Airbnb. With several differ stays being involved. I got credit back
On some as we are currently allowed to travel (U. S.) to Croatia with restrictions. And got full refund in our Greece part of the journey. As an owner I also have had to cancel due to family emergency and paid the price.
My feeling is however, is it is guest responsibility to take care of the cancellation if it is them that needs to cancel. Your cancellation should stand unless you feel the need to refund all.

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