We have a long term guest (30 Days) that needs to check out 4 days early. We know we are not required to refund him but he’s been a great guest so we’d like to refund for 2 days. Can this be done through Airbnb or do we need to do it direct with him?
You can send him a refund through the resolution center.
I’m a sucker for young, probably cash-strapped trekkers who remind me of my kid and his friends. I’ve cooked breakfast NOT an included amenity) helped them find apartments and taken them on day trips where public transit doesn’t go and, yes, refunded a day or 2 here & there. I just approximate and hand them them the cash - a room in my home is only $50-60 per night.
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Very nice of you. I had an Air host in France that took me walking a couple of times and we ate at restaurants in the area. I was traveling by train so didn’t have a car at that point of the trip. She was just very generous and she left me with a strong memory of the stay with her.
I wasn’t a young cash-strapped traveler, but her generosity was amazing.
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You are very kind. My last rental of 28 nights left two days early and wanted a refund for those days.
I posted in another thread he insulted my condo, asked me how much I’d sell it for, then asked about a discounted rental spring 2022.
When he asked for a two day refund, I explained that would become a short term rental and if I processed it through Airbnb the LTR discount would drop off. If wanted to pay me an extra $900, I’d be glad to change his rental to be 26 nights.
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Sounds like that may make their reservation to be less than 28 nights so any LTR discount drops off & the nightly rate increases if you process through Airbnb. You can do manual price adjustments and make it work.
For simplicity’s sake, I like @rubychix ’s idea of giving a cash refund in this situation.
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You can go to Airbnb and submit a request for an alteration. You would manually enter in the total cost of the stay less the amount you want to refund your guest. Your guest will get a credit for that amount. And that amount will also come out of your next pay out. Your guests will need to accept this alteration and then you’re good to go. I find this a good way to do it.
Be prepared for many suggestions on whether or not to do the refund despite the fact that you have already made a decision. I like the cash idea.
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Be careful that it doesn’t trigger a tax implication for your guest. In my state, a 30 day stay is not taxable from a “hotel” perspective, but a 28 day stay carries a 6% state tax for the entire stay. If Airbnb handles the taxes, the guest will be charged.
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If you want those 4 days back so you can book them, you can just go in and shorten his reservation by those days. However, he will lose his monthly discount, assuming he got one, and also be charged taxes. It sounds like you want to help him out but you’ll need to balance that with whether or not you want to re-book the days. Which is fair, btw.
We had someone coming for an 8 day stay but wanted to delay 2 days because of the hurricane. She said she did not expect a refund, but I also wanted to be nice. So, I split it with her more or less. I shortened her stay by one day instead of the two and she got to keep the weekly discount.
I will never forget decades ago being a poor traveling student and staying in rented room in someone’s home in Ireland with one of my buddies. Breakfast added was some low amount, but we were dead broke and declined, planning to subsist on stale bread and questionable cheese in our backpacks. The lady of house took pity and stuffed us with oatmeal, toast and bacon every morning.
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Do be aware, sometimes a host refunds directly, by any number of methods, and later the scammy guest also pushes for a refund via AirBnB. If you don’t refund via AirBnB, you cannot prove to AirBnB that the refund happened. Sounds like not a concern in this case, but just info to know.