Request for refund after cancellation

Research
23

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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24

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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26

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.

27

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.

28

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)

31

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”.

32

[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.

34

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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37

Um, what’s the 14 day rule?

38

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.)

1 Like
40

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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41

We make a similar offer, but make it a little more explicit that we are under no actual obligation to do so. This is designed to prevent guests with an entitled mindset from coming back and saying that it’s “not fair” they have to wait.

We say something like – "… Although our agreement with you does not require us to do so, as a goodwill gesture we are prepared to voluntarily reimburse your cancellation penalty if we receive “replacement income” for any of your cancelled nights which are booked and paid for by another guest. Although there is no guarantee, this voluntary refund could provide you with a partial or full reimbursement of the accommodation portion of your payment to Airbnb, depending on how many of your cancelled nights are booked by someone else. If you do receive a refund it will be sent to you by Airbnb after we have been paid by the replacement guests some time after we have been paid at the beginning of their stay in <“month” or “next week” or whatever best describes the timing>

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43

I may be in the minority here but I have a lenient cancellation policy. I’ve had approximately 4 cancellations in the 2 years I’ve been hosting. I don’t know if it’s my imagination or if it just seems to happen this way, but within 24 hrs of the cancellation I get a booking for similar dates or other dates, it’s as if it puts you higher in the algorithm at least temporarily.

I like things as simple as possible so there is no way I’d remember to refund later, lol.

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44

I don’t think it’s because of a cancellation per se, but because previously blocked dates suddenly open up. The same thing might happen if you had blocked dates yourself for some reason, then opened them back up. The algorithm likes to see blocked dates open up.

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45

In my particular situation, I can get a booking anytime of the day or night, I normally book out only a couple of weeks and and since I have very short stays, it’s very possible that I cancel the booking at 10 AM and would get a rebooking at 10:02 AM. When Airbnb blocks my listing for 12 hours, for example, because the guest isn’t set up correctly, every one of those 12 hours could have a booking. And those of you who booked six or nine months in advance are still at the mercy of the moment. Someone looking for a cabin on a Friday afternoon isn’t gonna say oh I’ll just look another day just in case I imagine. So I’m sorry to make everybody more nervous about all this but yes, a booking could happen the moment after you open up the room.

46

No nervousness here. I require one day’s advance notice and have a one night prep time block. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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47

You really think everyone knows that they might have something arise that means they would have to cancel? Of course you don’t. People don’t normally make reservations anticipating cancelling them.
What they have a responsibility for is to make sure they have read the cancellation policy and are prepared to abide by it without whining or demanding a refund.

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50

Yes, but I was saying that it’s likely not specifically related to a cancellation, but to previously blocked dates opening up. Of course I don’t know for sure, but the algorithm might not make a distinction between why blocked dates open up, just that they have. When I have blocked dates myself for some reason, but then opened them back up, my search ranking also goes up. The algorithm likes to see availability. No point putting a listing on page one if the dates are all blocked for the next 2 months unless all the similar listings in that area also have no availability.

52

I didn’t really understand what Rolf was referring to either.

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54

I mentioned ‘nervousness’ because most of the time (for ME anyway) I am nervous that when my schedule is blocked that I am anxious - I’m ‘sure’ that someone is out there who would book the dates blocked but does not see them on the page. I am not ok with being comfortable that access to my listings is dependent on airbnb or a guest releasing the holds.

1 Like