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 

[Huma0]

@Stephanie 

Thank you for clarifying. So, that means hosts will no longer be at risk of being charged for the guests' alternative accommodation and that is very good to hear. Although I understand that was not a new policy, I think a lot of us were unaware of it before and will be relieved to hear it is gone.

RE 

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@Stephanie wrote:

Hi @Huma0 

In the updated policy it mentions: “Before submitting a claim, whenever feasible, the guest must notify the Host and try to resolve the travel issue directly with their Host.” 

If guests contact Community Support first, we remind them to reach out to the Host directly, so that you have an opportunity to resolve the issue. Of course, there are some rare,  urgent situations that arise that require a guest to contact Airbnb so that we can provide the support the guest needs in that moment. But even in these situations, Airbnb will still try to contact the Host as well. 

Of course, that makes total sense. If a situation is urgent and the host cannot be reached, it makes sense for CS to go ahead and try to find a solution for the guest. However, I think a lot of the concern here is that we are hearing more and more reports here on the CC about CS NOT contacting the host when a guest makes a complaint or requests and refund, when it was easily possible to do so. Many of these hosts are being suspended. The hosts are often chasing CS for some kind of information on what the issue was. Even when the host is able to provide some evidence of the guests' claims being false, they are ignored by CS. They are either told that the decision has already been made or they just get radio silence.

For this policy to work fairly, CS needs to be much better trained and more objective, i.e. not automatically believing the guest (especially for things like undisclosed/hidden cameras which seems to have become a popular guest scam) and making a decision without consulting the host. CS also needs to take responsibility for its mistakes, not just say the decision can't be reversed.

From my own experience, I know how difficult it is to get fair treatment in some of these circumstances. I had CS wrongly refund two long term guests due to COVID-19. Not only were these refunds against the COVID-19 extenuating policy because the guests had already checked in, but the guests were refunded for nights they already stayed, a whole two week stay for one guest, and the guests had neither complained about anything nor requested refunds.

It took me a month of non-stop calls and emails to CS and a huge amount of stress to get my money back. I was repeatedly told that the actions were according to policy (NO, they were not) and also that, once the guest had been refunded, nothing could be done and that it was up to me to collect the money the guests owed me. What???!!!

I don't think anyone who has posted here or on other related threads believes that CS, in its current state, is capable of making these kinds of decisions. If you look at the very frustrating conversation that I posted with the rep who could not/would not even tell me what we were supposed to be talking about, you will see what a nightmare it can be dealing with CS, and that is just one example of many similar frustrating experiences I have had with CS over the past couple of years or more. Something is going very badly wrong.

[Rune-And-Jocelyn0]

Yes, I totally agree with you. When we have started airbnb a few years ago, we felt safe to rent out our apartment to people we don't even have a chance to meet beforehand. The CS were very helpful and easy to talk to. But now, we felt that we are at our guests' mercy. We had a guest that were smoking so i reported it. The CS said that I need a proof. How can you prove smoking? Nobody in their right mind will leave behind traces of butts lying around since they are very much aware that we don't allow smoking. In the end we found a cigarette butt, and then the CS said that they can't do any action until the guests have admitted that it was theirs. It was so annoying that we just closed our airbnb. We will just rent out our apartment locally.

[Victoria-And-Todd0]

so the scam guest will claim that it was "not feasible". 

[Mary419]

I still have questions too. I requested 3 times to have this removed and have accepted that it remains but genuinely want to know why airbnb wanted this review to remain published giving guests ideas:

Also the agent refunded him without asking me first. And marked it As a host cancelation. My regional rep removed that penalty but it took hours of stress. And this is one of many. Your FAQ make it sound like this really won’t be an issue for most hosts but the problem is, the issue is growing like wildfire and no, we don’t see that the agents are experts in what bugs are endemic or anything else really. They just want to refund the guests to make airbnb the hero 

Beyond the bugs, the issue of amenities being broken has classically been up to the discretion of the owner/host. A hot tub being broken doesn’t render the whole home worthless. Who would advertise a hot tub knowing it could cost them 100% if anything goes wrong 

[Danny310]

I have a two season home, summer and winter. People expect in snow that I leave summer furniture out, or have the BBQ out for the whole winter. The guests agree to this and fail to read the house rules, is this the host fault?

[Stephanie]

Hi @Mary419 ,

Yikes, that doesn’t sound right - let me take a look into this. I’ve dropped you a DM for more info and next steps. 

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Hilda194]

Hello Stephanie, would you mind reaching out? I have a question. Thank you!

[Hilda194]

@Stephanie 

[Ann72]

Yes @Mary419 @Catherine-Powell - let's not train guests to ask for refunds at the drop of a hat.  From the Zoom call the other day, I drew the conclusion that a refund was the first consideration.  It doesn't have to be.

[James3113]

These policies still punish GREAT hosts and reward bad guests. Please address the issues we have raised if you would like to  continue to use my house. I would appreciate clarification on all the issues @Huma0 has raised. 

[Mel7352]

Thank you for listening but I still don’t like the 72 hour clause and your wording.  If there is a problem, the guest should let the host know straight away so they can fix or remedy.  Hosts should then resolve within 24 hours or the guest has the opportunity to get CS involved.   If you stay at a hotel or dine at a restaurant, you can’t claim once you leave that the stay or eat the meal that it wasn’t up to par. 

By allowing the guest to report the problem to CS within 72 hours, which they may have checked out by then, you are opening the platform to scammers looking for a free stay.  I’ve read way too many cases of your CS just giving a refund without speaking to the host first or asking for substantiated evidence of a problem. It does feel like Airbnb side with the guest more often than the host.  

Surely that “trust” you talk about goes two ways and you trust the hosts to provide accommodation that is the best possible? I know that’s my aim 

[Stephanie]

Hi @Mel7352 

Thank you for your post. We’d like to provide clarity that if a guest chooses to remain in your space after discovery of an issue, they will generally, at most, only be eligible for a partial refund for any nights impacted by a serious travel issue. In other words, the guest would not receive a full refund after check out. The amount refunded will reflect the portion of the stay that was impacted by the issue.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on both of Catherine’s threads - we’re feeding everything back to the team and appreciate everything you do as an Airbnb Host. 

Thanks,

Steph

[Mary758]

We are not hotels nor do we try to compete against them. We don't all have on-site hosts (I am) and do fixing problems can't always be done at the snap of a finger. Hosts must be contacted immediately a problem arises and not after they've left the venue.

[Christina1400]

72 hours is a very long time to allow guests to make complaints to get refunds.  The policy states "72 hours from discovery" which is essentially open ended.  3 days is longer than my average stay and seems to be really unnecessary given that 24 hrs is plenty to realize that a pool or refrigerator is missing.  I would suggest that the guest is given 24 hrs to report the issue to the host via the app and any reported issues are still available to CS intervention for 72 hrs from checkin.  That allows the guest and host time to work it out before bringing in Airbnb.  

[Stacy60]

I totally agree with @Christina1400  that 24 hours is more than ample time to realize that a major amenity such as a pool or refrigerator is missing. My typical Airbnb stay is only 48-72 hours. However I do have longer stays from other platforms; especially over the last few months. At this point I feel more comfortable booking 30+ day stays thru other platforms, transitioning more towards "mid-term vs. short term" and minimizing my Airbnb stays.  This is extremely unfortunate considering that pre-COVID I was 100% STR and "team Airbnb."