^^^^^^
THIS
…even if it means the guest has to wait several months.
(If they complain about the delay, remind them that this is a voluntary GOODWILL payment, and the only other option available to them is no voluntary goodwill payment.)
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Right, but once you start down this road you might find yourself with a lot of explaining to do.
I say that because then the guest says to ask that Airbnb release their money one day after their original scheduled in date.
You could say ‘yes’ to that. But that leaves you with the possibility that you will not get paid by the re-booking guest if the new booking guest’s check-in date is after the original guest’s check-in date. And you might not get paid for that re-booking guest if, say, the guest has an extenuating circumstance (EC). So there’s that to potentially explain.
So, if you didn’t want to take that risk you’d need to say that you need to wait 24 hours until after the rebooking guest checks in. This, of course, assumes that the cancelled days all fall into one re-booked reservation! The cancelled days could be straddled by two reservations, maybe more. I don’t know if there’s a pithy way to cover that (I know one: “in our sole discretion”).
But even if the guest arrives without an EC, the guest could claim a spurious refund for an untrue condition. And Airbnb might grant it. Of course, we could debate who should take this risk: the cancelling guest or the Host. [I think it would be a short debate with @KenH. But since the Host has honored its cancellation policy why should ANY risk fall on the Host??].
If the Host does want some protection the Host could wait to authorize the refund until 15 days after the re-booking guest checks out because by that time the Host will know whether the Host and Guest have any resolved Host damage claims unresolved at the Resolution Center.
So by checkout+15 days the Host could decide to take itschances by authorizing any refund though the Host is still at risk of a Guest making a claim later (within 60 days).
And then there’s the details of how the refund is calculated. If the original nightly rates were $ 170 each and the new booking rates are $140 and $190, is the refund $140 and $170? Or $330 (a cumulative calculation)? And how are costs for additional guests treated?
So, I’ll stop here. I’m saying that once you start down the road of explanations it could become a long road unless you find a way to shortcut that.
If you say to the cancelling guest:
That could spur a long discussion.
After all, why not pay on the day after check-in?
And if you agree to do that, do you agree to do so even if you don’t receive the monies from Airbnb?
"No? So, then you agree to pay the money on the day after check-in to the extent of the monies received? "
"But no more than the amount for the cancelled days? "
To me it’s easier and shorter to first state that you’ll honor the cancellation policy that you each agreed to but you’re willing to do more.
PAUSE: So, right here, this statement is intended to stop extraneous conversation. You’re not required to pay or authorize Airbnb to pay ANYTHING. So ANY payment you make, WHEN you choose to make it, is a gift. There is no room for negotiation.
If you feel the need to explain why the payment is not made until 15 days after the re-booking guest checks out and not earlier, you can say: “Until the re-booking guest has checked out, plus 14 days, I won’t know whether any claims I have with the re-booking guest are settled through Airbnb’s Resolution Center. In other words, I won’t know how much money I’ve actually received from the re-booked reservation, net of all charges. That’s the amount I need to know because what I am paying you is based on that.”
[That’s a true statement but technically the Host doesn’t even know then because Air Cover might pay some damage claims the Host has made and because the guest could still make claims. It’s even possible, as we have seen in other posts that Airbnb has not paid you for reasons unknown.]
So, note the language: “for what we have received for those dates” addresses that. But so does the language “in our sole discretion.”
So, – and this is the real question on the guest’s mind – I suppose if a guest asked “I need the money on my card back now. Why can’t you make the refund now? Or at least sooner than you’re saying?” I would say (maybe this is the shortcut):
For me to be whole or partially whole from a re-booked reservation, I need to wait until the later of when: a) I get paid for that reservation (the day after check-in) and b) when most claims resulting from that reservation can be resolved (15 days later).
So my new instant reply reads:
All refunds are handled through Airbnb. We honor our cancellation policy.
However, we go further than required by that policy you and I agreed to. To the extent that we are made whole by a re-booked reservation(s) we will pass that on to you.
For me to be whole or partially whole from a re-booked reservation, I need to wait to calculate your refund until the later of when: a) I get paid for that reservation (scheduled to be the day after check-in) and b) when most claims resulting from that reservation can be resolved (15 days later).
So if the property is re-booked for the cancelled days, then in our sole discretion our policy is that we will authorize a refund for what we received for each of those days (net of: price increases, Airbnb fees and any other charges) 15 days after reservation(s) that includes the cancelled days have ended, but no more than your cancellation charge.
I hope you feel that we’re being more than fair and will think of us when you return to the area.
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I strongly disagree with you about waiting to refund until 15 days after a replacement booking has been paid in case there are damages.
If a host is willing to refund if cancelled dates get rebooked, that should be based on the nightly fee. Whether a replacement booking causes damages has nothing to do with that.
Either a host sticks hard-line to their cancellation policy or they refund when they get paid for the original booking and the rebooked dates. The guest who cancelled isn’t financially responsible for the behavior of another guest.
If you offered to refund if you filled the dates, but deducted $ from rebooked dates because Guest B caused damages that were not paid for, I most certainly would not “feel we are being fair and think of us when you return to the area”.
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I find myself amazed that you are putting so much work into providing a refund to a guest you are not required to.
I expect to be paid for the work I put in. I have done the ‘refund if I get booked’ drill once and found out that the guest kept sending me messages every day to check if it has to rented and if I could lower the rates, etc.
I don’t refund because its too much work to refund and I am not required to. I also think a person who is asking for a refund is not keeping their word, and they are immoral and unethical.
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Seems just as fair as asking for a refund that shouldn’t be expected 
I’ve had the same experience. I did it three times (slow learner I guess, lol) and all three times it was a complete painintheass. Each time it felt like a bad relationship where I was bullied and manipulated multiple times a day. The guests even got Airbnb to call and harass me. They tried to make me decrease my minimum stay and change my prices and one of them even tried to make me allow children and infants in an effort to have the dates rebooked “just to do a favor for this guest”. WTAF?
It was too much and I’m never doing it again. On top of it, I use the moderate cancelation policy so the guest is always 1. canceling at a very late date and 2. going to receive 50% back anyway. And 9 time of 10 I’m going to take my 50%, block the dates and have some time off as is my right. It’s absurd that I should have to give that up so that someone might possibly get a refund they don’t deserve.
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A guest demanding a refund they aren’t entitled to, harrassing a host about it, calling Airbnb in an attempt to get refunded, that attitude is certainly unfair and rude.
A guest asking politely,“Would you consider refunding any dates you manage to rebook?” and accepting whatever answer they get doesn’t seem at all unfair or unreasonable to me.
It hardly is equivalent to a host saying they will refund rebooked dates, and then deducting any damage expense a rebooked dates guest causes. That’s just such a bizarre idea to me.
I’m sure the guest still thinks you are keeping their money even if they didn’t stay: “How unfair and unethical host you are! I’m never staying at an Airbnb again and this host should be banned. I’m also going to post it on Twitter.”
They just don’t get it that most of the work we put in our listing to be available in clean condition, and without any maintenance issues happens before their stay.
Some finance people get it. It’s a call option, and the accommodation fee is the price for that option. You can choose not to exercise your option but you still have to pay for the option that you purchased.
It seems to me that this is one of those things that you might choose to do it differently but once a Host is generous enough to offer a refund the Host is under obligation to provide then it seems that it’s not a matter of ‘disagreement.’
I don’t really know how you could find a ‘should’ in this scenario where the Host is not required to provide anything.
Anyway, in my refund formula it IS based on the nightly fee BUT NOT ONLY THAT.
But you nevertheless raise a good point. In a world where no refund is required, what kinds of refund formulas seem most fair?
You’re saying that the cancelling guest should not be responsible for the behavior of another guest.
That sounds reasonable and that COULD be a limiting factor in the calculation of the refund IF the Host chose that. When I thought about this I had the same inclination as you. Then I had another thought.
What if the Host, who now has the cancelled money from this reservation in hand, says I am making a promise I don’t have to make. The KEY reason I am willing to make such a promise is that I am crafting it in such a way that THERE’s NO WAY, or ALMOST NO WAY that I am going to lose this money in my hand!
In other words, I am not looking to double dip or gain – not that there is anything wrong in that, just not my style. But I don’t want to craft a refund in such a way that I look back and regret the way I wrote it because I no longer have all this money in my hand.
So it’s not that the Host wishes to hold the cancelling guest for the actions/omissions of the rebooking guest but the Host simply doesn’t to lose any money in its hand.
The guest can argue that that is the effect of the refund policy as crafted. That might be one of many effects; its purpose is to avoid the possibility that the Host lose any money in its hand.
I would not say:
Instead I would say, acurrately, here is the refund amount, which is the amount we received for the cancelled days less adjustments for price increases, Airbnb fees and other charges.
But, I could easily seeing a Host choosing to take that risk – at least one member here would simply refund and count on re-booking.
So, you might well decide should you give a refund to pay it earlier say:
when I get paid for that reservation (scheduled to be the day after check-in)
I hadn’t ever thought about it before but it does make sense to me. The push to refund a rebooked date has generally been presented as ‘double-dipping for profit is wrong’. That idea is that a host shouldn’t make excess money from a rebooked date. In that same vein, I can’t see why a host should lose money from a rebooked date either. No one should end up with a negative balance from doing a favor for the guest.
The guest has no right to a refund that is in excess of what the host makes from the rebooked date. For example,
If you cancel a date that you booked for $200 and the host rebooks it for you at $175 you can’t expect to receive $200 from the host. You can only expect a maximum of $175 in refund
If you cancel a date that you booked for $200 and the host isn’t able to rebook it then you can’t expect to receive any refund from the host.
If you cancel a date that you booked for $200 and the host rebooks it for you but it is subsequently canceled by the new guest then you can’t expect to receive any refund from the host.
So I’d say it’s the same for claims, whether it be a forced refund from Airbnb or damage:
If you cancel a date that you booked for $200 and the host rebooks it for you for $200 but Airbnb gives the new guest a partial refund of $100 because the guest “thought it was going to be closer to downtown” then you can’t expect a $200 refund from the host.
If you cancel a date that you booked for $200 and the host rebooks it for you for $200 but the new guest causes $300 worth of damage that Airbnb refuses to cover then you can’t expect any refund from the host.
If the host doesn’t make money on a rebooked date then the guest doesn’t get a refund from the rebooked date.
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This is the way and it’s more than fair.
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You are keeping their money. How you spend it, whether it’s to clean, fix a broken screendoor, or pay your mortgage is a separate thing. If you aren’t refunding the money, you are keeping it. (I’m not making a judgement call on refunding or not, just pointing out the twisted semantics you use)
It’s like hosts who don’t see why they should have to declare their earnings and pay taxes on it, because “I’m not running a business, I’m just offsetting my rent by renting out a couple of rooms”.
[quote=“JJD, post:29, topic:56624”] If
you cancel a date that you booked for $200 and the host rebooks it for you at $175 you can’t expect to receive $200 from the host. You can only expect a maximum of $175 in refund
If you cancel a date that you booked for $200 and the host isn’t able to rebook it then you can’t expect to receive any refund from the host.
If you cancel a date that you booked for $200 and the host rebooks it for you but it is subsequently canceled by the new guest then you can’t expect to receive any refund from the host.
So I’d say it’s the same for claims, whether it be a forced refund from Airbnb or damage:
[/quote]
I agree with all of your examples but the last one concerning claims. Charging someone for something they had no responsibility for is, as I said, a bizarre notion to me. It’s like me adding the cost of a car repair to one of my upholstery clients’ bill because I happened to hit something on the way to their house and broke my side view mirror off, or got a flat tire.
Like these?
How? If it was their money they wouldn’t be asking for a favor. They spend their money on a reservation, it’s no longer theirs.
I run into a lot of those people too. It’s especially prevalent right now because of the change in 1099 requirements here for 2023. People are saying things like, “does that mean I have to report it now” 
But to be fair, there are some hosts that really don’t have to report it because of the 14 day rule.
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And I’d like to add that I have earned the money by agreeing to make my space available to them. The fact that they chose not to exercise their “call option” is not my problem. The option price still has to be paid. I am willing to hold my end of the deal: which is to make my space available for the agreed upon duration.
Business cannot exist when contracts cannot be enforced.
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They had the responsibility to not make a reservation they couldn’t keep.
The host has no responsibility for the guest canceling, thus losing money but the guest wants to charge the host for it, lol.
It’s really as simple as:
If you pay $200 and then cancel and I rebook the date for you but make $10 from the rebooking, why the hell would I give you $200?
It’s not plausible to return money to a guest, as a favor no less, that has not been re-earned. The whole point of refunding a guest for a rebooked date is that the money has been replaced by the new guest. If the money is not fully replaced by the new guest, for any reason, then there is no money to give to the guest that canceled.
It’s one thing to ask a host not to double-dip but it’s an entirely different thing to ask a host to lose money on the deal.
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That’s true. I’m confident that we all have different levels of flexibility, understanding, forgiveness, business financials, etc but I doubt that there are very many of us that would continue to host if guests could cancel anytime they wanted and get a full refund.
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Um, what’s the 14 day rule?
I’ve read this whole thread up to here and have to say:
THIS is why we’ve stuck with the simple “Flexible” cancellation policy. I know, In know; not all hosts can handle that kind of situation. But it sure makes it simple on our end. Anyone asking for a refund if they cancel within the 24 hours, gets the comment," Sure! If I can get those dates rebooked, I’ll offer you the refund!" (We have min 1-day advanced notice.)
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It’s the IRS Minimal Rental Use rule. It says that if you rent out a dwelling that you use as a residence for 14 or fewer days a year then you don’t have to report any income on it (but you also can’t deduct any expenses for it).
I’ve always used the Moderate policy (precisely because it seems inherently fair with it’s 50/50 split in case of a cancelation). They can cancel up to 5 days before but it gets pretty sticky when I have a 4-5 day minimum, which is usually. I tried the approach you describe by saying, sure if we get those rebooked, but then they complain to Airbnb that my minimum stay is preventing “their” dates from being rebooked 
I was being cheeky. If someone is canceling less than 24 hours before check-in, I consider it a no-show and the “possibility” that it might rebook in mere hours is absurd. It essentially would drive home the point that I have no chance of rebooking, and due to the guests literally last-minute cancellation, I would be eating their “call option” cost if I were to offer a refund in that case. I can’t offer a more guest-friendly cancellation policy, so I expect there to be no debate for refunds. That being said, if they gave me the sob-story-of-the-year, and I believed it, I’d still consider refunding, because I’m a human being. But probably not.
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