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

[Steve66]

Have you seen this? Yes, a dramatization but in essence this is how the new policy will be treated by scammers. This will bring scammers out of the woodwork! 

https://www.tiktok.com/foryou?_r=1&_t=8RGfojDC519&is_from_webapp=v1&item_id=7081768180145802542&soci...

[Pat271]

@Steve66  Yep, sigh, this would be funny if it weren’t so accurate and prevalent.

[Huma0]

@Steve66 @Pat271 

Right? There are even the leaves in the pool!

[Pat271]

As far as hosts absorbing some of the costs of “rehoming” the guest, that verbiage was there before this recent change. I think it is meant to handle the cases in which the host has egregiously misrepresented a property, and the guest either has no property to go to, or the property is vastly inferior to what was promised. Rightfully, a host should have some responsibility in this case.

The other thing that I think we’re missing is that Catherine’s post isn’t saying that the guest will receive a full refund if any item in the list of travel issues happens. She says right before the list in so many words that the travel issue will be evaluated to see if any type of partial or full refund should be considered. I’m sure there are some cases in which after evaluating, the decision is made not to issue any type of refund, or only a small, partial refund. It’s probably not all-or-nothing.

[Mark116]

@Pat271  Yeah, sure but what that means is MORE of the complete randomness that already exist within the Airbnb customer service/safety team, etc. etc.

What Airbnb needs, at least internally, are more controls and more guideliness so that responses from the company are predictable and standardized, as one would expect from a multi-billion publicly traded corporation.

[Pat271]

@Mark116  I find that any time I have to deal with customer service for any product or service lately, the quality and training is severely lacking. I almost literally cry tears of joy when I get someone competent and knowledgeable.

The world needs a whole new paradigm and/or methodology for training and putting customer service processes in place. We also need a user revolt. What exists isn’t working. But as long as the $$ continues to flow into these companies and they can handle our protests, change will be elusive.

[Mark116]

@Pat271  That's true, but Airbnb CS goes far beyond the typical poor customer service from most companies.  You aren't ever going to call Verizon and have 1 rep tell you there is nothing to be done, and call back and get another rep who credits you the last 12 months of your payments.  Or call for service on your refrigerator and have 1 rep tell you nothing can be done and another send you a new one for free.  Airbnb is completely unpredicable in how they apply their rules and this is not acceptable. 

[Colleen253]

@Mark116 @Pat271 The heart of the problem really does lie in the issues with Airbnb CS.  So any assurances made by  @Catherine-Powell, such as those made in this post, simply cannot be trusted by hosts, as they are not borne out in actual experience. This forum is brimming with stories in testimony to that. 

[Jennifer2682]

Or call for service on your refrigerator and have a rep say that they are just going to take your fridge...   

[Yvonne41]

Having re read the announced policy changes, I think the term amenities is too vague, and has to be much better defined. Because, what if a guest takes my TV remote control and my housekeeper doesn’t notice (happened with a recent VRBO guest), will I be forced to do a full refund if the next guest reports it? What if my rules state I don’t refund if the hot tub becomes unavailable and it’s beyond my control to remedy the issue for their stay? Will Airbnb’s policy supersede my own policy? These questions need firm answers in order for me to feel an imbalanced level of risk has been shifted to me.

[Sybe]

@Pat271 thanks for taking the time to point this out and to you and @Colleen253 @Yvonne41 @Mark116 for sharing your thoughts as well on this.

[Laurie612]

@Catherine-Powell  it's not too late to change. My listing is snoozed starting 4/29, I am waiting to see if ABB will listen to us hosts and change this draconian policy. I will happily un-snooze it as soon as the policy changes. But until it changes, you will not receive any income from me; I'll rely on VRBO, Lodgify, etc. Please - -focus on the BAD hosts that this policy was intended to impact; don't throw us all under the bus. 1) Go back to 24 hours, not 72. 2) Make the "host pays" policy apply only when a host repeatedly demonstrates that he's a bad host (say, 3 big problems within a 3 month time span). 3) Vet hosts and guests better before letting them onto the platform.  You can do #1 and #2 immediately, and I'll un-snooze as soon as you do.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Laurie612 I assume you know that all your current bookings have been taken under the 'host pays' policy as this has been in place for some years now. I am hoping Airbnb will provide some stats as to how often hosts have been charged to relocate guests. My suspicion is that it is close to zero as no host has ever complained about it on the Community Centre.

[James3113]

 They will miss out on thousands of $AUD from my listing's if they continue this.     Ps 15% is absolute theft too.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@James3113 15% fees appear to be the low end of standard in the UK. Hardly absolute theft for the marketing might that Airbnb provides. It is just a shame their customer support doesn't match their marketing prowess.