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

[Katrina314]

And what, exactly, am I supposed to be advertising, @Helen744 ..??

I have plenty of respect for my fellow hosts, by the way. I just don't take kindly to being scolded and falsely accused of ridiculous things - by two separate posters, yourself included - when all I did was post a highly relevant media article about the new policy changes, that every host should read. Is that how community members around here show respect to others?

[Helen744]

@Katrina 314 I think you have gotten carried away with completely irrelevant material  and it names various gurus and companies. {advertising we call it ] Maybe you think thats okay and you also say that Airbnb are paying attention to this publication over and above anything in the community Centre without realising you yourself and all of us are here in the Community Centre H

[Mary419]

@Helen744 @JJ48 

The industry news outlets may not be familiar to you but they are mainstream and as relevant as it gets. I assure you Airbnb was not pleased with that article on VRM Intel but Airbnb is at the end of the day just one player in this industry along with several other large competing players.

Airbnb's actions are going to be analyzed, discussed and critiqued by the journalists who specialize in this specific business. 

Airbnb has a booth at every VRMA conference.  

They compete with any other marketplace/business/platform and articles like that are normal when there is a major update which will affect the users.  

[Helen744]

@Mary419 Mary We are hosts through out the world and what is outside this Centre in your particular place of living has zero context to the subject here.I know what advertising is even if I live under a rock at the outer edge of the universe . do you know it is not allowed here? H

[Mike-and-Missy0]

Here you go @Helen744 Take a good look and let us all know what you think about the new policy. Especially take note of section 4.2 where you might be financially responsible to relocate a guest. Given the climate of the post-COVID traveler (wheras guests have become more needy, pissy, picky, and demanding) could falsly claim to have an issue with your accommodations whilst Airbnb leans more and more to the side of the traveler. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2868/rebooking-and-refund-policy

[Helen744]

@Mike-and-Missy0 Mike-and -Missy, I think this policy is 'still under construction 'as it were. i often refund guests as i am sure you do to for cancellations before arrival under my "flexible 'policy as i see holding and keeping money for something someone did not receive as abbhorent in the first instance and in the second ,during covid , many people had to cancel thru no fault of their own . It is distressing for hosts, who have generally seen their businessses and their mortages and their bills in trouble,either because of these cancellations or the refunds. Moving on , which we are all trying to do a lot of hosts are simply choosing to leave . Others are caught up in Airbnbs 'churn ' caused by new hosts entering chasing'big bucks' their inevitable demise is written in the stars. we do gain some protection from these short term market hogs eating us alive by the need for a 'person or persons to be 'available to the guest. Hands off hosts may have to reconsider their methods and their branding.As for this type of refund and the now mythical '72' hours and" heaven preserve us " the apparent necessity to furnish alternate accomodation for guests . It goes too far in my opinion many things can go wrong but mostly dont ,so this policy is more or less a guest insurance and should not be charged to hosts directly and cant be really.This will only add layers of litigation to hosting and as someone said "the first time this happens is the last time I host' We most of us have lost confidence in Airbnbs customer service reps at the moment they used to be good but now the introduction of the insurance cover seems to quite frankly caused some 

greedy hosts' to put in claims for entire carpeting after a partial spill or large pieces of furniture .It would not surprise me if the insurance arm is broke .It is about time Airbnb offered guests an extra charge albeit small to mitigate against a number of things that may occur outside the hosts control. Hosts cannot continue to take loss of income and run their businesses . In my opinion H

[Helen744]

@Mike -and Missy0 Sent you a reply but it seems to be lost cheers H

[Helen744]

@Katrina314  not relevant and full of company names and so called gurus. This is the ' community centre ' that you consider is not of as much value to Airbnb as the posted {advertising }articles  H

[Katrina314]

Well, judging by the number of "thumbs up" on that post, quite a few hosts *did* find the article relevant, Helen. Just because it may not be relevant to you personally, doesn't mean that it's not of interest to others. 

Also, sorry to say but your comments aren't making a whole lot of sense to me. Are you saying that nobody is allowed to post an article on the Community Centre, ever, that mentions any company other than Airbnb? Because that would be rather Orwellian, would it not?? I'm really not convinced that posting an article that briefly mentions Post-It, Kleenex, Amazon and Uber is against forum rules, or would constitute "advertising", by any rational reckoning.

  And I did take the liberty of popping "Vrbo" - also mentioned in the article - into the search bar here in the Community Centre. And guess what? 2000 threads returned that also mention Vrbo. Are you going to post on all those threads, scolding those posters too? 

[Donna1157]

Then perhaps you may wish to review Skift's report on the issue- New Airbnb Guest Complaint Policy Tries to Balance 2-Sided Marketplace (note this does remain behind a paywall) but Founding Editor/Executive Editor, Dennis Schaal, does provide a synopsis:
Skift Take
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. Although a host land grab recruitment slugfest is under way, it makes sense to try to carve out a middle ground.

The point is Airbnb has not made sufficient bad press in the tourism, lodging and hosting space. This policy and immediate outcry by the hosts has captured leading News Outlets and all are waiting to see how Airbnb will address -fatted calves- er hosts.

[Mg5]

Sorry, but this protracted argument on this forum  is NOT helpful. Please delete it so we can read relevant comments.

[Marc571]

@JJ48 im not sure what exactly an MLM SCHEME is however I personally think that it would be a much more appropriate name and title for your most recent POLICY UPDATE. I didnt see much up in it in regards to what provisions were being leveraged,  weakened, lost , dimminshed and taken away from us that seemingly all tilted  up to the aminds powers and authoirty to further show their true parastcic nature to do notihng and live off the efforts of a host.

[Donna1157]

@Catherine-Powell would be interested on the corporation's take on what Skift's  Dennis Schaal had to say as well.
My regrets to others, such as I, who can not afford it.

[JJ48]

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@Katrina314 wrote:

@Catherine-Powell 

"I want you to know we value you, we’re working every day to improve your hosting experience, and we’re listening to you"

It's about time Airbnb realized that there are very few hosts who actually believe a single word of that anymore, Catherine. Airbnb's actions (wave after wave of missing payouts, routinely denied damage claims, arbitrary suspensions/delistings of tenured superhosts on a daily basis, blatant favouring and prioritising of guests over hosts, increasingly oppressive, controlling and detrimental policies, dysfunctional processes, malfunctioning systems, non-existent customer support etc etc), speak way louder than your placating words here.

And let me take you through hosts' thinking on your new policies (I say "your", because as Airbnb's Global Head of Hosting and a power player in the corporate body, it's inconceivable that you didn't have a key role to play in their formulation and implementation)....

Excellent article linked below - mirroring the feelings being  expressed all over social media by a broad demographic of angry, frustrated and deeply disillusioned Airbnb hosts - on how the latest policy changes massively fuel the escalating risks for hosts of accepting bookings on Airbnb's platform.

"Yesterday’s policy announcement affirms that Airbnb intends to continue buying consumer trust with refunds.

And why not? Airbnb isn’t refunding its own money. It isn’t refunding the booking fee it collects. The cost of this trust is borne on the backs of its host community"

The insightful, well-researched piece also contains eye-opening data which confirms that (contrary to what the company would have you believe), Airbnb's average stay value,average length of stay,and average booking window is below other booking channels - significantly so, in many instances (graphs in article)

"In addition to increased risk for bookings on Airbnb, compared to direct bookings, the average stay value (ASV) was 53 percent lower, the average length of stay was 31 percent smaller, and the average booking window was a 63 percent shorter for bookings on Airbnb"

Using Airbnb For Bookings Just Got Even More Risky With New Refund Policy

https://t.co/lKuTFyG75z

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You don't have any reviews, you aren't a host or a guest. You are. trying to sell crap to hosts. This is literally spam. 

https://vrmintel.com/risky-business-using-airbnb-for-bookings-just-got-even-riskier-for-vacation-ren...