Our recent change to the guest refund policy

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi Everyone, 

Hosts are the heart and soul of Airbnb. I want you to know we value you, we’re working every day to improve your hosting experience, and we’re listening to you. Recently, we updated our rebooking and refund policy to allow guests up to 72 hours to report travel issues, rather than 24 hours. Let me take you through our thinking as a company to get to this decision. 

As a two-sided marketplace, we are always putting ourselves in the shoes of both Hosts and guests. In this case, guests have been telling us 24 hours wasn’t enough time to reach out for help if something goes wrong. For example, if a guest wasn’t able to check in due to a malfunctioning lock, they may be more focused on getting settled in an alternative location and attending the event they traveled for. We also heard from Hosts that 24 hours often wasn’t enough time to resolve a guest’s concerns. For example, if a guest notified a Host that the air conditioner stopped working, it could take more than a day to contact a repair person and fix it. The 24-hour window was causing guests to feel like they had to cancel early, when more time would have been enough for Hosts to fully address the concern and keep the reservations.

We went through a similar assessment when we considered extending the filing period for Hosts to submit reimbursements requests. As part of AirCover—which includes $1 million in Host damage protection—if guests cause damage, you have 14 days to request reimbursement after they check out, even if other guests have already checked in.

I also want to assure you that we rigorously assess claims from guests in order to help protect you from fraudulent claims. And, we take action to hold guests accountable for those types of violations of our Community Standards. If a Host disagrees with our determination about a guest report, they may contest our decision and if after reviewing evidence provided by the Host, we agree with that Host, they will receive their payout for that reservation.

Your house rules are another important tool to help ensure the guest rebooking and refund policy is used as intended. House rules set and manage expectations for guests. For example, if you have a backyard pool, you might include a note that you make every attempt to keep the pool as clean as possible, but at times leaves and debris may end up on the surface. This can help guests understand why there may be leaves in the pool. 

Because of the importance of house rules, we’ve made them visible to guests when they book, and by booking, guests are agreeing to read and abide by them. House rules are also taken into account when guest refund claims are made, if relevant. Here are some helpful tips for writing and updating your house rules for guests.

We design all of our updates to help build trust, and will continue to do so as we actively listen to your feedback and concerns. I hope this note has addressed some of the questions I have heard. I want to end by thanking you for all that you do to provide the best possible hospitality for our guests.

Warmly, 

Catherine Powell
Airbnb Global Head of Hosting

[Sharon1428]

This means guests have 72 hours ie 3 DAYS to come up with an excuse to get money back; full or partial after they have stayed.

After they have been in the house one, two, and three days! They already abuse this.  This is just wild! 

[Sharon1428]

Also, the security deposit change on the listing.

Security deposits no longer exist 1 May 2022.

= That means there is 0 amount of AVAILABILITY on a card or payment method there is 0 money charged for damages?

And also, if on a card they do a charge back? (which other companies will not allow and will fight for you if it occurs). 

[Mark116]

@Sharon1428  The security deposit never existed, it was always at the discretion of the guest.  If the guest refused to authorize any charge, then it wouldn't happen.  

[Mg5]

Yes, the loss of security deposit to my mind is the greater evil. With a security deposit, guests will at least try to be respectful. Not any more.

[Cindy-Avery--Brand-Attn--0]

Could you please elaborate?  There will no longer be a damage deposit?? 
Thank you! 

[Pat271]

Ms. Powell, what you said here:

We also heard from Hosts that 24 hours often wasn’t enough time to resolve a guest’s concerns. For example, if a guest notified a Host that the air conditioner stopped working, it could take more than a day to contact a repair person and fix it. The 24-hour window was causing guests to feel like they had to cancel early, when more time would have been enough for Hosts to fully address the concern and keep the reservations.

The new 24-hour window isn’t for the host fixing problems, it’s for guest reporting problems, so your explanation doesn’t apply. What is the actual reason you extended the reporting window from 24 to 72 hours? Surely 24 hours is ample time for a guest to report any problem that arises.

[Michelle53]

@Pat271 @Catherine-Powell  That's exactly the point. 24 hours is for "Notifying" not for "Rectifying".   

How on earth is a host who takes a weekend or 3-day booking supposed to "Rectify" anything if they don't get "Notified" until after the guest checks out ?

[Michelle53]

ETA: One can only conclude that "Rectifying" is irrelevant, and that the only purpose to the policy is "Refunding". 

[JJ48]

Why should a guest spend 3 days with anything that should be rectified?  Not rhetorical, I cannot come up with a reason. 

[Property2]

@Catherine-Powell Catherine, please, you are not talking to a bunch of kindergarten kids here, so there is no need to feed us fairy tales.

Your stated that "Hosts are the heart and soul of Airbnb. I want you to know we value you, we’re working every day to improve your hosting experience".  I am glad that finally the light bulb went on and Airbnb started realizing that there is no Airbnb without the hosts. With that said, I would be really curious to know how you work every day to improve our hosting experience...  So far, the hosting experience consistently gets worse with each policy change.

The new 72-hour policy is an open invitation for scammers to take advantage of the hosts. The guests can stay at my beach property for a 3-day weekend, make a mess, drop stuff on the kitchen floor, break things, and at the end of day 3 simply demand a refund for a mess they made claiming various travel issues that never existed. How does this new policy and your "every day work" improve my hosting experience? How does it protect me, as a host, from people messing up my property and staying there for free due to a fraudulent claim? 24 hours is not enough for a guest to notice a travel issue? 

Also, there is no need to advertise the Host damage protection, it does not work. Airbnb made an excellent effort to excel in how to deny a damage claim, how to ignore a "damage deposit" by refusing to charge the guests for any damage,  and even how not to pay for the damages when the arbitration claim is filed. Believe me, I know this from my personal experience.  The guests ruined my leather couch, 2 professionals confirmed the damage by a pet (pets are strictly forbidden on my property) and your "wonderful" outsourced support stuff that have no credentials to assess the damage,  determined "regular wear and tear" just by looking at the pictures of the damage and ignoring opinions of the licensed professionals .  Host protection??? Where??? I am out of $1,200 as a result. How can anyone promote host damage protection with a straight face? In addition, there are new tactics by the Airbnb legal team, - after the arbitration claim is filed, they simply ask to move the matter to the courts knowing that this is much more time and money consuming for the hosts. Is this what the "every day work" is to improve the hosting experience? As a result of Airbnb actions, I simply unlisted my property...

You need to be aware that many of the hosts feel that they are abandoned by Airbnb, they do not feel valued and appreciated even though you state they are "heart and soul of Airbnb". Perhaps, AIrbnb needs to take care of its heart and soul since we all know what happens when the heart failure is diagnosed... Thank you for listening.

[Donna1157]

And that is why Skift - a travel /lodging industry leader: "We are the leading travel news outlet - on a journey to better understand the world’s largest industry" writes:

Airbnb at times has seemed to lean more toward the rights of guests than hosts while smaller rival Vrbo has done the opposite, tilting toward hosts at some junctures to the disadvantage of guests.

[Helen744]

@ Donna1157  no personal advertising here Donna as far as  I know H

[JJ48]

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@Helen744 wrote:

@ Donna1157  no personal advertising here Donna as far as  I know H

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So glad I'm not the only one picking up on this. Errrgh. 

[Donna1157]

@Helen744 Thanks for you comment. This not personal advertising. It is travel news reporting. The issue has made the headlines in the following news outlets:

VRMintel
Skift- AND bless their hearts- Yahoo News has not only picked up the story they have broken the paywall to allow everyone read the assessment of this policy with regard to the travel industry. And Helen- this IS an industry with investors, and more to the Airbnb issue- shareholders
As quoted from Yahoo News:

"But making policies friendlier to guests will almost inevitably spur host anger, and the converse is also true. It’s the challenge of operating a marketplace where your customers are both hosts and guests.

There’s the adage that businesses forget their customers at their own peril. In Airbnb’s case, when your customers are both hosts and guests, that becomes an extremely complicated tap dance"

[Donna1157]

Further analysis in other reporting outlets questions:
"Will this be enough to convince hosts that Airbnb’s policies are balanced? They may be on paper yet decisions by Resolution Center case workers are definition subjective. They make a call and there is no appeal possible. How they make their decision is part of Airbnb’s corporate culture. For the moment, this culture has seemed to favor guests, when it comes to complaints."