Refund, partial, or none?

1

So, yesterday, early Saturday morning, like 7:10am, I received a request for booking for that night, for a “spontaneous trip to the area for a birthday party” (later told her aunt’'s 60th), and that she didn’t want to make the 3 hour drive back, after the party. (I threw a surprise 60th for my ailing mother in March, so emotional connection, to me.)

She asked me a lot of questions, mostly regarding that she wanted the quietest place possible. (I think the selling point was me telling her it was just the 2 of us, NO kids and NO pets, yet … most noise here is me talking, but I can control that.) So, after several messages back and forth, she decided to book the better of our 2 listings, a bit later, maybe like 8:40am, or so. (And I also blocked out the other listing, because of her concern regarding noise.)

I went on about my day. The guest room was already tidied up, from the day before when I had straightened it.

About 3:00pm or there about, this girl messages me in the airbnb chat again, now telling me:

“Hello Anne. I have actually decided to drive home to Connecticut instead. Party was fun but shorter than I expected and the drive shouldn’t be bad. I appreciate your communication this morning and I hope you didn’t go to a lot of trouble. I understand I will forgo the fee and that will be okay. Good luck with your BNB as it sounds like a wonderful place. I’m doing this by voice command as I drive so hopefully there is not too many autocorrects.”

I was thinking about offering her a partial refund, like maybe 20 or 25%… opinions, please???

2

I wouldn’t issue a refund. She told you that she was okay with paying full price. You were unable to book another guest, so you’d be losing money.

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3

Is she talking about the surcharges? The booking fee Air charges? If she means the room charge, then I’d definitely give her a little something back. You won’t have to clean either.

4

Same day cancelation… No refund whatsoever in my opinion.

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5

No refund!!!

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6

she did not even ask you for refund, why you even thinking about it. Keep the money

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7

Yeah, that’s kinda what I was thinking.

8

I’m thinking send her like $10.

She paid $53. (Yeah, I’ve worked my way up a tad, since that very first guest, LMAO.)

9

But kinda leaning for none… eh. I mean it was like 3pm.

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10

I wouldn’t refund, she didn’t ask, and seemed pretty okay with not getting one.

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11

No refund!

…

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12

No way would I refund!!

13

If you have a cleaning fee you could refund that.

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14

If you don’t mind people blocking your calendar so no one else can book those dates, then go ahead and give her a refund. I would not refund.

15

No refund.
You’re running a business not a charity.
She didn’t ask for a refund and her message was polite.
She wouldn’t get a refund anywhere else for cancelling the same day not even on booking.com
It’s easy to be a bit soft sometimes but you blocked the room out so she could stay.

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16

I agree with many of the previous posters…no refund. Also, think also of other Airbnb hosts and the expectations the guest may have with future bookings.

17

Hmmmmmm. A hotel wouldn’t give any either, would they? I’ll check, but I don’t think I had a cleaning fee set up. (Just made a full total price.)

18

I also would not refund.

Also, I wouldn’t have blocked my other room. I also list two rooms in my shared home. I always let my guests know if my other room is currently occupied, and I also let them know if it gets booked during their stay. If guests want to guarantee that my other room isn’t occupied, they need to book both rooms.

19

The only hiccup I see to keeping the guest’s money is that the guest made the booking that morning for that night and then about seven hours later cancelled. Your guest room wasn’t otherwise booked and it would have been highly unlikely it would have been rented on that day.

The guest said she understood she would be forking over the fee so she was okay with being penalized. However, I’m not sure whether she meant the booking fee or the rental amount?

I don’t know. It seems rather harsh to penalize her for the whole night rental when she only held the reservation for 7 hrs. and the chance of another booking was next to none. I wouldn’t withhold giving her at least a partial refund.

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20

Well I just sent her this message:
"I wanted to let you know that I took deep consideration into issuing you a partial refund, and even asked advice from several other hosts. But considering everything, after you booked early morning and then canceled mid-afternoon, that kept me from being able to get another guest for that date, so being a businesss, that does mean lost profit. (I kinda started this because I’m on a type of chemo, and we have to pay everything other than the actual med, so the appointments, labs, exams, supplements, etc.)

I’d blocked off the other listing, after you expressing concerns about noise. I appreciate your great communication and making a kind review, regardless. I’ve decided the most I’d be able to offer you is $10. Please let me know if you are iterested."

It was 53 so that would be 20% back.

I don’t know which she meant either, but she has a lot of reviews so I think she knows the system.

1 Like