Is this really true? I have never ever heard of Airbnb giving only a partial refund for extenuating circumstances. Are they doing some kind of fast track where you don’t have to submit any evidence for a partial refund but you get it right away, whereas if you want a full refund you have to wait months due to their customer service backlog.
As you run a business, of course you have a legal policy. If the request fail to meet the policy, then your offer is rather courteous than fair.
I wouldn’t refund her but if you decide to, don’t forget to deduct the service fee of Airbnb. But don’t understand the situation, guests who cancel under EC normally get a 100% refund.
I would refund a guest if I got another booking for those dates, but not in full. I would add up the time I had spent dealing with that booking and deduct that, because guests need to realize they can’t just take up an hour or more of a host’s time, answering their questions, messaging back and forth, etc for free. But I don’t feel okay about keeping all of someone’s money if those dates got rebooked.
It’s very rarely happened to me because the few cancellations I’ve had have taken place weeks or even months before the expected stay. In those cases, I’m happy to give a full refund as there’s plenty of time to get a booking without any work on my part.
But if they cancel for no good EC reason, just before check in then I feel that I’m greatly inconvenienced, I spend a lot of time getting a new booking and don’t want to be the guests’ travel insurance.
2 Likes
You have been quite fair. It’s up to the guest to cancel - not you however.
The guest already used EC. After that behavior we would never refund any more or offer to do so.
Most certainly a business! Thank you.
Thank you, and then to make matters worse, Airbnb called me in the middle of the night at 2am!
What?! Sigh! Figures that since it is a GUEST issue, that you get a call. Good luck getting one ever if Guest has a payment issue, etc.
Totally sorry!
1 Like
WOW - I never thought of that. I only wait until I get paid from the replacement booking. Never saw it from that deceitful angle… thank you.
Well it’s been widely reported that guests will do this, and another one is get you to change the dates and then the cancellation window opens back up and then they cancel
I never accept change requests for anything (one open right now being ignored), I do not refund cancellations unless I want to which is rare.
RR
1 Like
Oh yeah, had the change request pulled on me too. Once. Now, if someone starts out asking about cancelling and then suddenly wants to reschedule, my scam-sensors go nuts.
2 Likes
Accepting a change request for anything is not in the hosts interest. Say they want to put grandma on reservation, now you are exposed to the EC policy for her as well. I have someone doing that now, asked to add parents. I just responded through Air that that was fine they can bring them. Ignoring the actual request though, I am not opening myself to any more EC exposure.
RR
3 Likes
I have had this (nearly) exact scenario play out with a guest who canceled as well. I had offered to contribute more to her refund if the space was rebooked–as a courtesy. I then became quite ill and had to block out two weeks as I thought I might have COVID. While I was sick, I got a snarky message that “she sees I have booked the property and would like her refund”.
I tell her I am awaiting the results from a COVID test and I was very ill and had blocked out the dates–they were not booked. She then accused me of many things and escalated the case to AirBnB.
I was pleasantly surprised when AIrBnB agreed that she was due no more than the refund she had already received from AirBnB.
Two weeks later I get a very mean spirited, name calling and accusatory message from the guest. So mean that I decided to report her as she sounded like she may do something to the property when she returned again.
Thankfully, this is the first time someone has been so unreasonable and demanding. The good news is that I never have to see her again but she has to spend every day with herself.
So if you haven’t reported your guest, there’s an easy link to do that and it made me feel like at least get something official in her file so if she continues to harass hosts, maybe she’ll get kicked off the platform. One can hope, right?
2 Likes
Same here. I wonder which “helpful - how to get a refund from Airbnb” sites give this tip. It is amazing the effort people put into getting around rules.
2 Likes
Only had it happen a couple of times, and the first thing I do is block off one of the days to make it “Not possible” 
JF
Oh, that sounds awful, and the last thing you need when feeling unwell. It is unnerving when this sort of thing happens as most guests are really lovely. I did eventually message her to say that I felt hounded by her and she hasn’t responded - not even to thank me for the refund! Also, oddly, although she cancelled Airbnb asked us to review each other as though the reservation had taken place!
I hope you’re feeling better now.
1 Like
Why on earth does Airbnb not just use the original reservation information as the baseline for cancelation policy? I can’t understand why they allow this loophole to exist.
I’ve done a handful of changes, but no one has ever tried to “pull a fast one” on me. Usually they are just adding days after they have already checked in, or switching things around due to flight changes.
1 Like
Simple - it supports their Guest Centric policies.
When a guest wants to stay longer, we only do it as a new booking.
1 Like