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

[Monica2067]

You can put all the lipstick you want on it, it's still a pig.  We're exploring our other options now and if this goes through as planned will likely pull from Airbnb completely.

[Jessica2626]

I can’t believe Airbnb thinks it makes sense for people to stay in your home for THREE DAYS before they can decide they don’t like it and want to leave and collect a free stay? It’s not worth the risk to do business here. Especially when other STR platforms are gaining so much traction. Airbnb isn’t safe for hosts anymore. 

[Ann72]

Exactly my thoughts, @Jessica2626 - "it's not worth the risk."

[Per-and-Åsa0]

My biggest concern with Airbnb is the terrible support from the Ambassador. They respond after 24 hour using a standard template and very often do not address the issue you brought up. Or even give you the wrong answer. I talked to an Ambassador that stated that it is not possible to make a promotion that is shorter than 28 Days. My question was is that correct and how I could see the median price. 10 days later and 10 responses from Airbnb they have still not been able to answer this simple question. My follow-up question - how an early bird offer affects the medium price and where can I see what my medium prices are - has neither been answered. @Catherine-Powell 

[Catherine-Powell]

@Per-and-Åsa0 I appreciate you sharing your concerns with me. Someone from our team is going to follow-up with you regarding both of those questions, so we can make sure you get the support you need.

As always, many thanks for reaching out to me here in the Community Centre,
Catherine

[Per-and-Åsa0]

Catherine, The issue is still open. No one contacted me

[Emilie]

@Per-and-Åsa0 Sorry to hear you're still waiting for an answer on this one - I'll chase this for you and let you know what I can find out!

[Per-and-Åsa0]

Emille, 

Still no response, and it is very clear that there is a bug in how you set the prices, This time I received a base price that was hight then the prices I have set.  As you might know there is a bug in Airbnb software resulting in wrong prices to customer. I have been reimbursed  for one of the bookings with the wrong pricing. The Ambassador wrote:

“I can process a reimbursement for the reservation HMD2J4xxx that you sent me. For the other reservations you may contact us again anytime that you are available for us to check.”

Then the ongoing case was closed. I have provided a list of additional bookings affected, but not received any response so far.

[Emilie]

Hi @Per-and-Åsa0, 

I'm sorry to hear you've still not received satisfying responses. I am not part of the Support team so I cannot look into what's going on however I've let the team know this is still an issue for you so they can review what's happened. 

Thanks, 

Emilie 

[Victoria-And-Todd0]

You should be listed on multiple platforms any way. Never put all your eggs into one basket, and this  new "rule" demonstrates why. 

[Gaga1]

After u did not support me on the huge party and 10 extra guests, I do not belive u a word! BS

[Jenny]

It sounds like you've had a bad experience, @Gaga1 - would you like to tell me more about what happened?

[Ann72]

Here it is @Catherine-Powell:

"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." 

The reason they're more focused on getting settled in an alternate location is not that 24 hours isn't enough time to "reach out."  Guests have reached out, but they've been on hold with Customer Support for most if not all of those 24 hours.  The fault is with Airbnb, and rather than resolve it, they are dumping the problem on hosts.

I'm going to finish out the year with Airbnb and then move forward with other platforms.  I can't face the risk I'm being forced to assume with this new policy.

[Sharon1428]

Why?  You can be on several platforms.  They are all different places to advertise. 

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi Ann,

Thank you for sharing these comments. I can see you've been with us on the platform since 2015 and that means a lot to me and to us. From your feedback, and the feedback we have received from other Hosts, we understand that many Hosts aren’t familiar with this policy, and our update raised more questions than answers. We pulled together this list of frequently asked questions to help provide more details about how this policy works. I hope this helps address your concerns.

Thank you again for posting,
Catherine