Our recent change to the guest refund policy

Our recent change to the guest refund policy

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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

407 Replies 407
Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hi everyone,

 

Thank you so much for all of your feedback, thoughts and discussion around this policy. I'd like to share that @Catherine-Powell has posted a new topic which provides a lot more information and details that I hope will help.

 

Please check it out over here:

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Our-guest-rebooking-and-refund-policy-explained/t...

 

Thanks again,

 

Stephanie

 

@Branka-and-Silvia0 @Paul1255 @Lindy72 @Suraj8 @Stacy60 @Mel7352 @Clara116 @Mike-And-Jane0 @Ann72 @Till-and-Jutta0 @Christine615 And too many to tag!

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines 

Diane1243
Level 1
Millbrook, NY

What about payouts that now transfer next day after check-in?  Will hosts have to wait 72 hours or longer for their money under these dangerous refund rules?  If you've never had a complaint as a host, you should be allowed to stick to the 24-hour refund rule.

Till-and-Jutta0
Host Advisory Board Alumni
Stuttgart, Germany

The payout is not changed - see previous comments.

John1512
Level 3
Nashville, TN

Hi @Catherine-Powell, I’ve got a live case scenario actively playing out in regards to this thread, not from the perspective of a wronged guest, but myself as a host trying to utilize the much hyped AirCover feature. Our last group trashed our house and violated house / city rules by exceeding occupancy limits. Not to mention Airbnb’s party rule. Reservation was for 5, they ended up having many more “staying” (partying) on our property, at least for one night. We were already forced to reach out to them prior to the aforementioned night about one of their guest urinating in the front yard (neighbor called) + already exceeding their reservation count, albeit within a manageable number we could live with. They apologized and said things would be under control from here on out. We didn’t know until the next night via our exterior security feed that they had 12 people staying at our house. Turned out to be 12 to 14 coming and going throughout weekend. 

 

After going to great lengths in my AirCover Request to detail all the various ways this group violated house + city rules and the resulting damage, which was plenty, the Claims Ambassador asked for me to add everything I had just finished including in my request. Upon stating that this effort would be redundant, thus eating up more of my workable hours, I inquired about what exactly they still needed as my list of video screenshots/invoices/pics/notes far exceeded the ambassador’s request. I got crickets. I’ve now messaged 5 times, in light of an arbitrary April 16th deadline I was given. I reached out to an Airbnb customer service rep who was very nice but could’t help me outside of creating a ticket# 2020037853680, as it’s “a different department.”

 

@Catherine-Powell, what are my next steps besides reaching out to you, presuming you have the extra bandwidth to respond? I don’t expect you to have that extra time btw, just like I don’t have the extra time to be forced to track down a non-responsive claims ambassador. Thanks for your time. 

 

P.S. It would also help if videos could actually be upload to the Resolution portal (a technical question I can't get an answer to as well). 

 

P.S.S. Apologies in advance for the typos, I'm writing this as quick as possible so I can get back to work.

There won't be any AirCover of worth - Arbnb is a shareholder biz, they will drag it out and fork over $100 then say bye. From an investor point of view that's amazing, from hosts, not so much.

Danielle370
Level 2
Santa Margarita, CA

This new change of policy has us paranoid as super hosts.  We feel the 72 hour policy is way beyond the necessary time needed to report an issue.    Can't help but feel like your opening the door to people purposely  booking places who will set up the home to have a " problem " that they will then report 3 days later.  Essentially getting a reduced rate / free 3 days of a rental .  What if someone purposely pulls a plug of an appliance or dirties sheets etc and blames the host ? 24 hours is more than enough time to report issue. We will live in paranoia the first 72 hours of every stay if that's the case. 

Victoria-And-Todd0
Level 8
Waynesville, NC

Maybe Musk should buy this outfit, clean house, and create a balance respecting owners/hosts and not kowtowing to scammer and rule breaker "guests". 

Tracey486
Level 2
Phoenix, AZ

I am looking for some technical assistance with the AirCover process.  I want to add a video to my claim.  The section of AirCover for evidence says to post pictures, videos, and receipts.  When I select that process and navigate to my video, they are unable to be loaded. I cannot find any information about format or size limits - which is my guess why it will not load. 

 

How all the hosts left? Gradually then suddently 

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

Our 2nd F&F this year just checked out last week. More F&F's than any other year in our hosting history. It's beginning to look like a trend. 

 

The first did not receive any reward, since they didn't provide evidence, and we provided overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It just sort of vanished. Well, as far as we know. 

 

This one is equally amateur (no evidence of their claims, but we took the time to collect and submit overwhelming evidence to the contrary).

 

But while Airbnb initially took serious interest in the guest's claim, a week later, no further info from Airbnb, who seem to have forgotten it. I can only keep watching for an arbitrary ruling in favour of the guest (or not) sometime in the next year or so.

 

I reckon it's a toss up. Little communication from Airbnb, and what we do receive contains more smarm than substance. 

 

With increasing guest-favouritist policies encouraging these behaviours, I can only expect to see more of this now.

 

To be fair, I do appreciate that we haven't been clobbered so far. But it's still early on this one. We shall see... 

@Elaine701 

Can you please explain what you mean by F&F?

Can't tell what your posting is actually about??

Thanks!

Elaine701
Level 10
Balearic Islands, Spain

@Kristin108 

 

Sorry, F&F is shorthand for "Frivolous and Fraudulent".

 

In this context, it refers to the growing practice of guests either using a very minor issue (e.g., saw an insect) and exaggerating it to make it appear intolerable, or completely fabricating the issue to begin with (e.g., download a photo of a cockroach from the internet and submit it as evidence), for the purpose of receiving a reward (e.g., a cheap or free stay, as instructed by numerous internet blogs). 

@Thank you@Elaine701, I never would have guessed. 

Interested to know what blogs are out there instructing potential guests to do this?

I have a country property with all types of critters including lions and bears! But the big predators usually stay on their side of the hill and me and my horses, are happy here... 

Not much I can do about the small critters though...

Terry642
Level 5
Bristol, TN

Catherine Powell - Please know that in actuality AirBnB is NOT taking hosts' responses into consideration when a guest uses AirCover to demand a refund. I have requested twice that my case ID #2020057089475  be elevated to a supervisor and NO response.  I was informed that my weekend guest received a full refund while I had not been contacted and I have not been allowed to "appeal".  PLEASE, Please please check into how Airbnb is indeed flexing this new customer-first refund policy - its driving hosts out - I am not going to continue with Airbnb because of this. Why would I? A guest can now demand a full refund with no input/recourse from the host.  Please remember the hosts' have invested in all the properties, the maintenance the cleaning . Once hosts are gone what will Airbnb have remaining?  Thanks, Terry.

Delphine348
Host Advisory Board Member
Achères-la-Forêt, France

Hi @Terry642 ,

 

if you need to quote @Catherine-Powell , you have to use the @ and choose or write her name. @Stephanie 

I hope you will receive help for your case,  host should always be contacted for explanation before refund.

Delphine

(Sauf indication contraire, mes contributions sont issues de mon expérience en tant qu'hôte)