Airbnb is rising in popularity as travelling has become increasingly popular and many people are always looking for ways to save money on their travel expenses. Booking an Airbnb.com for your trip can be a great option instead of staying at an expensive hotel.
If you happen to run into an issue where you need to cancel your vacation, you might be looking for a solution to cancel your Airbnb reservation. That’s where we come in! We’re going to tell you about Airbnb’s cancellation policies to provide you with all the information you need to know. First of all, can you cancel an Airbnb reservation?
Can you cancel an Airbnb booking?
Yes, you can easily cancel an Airbnb reservation. If you’ve requested a reservation and the host hasn’t confirmed yet, you can cancel and will not be charged anything. If your reservation has already been confirmed, you can still cancel, but your refund will depend on the host’s cancellation policy.
Simply put, you can always cancel an Airbnb reservation, but you aren’t guaranteed a refund in all situations. This all depends on the individual policy your Airbnb host had in place at the time you made your reservation. Now that we’ve gone over how this all works, let’s get into the instructions for how exactly to cancel an Airbnb booking.
To cancel an Airbnb reservation to get a refund:
1. Go to Airbnb.com and sign in to your account.
In your web browser, go to the Airbnb website and click Log In in the top-right corner. Then in the new window that pops up, enter your email address and password you used to sign up for your account, then click the Log In button.
2. Access your Airbnb reservations by clicking Trips.
After signing in, click the Trips button in the top-right to access your reservations.
3. Scroll through your list of bookings. Beside the booking you want to cancel click Change or Cancel.
Once you’ve accessed your list of Airbnb reservations, look through the list and find the one you want to cancel. To the side of the reservation you want to cancel and get refunded for, click Change or Cancel.
If you’ve simply requested to book the property and your host has not confirmed the booking yet, you’ll need to click Cancel Request.
4. On the next page click Cancel Reservation.
To confirm that you’d like to cancel this Airbnb booking, click the Cancel Reservation button. If you’ll be getting a refund, Airbnb will break everything down for you and let you know how much you’ll be getting back based on your host’s policies, so you won’t be surprised after finalizing cancellation of the booking.
If you had simply requested a reservation and your host had not confirmed your booking yet, you will not have been charged anything and won’t be charged any service fees either. Cancellations of reservation requests are more worry-free than cancelling confirmed bookings.
5. Wait to hear back from Airbnb about your refund.
Airbnb will send you an email to let you know that your reservation has been cancelled. Refunds can take a while to process, so keep checking your banking information to ensure that any refund you were told about has been processed and transferred to your account or credit card.
That’s all it takes to cancel an Airbnb booking and get a refund for your reservation. Now that we’ve shown you all the steps you need to take to cancel a reservation and get an Airbnb refund, we have a few more tips and helpful information we think you should know! Read the next section below to find out more.
Tips for cancelling an Airbnb:
1. Look into the details of the property you reserved to make sure it is refundable.
When you’re booking a property through Airbnb for your next vacation, pay attention to the details of the property before you book. In the “Overview” section of a property page, scroll down to read information about the host’s cancellation policies. Some may be more lenient, while others are strict about cancellations and refunds.
2. Be patient when waiting for your refund to be processed.
Receiving the refund for your cancelled booking can take a while sometimes. Try to be patient while Airbnb processes your refund and your bank puts the funds back into your account or back to your credit card.
3. Contact the property’s host.
If you want to make sure you’ll be able to get a refund or if you’re concerned about having issues with your cancellation, get in touch with the owner or host of the property so you can let them know what your situation is and see what they can do to help you out. Explaining what’s going on and talking to them may make them more likely to help you get a refund even if their property is listed as having a stricter cancellation policy.
4. Look at Airbnb’s list of Extenuating Circumstances to see if any of them apply.
If something serious happened in your life, like a serious illness or injury, and that’s the reason why you want to cancel your reservation, check out Airbnb’s valid extenuating circumstances list to see if your situation lines up with something on their list.
If you believe your reason for cancelling is valid under Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances category, you can file a claim to get a full refund. Claims can only be filed after you’ve already cancelled your reservation, and needs to be filed within 14 days of the date you were supposed to check in.
5. Get help from Airbnb’s Resolution Centre.
After talking to your host, if you’re still not able to make an agreement and find a solution to your problem and you think you deserve to get a refund due to your circumstances, you can reach out to Airbnb through their Resolution Centre for assistance and they’ll intervene and do what they can do resolve the problem. A representative will contact you and the host to get both of your stories before they make a decision.
We’ve come to the end of our tips and instructions, so now you’re armed with all the information you need to know to successfully cancel an Airbnb and get a refund for your booking. If you want to book another vacation for when it fits your schedule better, head over to our Airbnb course. To find out more about other vacation websites and apps, check out our recommendations for alternatives to Airbnb.
