Our guest rebooking and refund policy explained

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi everyone, 

We value the feedback about the rebooking and refund policy that we’ve heard from Hosts in workshops, here in the Community Center, and across Host Clubs. 

From your feedback, we understand that many Hosts aren’t familiar with the policy, and our update raised more questions than answers. We also know that you need more details about how this policy works. 

As a result of your comments, we are doing the following: 

1. We’re removing the language about Hosts being responsible for rebooking costs from the policy. 
2. We’ve also answered some of your most frequently asked questions about the policy that we’ve heard over the past week. 

You can read more about these changes here.

We hope this will help give you peace of mind, so you can focus on what you do best—providing amazing hospitality to guests from all over the world. 

Thank you for being a Host. We want you to know that we listen to your feedback. Please continue to tell us what you think so we can make sure we’re helping you meet your hosting needs. 

Best wishes,
Catherine 

[Linh160]

Removing the language of relocation is not enough to release and calm the uncertainty from the host side. Guests must report the issues and/or concern to host AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Not 72 hours. What take guests so long to report it so hosts have time to fix the issue, and/or arrange repairs, solutions in timely manner. It’s so unreasonable to apply this 72hr time frame report by guests to both short-stay (1-3 nights booking) and long-stays, in which it causes more unforeseen damage to  hosts from fraudulent reports and/or scams for a free stay. It makes more sense if guests report immediately as issues occur. Guests, at this point, have a choice of continuing stay and wait for the issues being resolved, or ask for refund of the remaining nights booking, NOT the days/nights that already past by.

The 72 hr report changes raise as much as concerns, uncertainty and/or anxiety to hosts compared to the language of relocation booking for guests @Catherine-Powell 

[Property2]

@Catherine-Powell Thank you for trying to explain these totally unnecessary and irrational policy changes to the outraged host community. While your efforts are much appreciated, the details are still not clear.

First and foremost, what “travel issue” that severely impacts the guests’ stay and warrants a full or partial refund would require 72 hours to notice and report it? In your post, you make a reference to a pool. Are you trying to say that it would take up to 72 hours for someone to notice that the pool is missing??? If the travel issue is so serious that the guests can’t stay and need to be re-homed, does it really require 72 hours to notice and report or Airbnb is inviting scammers to take advantage of the hosts?

You stated: “We investigated other possible time periods and concluded that giving guests 72 hours after they discovered an issue to report it to Airbnb actually resolved most of the guests’ concerns, because it gave Hosts more time to address the issue.” I personally would be very curious to know how this investigation was done and why nobody bothered to ask the hosts for our feedback while this “investigation” was being conducted. Could it be that Airbnb knew what to expect from the hosts' feedback and chose to inform us after the fact?

You stated: “We have a process in place to assess and investigate all guest claims to help protect Hosts from false or exaggerated reports. This process includes requiring valid proof, such as photos of the conditions or confirmation of an issue from the Host. If we identify guest misrepresentations, we take appropriate action to hold guests accountable.” Are you saying that if the Host denies the existence of the issue, that particular issue will be closed? Or this is just something that looks good on paper? There are examples all over the CC where the CS reps simply issue a refund without ever talking to the hosts. One of my guests stuck 6 gallons of warm water into the fridge, claimed the fridge was not working, demanded refund or threatened to write a bad review. How do you hold guests accountable as you bravely suggested? If they choose to leave the premises due the “non-working” fridge by actually causing that fridge to choke and they report it 72 hours later, they are entitled to a full refund according to the new refund policy.

You stated: “We have highly skilled, specialized Community Support team members who are experts on this policy.”  With all due respect, you DO NOT. Your CS reps are the most under-trained and the least knowledgeable. You are really lucky if you have never had a “pleasure” of dealing with one of them. They often don’t understand what is going on due to their language or cognitive abilities, they transfer the case to their “colleagues” and 3 days later your bot simply closes the ticket. One time, I received an initial response to my concern 14 days(!) after the ticket was opened asking me if I still needed help, with the guest having checked out 12 days before the response had been received. If these are your highly skilled stuff, it’s frightening to even imagine what less highly skilled “ambassador” would look like.

You stated: “Some Hosts collect a time-stamped video prior to every check-in to ensure they have a record of the conditions of their space immediately before guests arrive.” Could you please educate the host community on how to take a video of a working appliance (that a guest may claim as non-working) or a fast internet (that a guest claims is slow). Do you actually expect us to run a dishwasher and take a video of it? Please help us understand your thinking so we can be protected from fraudulent claims when 72 hours after the guest’s departure they have a vivid recollection of a mosquito flying in through the wide open door and ruining their sleep, so they can request a partial refund.

This policy change is anti-host, helps the scammers, and, based on the CC comments, will significantly reduce the number of available properties due to the hosts leaving Airbnb. Please, do not cut the feeding hand…

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Property2 (sorry not to have a name to address)

Thank you for your feedback. In the example of the pool, if a guest chooses to stay in the space, they would only be eligible for a partial refund for nights impacted by the amenity - so in other words the guest could not get a free stay if they choose to stay and choose not to report the issue for 72 hours. 

I wanted to share more on your note on the investigation; we did look at a number of options, and found 72 hours to be the optimal time period. We had heard from guests for years that 24 hours sometimes wasn’t enough time to reach out for help and get their issues resolved - and because of this, guests were opting for an immediate refund, versus giving Hosts the opportunity to fix an issue. We also heard from Hosts that in some cases they needed more time to resolve the issue. By extending the timeline, it should address the majority of valid guest claims for more serious issues, and also give more time for Hosts and Guests to resolve issues on their own without involving Airbnb.  

We do take any false claims made by a guest very seriously. We have a process in place to assess and investigate all guest claims to help protect Hosts from false or exaggerated reports. This process includes requiring valid proof, such as photos of the conditions or confirmation of an issue from the Host. If we identify guest misrepresentations, we take appropriate action to hold guests accountable. 

As part of this process you will always have the right to appeal a decision of a refund, Hosts who want to appeal an outcome can contact Community Support with appropriate evidence.

I appreciate your feedback on the ways to collect evidence. The video was an example that could work in some situations. For other situations like slow internet, Hosts often use a wifi speed tool test. Each situation is unique, but we work with the Host to find the best solution. 

Thank you for all your feedback  - we will be sharing it with the team. 

Warmly, 

Catherine 

[Property2]

@Catherine-Powell Thank you for your reply and thank you for helping me make my decision on the next steps with that reply. I really must give you a credit for an excellent ability of never providing a direct answer. Perfect skill that is totally appropriate when one works for Airbnb. With that said, for the ones who refuse or don’t want to understand a direct question, I am happy to restate it again. 

Why does a guest need 72 hours to notice the absence of the pool advertised in the listing? In your opinion, 24 hours would not be enough? My rentals are mostly weekend 3-nights rentals at a beach condo. Their entire stay is 72 hours. However, based on this new policy, 72 hours after the last day of a guest staying in the condo, they can start complaining about condo community pool being crowded, elevators being slow, or anything else they wish, such as non-working appliance or slow internet. I had people complaining that someone one floor above was too loud walking on a hardwood floor…  Can they do that if they stay in a hotel?  Have you personally heard of an instance that someone demanded a refund from a hotel 72 hours after they checked out due to a discovered pest or another “travel issue” that Airbnb refuses  to clearly define? Do you really think I have any possible way to ensure the elevators are running faster or the pool is less crowded? Do you think it’s reasonable for me to request someone to walk on their floors more softly while they are on their personal property? How do you think I can contest their claim that 72 hours ago their internet was slow? Based on the new policy, your wonderful and super smart ambassadors that, as you keep repeating,  are heavily invested in, will simply issue a full or partial refund. Just refer to this post as an example, please: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Farewell-Airbnb/td-p/1599936

Where else in the hospitality industry have you seen a provision that guests have 72 hours after their check out date to request a partial refund? Please kindly point me to the one if it exists.

Please go back to your TOS, what happened to the following:

“5.3 Independence of Hosts. Your relationship with Airbnb is that of an independent individual or entity and not an employee, agent, joint venturer, or partner of Airbnb, except that Airbnb Payments acts as a payment collection agent as described in the Payments Terms. Airbnb does not direct or control your Host Service, and you agree that you have complete discretion whether and when to provide Host Services, and at what price and on what terms to offer them.”  

Have you forgotten what AIrbnb mission is according to the TOS?

“16. Airbnb’s Role. We offer you the right to use a platform that enables Members to publish, offer, search for, and book Host Services. While we work hard to ensure our Members have great experiences using Airbnb, we do not and cannot control the conduct of Guests and Hosts.”  

Isn’t it exactly what you are trying to do with this new policy that fully contradicts the underlined above? It does look like AIrbnb has an itching desire to play an arbiter and control hosts and their properties.

18. Disclaimer of Warranties. We provide the Airbnb Platform and all Content “as is” without warranty of any kind and we disclaim all warranties, whether express or implied. For example: (i) we do not endorse or warrant the existence, conduct, performance, safety, quality, legality or suitability of any Guest, Host, Host Service, Listing or third party…“

If you do not “endorse or warrant the existence, conduct, performance, safety, quality, legality or suitability of any Guest, Host, Host Service, Listing or third party” what gives you a right to issue refunds to the guests without even contacting and informing the hosts? Who appointed Aibnb to be an ultimate judge and to decide how to distribute the funds if you clearly state in your TOS: “Airbnb is not acting as an agent for any Member except for where Airbnb Payments acts as a collection agent as provided in the Payments Terms.”

Airbnb is a collection agent. What legal statute gives Airbnb an exclusive right to decide that the hosts funds need to be sent to the guest based on unsubstantiated and not verified statements by a guest?

You stated:  “I wanted to share more on your note on the investigation; we did look at a number of options, and found 72 hours to be the optimal time period.”  This is exactly how you operate. You don’t care what the hosts think, you inform us after the fact. It does not matter that the whole business model of Airbnb can’t exist without the hosts, but it’s obvious that our opinion is irrelevant.

Once again, thank you for helping me make my decision with your reply. If the 72-hour policy goes into effect as planned, my listings will be snoozed effective 4/29 and once I honor existing bookings, I will leave Airbnb and redirect all my loyal guests to another platform. Your mission has been accomplished; I don’t want to be a victim of scammers that Airbnb apparently is so willing to support with these new policy changes. Your loss…

[Laurelle3]

@Property2 thank you for highlighting the Terms of Service ofbeing an  Independant Hosts and Airbnb is a platform for bookings and payments.

Pointing out that Airbnb cannot the conduct between guests and hosts. Most issues would be resolved if guests contact the hosts. If guests was staying at a hotel they would contact the manager and it would be looked into by them and they would sort the problem out.

Also adding that Airbnb's Disclaimer and Warranties.

Thanks for bringing these to all hosts on this page. 

[Cherie71]

Excellently written!  We have often wondered why Airbnb keeps making rules in contradiction to the ones they make us agree to.

[Lara1290]

Thank you for thinking of hosts and treating us as valued partners with several of these clarifications/ changes. I do have a question/ comment about section 9 in the revised policy:

9. If guests complain about an issue, will Airbnb cancel my future reservations?

To me, hosts (who are not repeat offenders) should be trusted to manage repairs in a timely fashion. With that we should (and do!) always work with AirBnb to confirm completed major repairs or to support guests’ needs in regard to future stays appropriately (and if more repair time is needed to fix an issue), but it could be clearer in this language that this is the case before future stays (and host earnings) are cancelled. For hosts consequences should occur if repairs aren’t attempted/ completed, but otherwise trust goes both ways. We deserve trust as business & home owners/ partners to AirBnb’s model too. We shoulder quite a bit of risk in the model.

Can this segment be clarified and revisited too? Thanks for listening. 

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/details-about-the-guest-rebooking-and-refund-policy...

[Stephanie]

Hi @Lara1290 ,

Thank you for your feedback.

It is only for serious travel issues that could impact future guests upcoming reservations that we may need to cancel future reservations until we have confirmation from the Host that the issue has been resolved. That being said, our goal is always to try to save the existing reservation and future reservations - so we always work with the Host to help mediate a positive outcome.   For example, we always attempt to work with the Host first before canceling future reservations, and would only initially cancel reservations during the period it should take to fix the issue (e.g. if a broken heater will take a couple of days to fix, we typically would only cancel upcoming reservations those days).  

Hope that helps and thanks for your questions,

Stephanie

[John5097]

@Catherine-Powell 

I had already decided on my own refund policy before I listed with Airbnb. If a guest was dissatisfied at all for any reason and wanted to leave early or not stay at all I would issue a refund, no questions asked. So far not a single guest has requested any kind of refund. I have issued a partial refund three times. Once when AC broke and offered guest one night refund if they were ok with no AC for a night (it was cool enough that night) and allowed AC tech crew access to the rental unit at 8 am following day for repair under warranty. They were thrilled, never involved customer service. Their other option was to cancel for full refund under extenuating circumstances policy. So its encouraging that guest will be directed back to host to try and resolve any issues.  

Another guest had their surgery canceled so left a day early. It just happened to be totally booked that month so I simply issued a one night refund that they didn't request. 

What causes me more stress and concern is when guest want to cancel last minute, either the night before or day of check in. Host are now badgered by CS to issue a refund. If host don't comply guest could decide to stay and become vindictive, with retaliatory review or worse.  

This I would like to see changed back to the old policy. Host shouldn't have option to refund guest if guest cancels. The cancellation policy should simply apply. 

Post pandemic 25% of ticket buyers to major concerts are no shows. This means they purchased a ticket, and simply didn't end up going. Pre pandemic it was 3%. 

This is new behavior host are seeing. I had to change from flexible to moderate, as some guest would start shopping around for better deals the night before, even on other booking sites, and cancel the reservation. Given the fact ABB has to shut down listings for some reports of safety issues, this really increases the risk to host that a single guest can end a listing. This behavior isn't unique to ABB, as anyone could false report anywhere, but what is unique is that host are at greater risk for retaliatory review or worse, because they didn't issue refund if guest canceled reservation. 


 

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @John5097 

Thank you for your feedback and examples of how you manage so many refund situations with your guests with such care. 

I wanted to help clarify that your own cancellation policy will still apply - which would protect you in examples of the guest canceling last minute for the examples you shared. 

Additionally, the review policy would cover situations where a guest never checks in to your space (for a documented reason unrelated to you as the Host or your listing) and leaves an irrelevant review about their experience. For example, a guest never shows up, due to a canceled flight, but leaves you a review that complains about your listing. Under the policy, these reviews would be removed because they contain only irrelevant info. You can see more details of this here. 

Warmly,

Catherine 

[John5097]

@Catherine-Powell 

Thanks so much for the additional information on some of these issues. 

Its encouraging to learn of the recent improvements to the review policy, and that guest who cancel or don't stay at the listing can't leave a review. 

I did happen to see that mentioned in your other topic, and glad to learn of some details being sorted out and updated. And I've also mentioned this issue before at the CC so very glad to learn significant changes and progress has been made. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/How-we-used-your-feedback-to-inspire-change/td-p/...

Yes those were some examples along my hosting journey. Admittedly the only relevant example was the time the AC broke and the I handled it with the guest without involving customer service. 

At some point I'd like to offer my Airbnb for families in need of lodging for medial trips, but would do that through some kind of program. I do get some of these and find them the most rewarding. But that was just an isolated case and each time the guest let me know they didn't expect any refund at all and didn't mention it in the review.

Before I started I didn't anticipate it would be this popular. It never crossed my mind a couple would want to stay for their honeymoon. But I have honeymooners every month and anniversaries ever week.

So at this point any guest who wants a refund would be a scammer, so couldn't accomodate them. I also find it very rewarding to offer a safe place for solo guest, but if one really didn't feel safe, I would be very accommodating. 

I still don't like the prospect of customer service badgering host to issue refund for cancelation by guest, so at least hope they will stop doing that. 🙂 

Every host is different. I try to keep it as stress free as possible. 

Obviously I'm not the best at communicating and have to clarify too much, but host don't have to be perfect. They can just be themselves. Provide a nice safe place and let guest enjoy their stay! 

Thanks again! Its very reassuring to read these comments. 

[Victoria-And-Todd0]

We are beside ourselves from this "generous concession" (not). But ridiculous scammer-magnet 72 hr policy stays? IT DOES NOT TAKE 72 HRS FOR A GUEST TO FIGURE OUT THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE PROPERTY. Granted, there are bad hosts out there. Well maybe require all ST rentals on your platform to be licensed, insured and permitted. But Airbnb won't do that, bc that will cut into Airbnb's bottom line. But Airbnb feels perfectly OK to create policies that will encourage scammers to defraud innkeepers. Makes me wonder if any of Airbnb management exists in Realville. 

[Sam324]

Biggest remaining problem with the policy is that they shouldn’t consider inevitable maintenance issues as an “inaccurate listing” and cause for a refund.
Advertising an amenity that doesn’t exist is bad, but advertising an amenity “that does not function” needs to be treated differently, especially if the host is just recently learning about it.

[Mary419]

The policy takes what was already wrong with airbnb and amplifies it exponentially.

regular maintenance things have been vilified and turned into winning lottery tickets. Guests get homesick. They get in bad moods or fights with each other. They realize they have higher end taste than their budget conscious husband or sister chose. They realize they don’t like historic houses and prefer a new hotel room. They didn’t read that there isn’t cable tv. The list goes on. So they pick

the place apart. They search online for ways to get a refund. That’s why patterns are emerging with even phrases they use like “this makes me question the cleaning of the whole house” 

We know our properties. We know what’s legit and what refund if any is deserved. 

We all have to stand up against this before other platforms might get pressured to Treat hosts like children. 

This is from 2 sisters who wanted a refund due to paint scuffs this weekend. Thankfully they’re not on airbnb so I can just say no. They likely would have gotten a refund for this sold out weekend had it been on airbnb.  And would this show on my hostage time stamp video? The door hinges?

 

[Mark116]

@Mary419  Wow.  Incredible.  I keep saying that people have gone crazy.  'The beds were comfortable,' so it isn't petty to want a refund because the back, hinge side of the door has paint scrapings. Um, okay.  Our house is 100+ years old and the doors are mostly original, solid wood, but they're old, and the paint sometimes chips just like that at stress points.

Your hostage video probably wouldn't have protected you there.  I've added now opening of the cabinets and the refrigerator to the hostage videos I've been taking already for years, and I might also add a monologue as well.