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

[Ann72]

And thus @Huma0 our rules and house manuals get longer and longer, making it less and less likely that any guest will read them.

[Karla502]

I have a good one from. 2 days ago. 2 old lady’s complained about the internet. According to them it wasn’t working but I can see my router and it seems like the speed is great. I asked her to send me a screenshot of her phone. It shows that the internet is great and the problem is that is has 2 bars instead of 4 for the carrier service (spectrum problem). I explain that and she says, please fix the carrier problem. Hahaha. I have to tell her to call her carrier but at the same time I was talking to her over the phone so I told her, do you realize your phone is fine. Even at 2 bars it’s working well so you don’t need to see the 4 bars to talk to somebody. She understood but her first thing to do was to complain about the internet while she had internet all the time

[Manuela1032]

I will simply take my apartment anouncement out from Airbnb.

[Manuela1032]

I will just take my apartment anouncement out Airbnb.

[John5097]

@Catherine-Powell I also appreciate you taking the time to keep in touch with the hosting community, get feedback, and improve communication. Its always fun to see you commenting at the CC! 

As @Emilia42 said your explication of the approach taken helps us understand the thought process behind it. 

Now imagine being a host with confused guest, who didn't read the listing, didn't click on the "show more" option for the house rules, in their rental unit upset and in state of confusion.  

But how did it get off on the wrong foot? As @Huma0 suggested they didn't read the listing, house rules, which you also mentioned as being important. 

So some suggestions:

1) Have the same ability for host to require a first message when using Request to Book, and have option for host to include instructions, the same feature as Instant Book. This is critical feature. Guest prefer having some instructions on what to include.  It might be something like this for me, "I look forward to hosting you! Please read the brief listing, other things to note, and houses rules-- make sure click on the drop down arrow to see them all. Include a first message that states the person making the reservation is the one staying, and what brings you here. For example, "Me and my husband will be traveling for vacation and looking forward to our stay!" 

After that everything is so much easier. If guest didn't read the listing or house rules, they can go into this state of confusion, some wondering why an amenity isn't included, when that info was plastered all over the listing, and this behaviour can degenerate, where they are confused and notice their own dirt two days after staying.   

2) Have all guest and host verify their ID. This also creates a structured environment for people that may be less stable for whatever reason. I did notice in the TOS a good deal of specifics was mentioned on ABB collecting guest info, so I can only hope that means Airbnb will be more diligent on requiring ID verification. 

3) Guest should complete profile. Once again. More structure. Not just some stranger on the other side of a blank screen, more prone to being in state of confusion.  

4) Do more to educate guest that their info is private. 

4) Guest should be required to report most issues and reach out to host within 24 hours. Guest shouldn't have option to stay in a place over two days then notice its dirty or something wasn't working and they never reached out to host. Most likely guest simply needed some instructions and most are very reluctant to send message. 

But most problems are from guest not bothering to read the listing or brief message. I've had many guest and some also host, who are upset I haven't sent the door code, for example, waiting in the driveway, and it was included in the first message and subsequent messages all say their door code is in first confirmation message! They just don't bother to even read the brief message and expect my listing to be exact same as the last one. 

As it is now, Airbnb prioritizes guest not communicating, not reading the listing, using instant book and they are simply confused. So I think some of the suggestions above would create more structured environment.  

 

[John5097]

Edit: Wanted to update this. The Other Things to Note is very effective. Its placement in the Listing Description is much more likely guest will read it. Any important House Rules that guest would need to click on drop down to see, should be put in the OTTN. 

That's why the option for Host to require a First Message and brief Instructions while Booking with Request to Book is essential. I would just mention to read the Listing and Other Things to Note. Most guest aren't going to navigate all the cryptic drop downs. 

That would add a lot of structure and improve communication, avoid misunderstandings, and confusion. Guest are inclined to follow Host and Airbnb policy but only when they are aware of them.  A host doesn't want to be in damage control mode over something that could have been avoided with improved communication. 

[Mark116]

@John5097 I don't think Airbnb cares about this.  If they did, there are many easy things they could do to improve guests understanding of the process, policies and properties they're booking.  As the saying goes, better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Airbnb chooses to buy guest satisfaction with host's money, and its very unlikely they are going to change.  It has served them well.  Look at the great PR they got when they voided their cancellation policies for Covid?  Suspending innocent hosts for a couple of weeks is nothing to Airbnb if it gets them good PR overall.  

[John5097]

@Mark116 Thats true. But allowing host to have the option to require first message and some instructions,  or question, for request to book, is a very simple fix. It would help speed up the check out process and minimize host not approving the request. I recall a recent post of yours that said some guest request to book and never return back or respond to basic questions. This would happen to me all the time. 

So we are between Airbnb not facilitating very basic communication that would greatly help speed up reservation and minimize "message tag", and host who expect guest to read a 10 page guide before making a reservation. You see this all the time, host expect too much and Airbnb has zero. So just a minor adjustment like allowing such a practical and useful feature would help reduce problems thoughout the stay. 

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @John5097 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and suggestions. Your comments echo what many Hosts have raised here. I can understand how frustrating it must be if a guest doesn't take the time to read and understand the full details of your listing and therefore what to expect. Your suggestions of how we can improve the guest education are very interesting. I'll be sharing this with the team as we continue to evaluate how to best present information on Airbnb.

Best,

Catherine

[John5097]

@Catherine-Powell Appreciate your response! Just to clarify, I don't expect guest to read every detail in the listing. It would be nice but just not realistic. 

I agree a lot of host share some of these concerns, but I think the real reason host are upset is that we are seeing the day to day communication in real time. This is already leaving a huge void for misunderstanding and unjustified refunds. 

I did try Request to Book but soon had guest who first didn't include any message so the request never appeared to the host, then would create another Request to Book, and simply say, "vacation" in the message. No reviews, no profile, etc. I had to decline it and stopped using Request to Book. This would happen over and over, and host are expected to maintain an acceptance rate, yet aren't giving the basic tools or features to establish an agreement with the guest. This makes the host invisible and more prone for guest to become confused.  

It may only be 5% of guest but it only takes 1% of guest to bring a super host listing to an end.  
 

[John5097]

I realize Airbnb has a tough challenge to balance between host and guest. Often times here at the CC we host read each others listings, especially if a host is complaining, (its happened to me!) and unfortunately a lot of listings simply aren't accurate and don't provide relevant info so just a sales pitch so guest may not be inclined to read listings. That's why I would like the function to point guest in the right direction. I also mentioned in the previous topic that I have a long list of other things to note. I'd like to trim it back some but do put the most important things up top. By including brief suggestion to look over other things to note, if guest has an issue they would then at least go back and read the listing. I've had guest who are perfectly honest and said they didn't read the listing. Thanks again! 

[Mary419]

@Catherine-Powell How did your Zoom meeting go today? Did you convince the participants that Airbnb knows better than them about this policy? 

I just want to let you know why I did not "attend" because I have sent my sincere, honest/earnest feedback via email, phone and of course the usual "screaming into the void" using the famous feedback link for years now since around 2015. My little business is literally a cross section of your huge business and every statistic of my business mirrors your business for some reason. Quite an interesting economic trivia factoid. Every time you release stats, it happens to mirror my own business stats percentage wise. 

I have tried every online booking marketplace. I have many years of experience and stats using Airbnb and VRBO and at least a year using any other site anyone knows of. 

The fact that we are at this bizarre crossroads at this point in time proves that Airbnb is totally out of touch. I have never spent any time posting on a social media type site about any other marketplace.

 Airbnb leadership believes it is reinventing a wheel that was actually invented in the 70's or earlier. Airbnb did NOT invent vacation rental. It had some unique ideas which were genius and those in my opinion are boiled down to:

1. Saving credit cards just like Amazon to make repeat purchases easier 

2. Otherwise making online checkout faster (sadly this meant guests not reading details)

3. Being an early adopter of "room" and other unusual rentals like tents, igloos, tree houses 

4. Being a prettier mobile app making young people like it better starting a few years ago

These things are all that Airbnb did better. They did not invent this business as they seem to think they did. Everything else other than the list above, Airbnb did the same or worse than the traditional players.

And the things it did better made people like me stick with it for a long time.I am a logical person. I stuck with you between 2018 and 2021 because I thought you were getting me some good bookings for random weekdays that might not book if I was only on other sites. I am able to weigh pros and cons. But then it crept into my awareness that if normal weekends which could have booked on any site were booked on your site... my risk shot up to the moon for losses. 

I am able to run statistics and in fact have a minor college degree in that subject so that is just second nature to me. I still like to do things the easy way so I stuck with you past the disaster that was 2020. 

The lack of a "real security deposit" was always a borderline deal breaker....depending on how many incidents made me think about it....but until 2020 not many incidents pressed the point. Just a few typical AC is broken and I got abused by an Airbnb phone agent type thing....but it was rare and some other employees made up for it. 

Then starting 2020 the earth shaking refund situation for minor complaints even for hosts who had a long history (super hosts) and for guests who actually stayed in the listing.

News of good hosts getting suspended is just the new cherry on top  and that news became scarily common. 

I see below you noted that a "the impact of a cockroach in a Florida listing" is not a part of this refund fiasco in your eyes but I am here to tell you that YES IT IS. It is exactly a huge part of this uproar.  I personally have just been driven off the deep end by this, basically as the straw that broke the camel's back. But leaves on yards, decks, pools are no less illogical. 

I want you to know that I gave Airbnb every fighting chance to listen to my experience and take advantage of my FREE communication. I have hundreds of emails saved. It did not matter.

[Catherine-Powell]

Mary,

We would love to include you in future workshops. We hosted a number of workshops to capture feedback from our Host community and quickly realized that we needed to provide even more clarity about how the policy works. As you may have seen already, we put together this list of frequently asked questions in our Resource Centre to further clarify the update we made. We truly hope this is useful.

Thank you,
Catherine

@Mary419 

[Dolly36]

@Catherine-Powell while I certainly understand trying to find balance in the dispute process, 72 hours is far too long and like others have mentioned, only serves to open the window of opportunity for the wrongdoers to take advantage of us. The reason why I believe 72 hours is far too long is that, let's face it, if the place is "that bad" there is no way anyone in their right mind will stay beyond a day.  My question is, why make it three days? If there is a faulty lock, broken ac, or anything that makes the place uninhabitable, train your reps to use common sense and discernment between issues. If someone complains about a cockroach in a Florida listing? Have a process where the reps can determine what steps did the guest take to notify the host? Was the notification timely? As an example, if a guest complains about a dirty listing on the third day, why didn't they complain upon check-in?   Also, take into consideration, what steps is the host taking to remedy the problem? Discernment is the key here, not more policies.  

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Dolly36 

i appreciate your concerns about the 72-hour period and the issue of discernment. You are absolutely right - this judgement, taking into account fairness and reason, is critical. 

I would like to make a distinction, however, between discernment (the difference between the impact on a guest if they cant get into the house, or the AC isn't working versus the impact of a cockroach in a Florida listing) and the 72 hour window. The window has been extended because we heard from both guests and Hosts 24 hours was too short a window for notifying Airbnb (guests want to be able to talk to Hosts, Hosts want to be able to fix things and it might take longer than 24 hours, before a guest would need to notify Airbnb). But this should not in anyway impact the rigour in which any claim is assessed. Customer Service agents carefully review claims from guests precisely to protect you from fraudulent claims - and we have invested more time and resources in our CS teams to this end.

And we do take action to hold guests accountable for those types of violations of our Community Standards. Clearly there is more work to be done here

I will share your feedback with our teams, in particular to ensure our CS Ambassadors are also aware of these concerns.

Best wishes

Catherine