Guest cancellation history should appear on their profile - LIKE if you agree!

[Susan1188]

As a host, if you cancel, an indelible mark appears on your reviews and in your statistics.

As a guest, you can block a host's dates and cancel as many times as you want, it does not appear on your profile.

I have had several guests hold my calendar for months, only to cancel at the very last minute, despite knowing full well in advance they were not coming.  In the hopes of getting out of the cancellation policy that was stated when they booked.  Or trying to get out of paying the service fees. Or pressuring me for a refund.  I recently had a guest who booked months ahead and admitted, they would hold the dates until close to arrival when they would shop around and try to find a better deal and cancel if they did.

Do you think a guest's cancellation habits/history should be visible to hosts, just like his host reviews and star rating?

Like if you agree!

And make a feedback request asking for it!: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

All the best everyone!

[Cheryl765]

I agree, given your description.  But especially now with fires and COVID, in general everything is so unpredictable.  I am a guest and I have had a horrible year medically.  I have canceled 3 times in the last year, always within the host timeline, really well within the timeline, and the hosts have been good about it.  I offered to buy one host and her kids lunch, and she just came right back saying, dont worry.  It is already re-rented.  Two of the cancels involved one trip that I canceled, again well in advance, because I got a bad diagnosis, had CT scans etc.  Airbnb has now put me in a special category where I got charged a nonrefundable fee (266$ ) for canceling a trip because I am hopeful of having an ablation during that time.  The host was great.  I made the reservation a couple of weeks ago and it is for a stay five weeks away.  Her cancel is 24 hours.  (Pretty generous.)  The penalty huts me, doesn't help the host, just helps the shareholder price.  Airbnb is under pressure.  I am just saying that we guests have issues, and if we do our best by you, I don't think we should be treated badly by airbnb.  You hosts are having a hard time now, too.  Whatever happens, Airbnb should try to do its best and remain as kind and understanding as it can be to both sides.  I have  not tried to bypass the cancel privacy or in any way abuse the policy.  I even sent a list of my medical appointments and test, showing they were the same time as 2 of the cancels.  I felt like a little kid who had been bad.  I gave away privacy, and I still lost.    I wish there was a forum for us guests like this one for you.  Or a forum for al of us.

[Susan1188]

@Cheryl765 
I'm sorry for your health issues and I'm sure you really wanted and intended to go on your holiday.
As you rightly point out, most times hosts take the hit and refund guests in full, while Airbnb still takes their fees.

If you are asking for an exception - extenuating circumstances are exceptions to the rules - you should be prepared to have to justify it.  You are asking to back out of your contract, it's only normal you should provide proof.

Nobody would ask you to justify anything or send any personal documents, if you just agreed to respect the cancellation policy that you signed up for.  

If you had taken a normal hotel and travel insurance, instead of using airbnb, you can be sure the travel insurance company would expect documentation receipts and justification, and ask lots of invasive questions before refunding you!

If your health is fragile or you have recurring incidents, better to book only flexible cancellation and/or take separate trip insurance, that's what trip insurance is for.  And I think it's totally fair for a host to be able to see that in fact you did unfortunately have to make 3 cancellations.  

You can see all the host's cancellation history, this transparency should be mutual.

[Cheryl765]

Thank you for responding, Susan. I did provide medical proof  -  CT scan and other appointments with dates shown clearly on my “my chart.”  I would have thought that would be enough.   Airbnb is not interested.  I don't know why it asked for info in the first place.  

And I think you misunderstand.  I did respect the cancellation policy I signed up for. I respected it every time.  This last time when Airbnb kept the  $266 in fees,  I canceled a full five weeks before arrival for a one-week stay. way, way within the 24-hour- before- arrival cancel.  In other words, I didn’t have to cancel for over four weeks more.   The host and I were in full contact, and she understood completely.  I could have waited so as to have been absolutely sure I had to cancel, but I wanted to let her know as soon as possible, figuring I could try to rebook if I could end up being able to go. The cancels that have put me in this “penalty box” were always done ahead of the hosts’ policies, never after.   I never asked for any exemptions or exceptions until I got put in that penalty box.  Airbnb will take a fee immediately from me for one year., no matter what your policy is as hosts.

Airbnb is gaining a reputation for refusing cancels now, and the thing is - you hosts  - not only guests - seem seldom to receive anything.  It is about the third party; it is about the fee. Since Airbnb did not used to be the way it is now, I assume it is about the shareholders. 

There are cases far worse than mine out there now.  Look up an article in the Vancouver Sun  of August 18 where a family had to leave in the middle of a fire and yet still had to fight Airbnb.  Airbnb eventually gave back a partial refund for the stay BUT NOT THE FEE.  It is the hosts who have a heart, not the company.  I have met many wonderful hosts through the company’s service.  But the company has changed. 

My relationship is with you.  I care about my partner and me and I care about you.  I have used Airbnb for years, even twice successfully last month, and I will once again in about a week

I do understand that the climate and COVID issues are impacting you hosts, and those of you who depend on those listings to live and retire on may be really hurting, but they are impacting us, too.  Airbnb picked a difficult time to go public.  It is really too bad that there are no longer just two parties involved.  Still, we can try to not let go of what was once a really good company.

[Susan1188]

In that case Cheryl765 , I really recommend that you only book with hosts offering "FLEXIBLE" cancellation policy.

Do not book any other policy and expect to be refunded, penalty free.

Some of we hosts only have 1 property to fill, when you book it, it is dedicated to you.  You have health issues we can't ask about and can't imagine.  If you book, you adhere to our cancellation policy.  If you cancel last minute, we might have mada arrangements for you, and then we sit empty, as well as the restaurants and other services in our neighborhood.

Please read the cancellation policy and don't expect exceptions any more.  If your health is fragile, no need to tell anyone anything or give any justification, just filter and book for "flexible cancellation" properties and there will be no problam.

[Bay222]

I think you are misunderstanding what she is saying.  Airbnb only allows 3 cancellations by a guest in a calendar year (regardless of adherence to host cancellation policy) before they make their service fee non-refundable.  It doesn't matter what the host's cancellation policy is at this point.  Airbnb wants to collect their fee, even if a guest has respectfully abided by the hosts' cancellation policies.  It makes this platform virtually unusable for someone with unpredictable health issues because the host policy is effectively moot after 3 cancellations in a one year period.  It's an Airbnb policy, and it's not very forgiving.

[Chad501]

Is this documented somewhere? 

[Katelynne0]

If airBnb could have some system set up where people aren’t able to cancel a week in advanced and book with another place within a 20 mile radius of the place they just canceled, that would solve a lot of issues. We just had two people cancel back to back that did this exact thing. When someone cancels we always ask them “if there’s something we could have done differently to keep their booking.” Some people have told us that a location 15 min away was just more suitable. But in my opinion, there is no way they weren’t trying to get a better deal with another place a week before when everyone has their places discounted. I might have to just look into changing our cancelation fee. I’m just worried with how competitive airbnbs are in our area that, changing my cancelation fee will put us behind everyone else.

I think guests should be required to have a viable cancelation history as well. It only seems fair.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Katelynne0 if you don't want people to cancel then change your cancellation policy to Strict.

[Ramona205]

Actually. My people are now asking to change the reservation by cutting it in half! And they just got in the house. My policy is strict.  Doesn't matter. 

If i say yes i loose a booking that I can't fill last minute, if i say no i get a bad review. 

There's no winning the Airbnb game, it's rigged towards the guest, always 

[Susan1188]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

It's not that I don't want people to cancel for valid, urgent reasons.

It's that I don't want people to book one year out, then shop around 10 minutes before the cancellation window to find a last minute discount somewhere else.

And even that, I wouldn't mind, if I could see the guest history of cancellations, before accepting the booking.

Host history of cancellation is completely transparent.

Why should guest history not be the same?  Some people are specialists at gaming the game, booking 3 places then cancelling and booking last minute when it's a better price... 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Susan1188 firstly guests cannot book 3 places then cancel them last minute for a refund as Airbnb will not refund the service fee when cancelling overlapping bookings.

Now to your main point. If you want to stop guests booking and then cancelling if they find a better deal then change your cancellation policy to Strict. Hosts should not have the benefits of a flexible policy which encourages more bookings and then complain when guests use this flexibility as they are entitled to do.

[Stephan3527]

I agree Airbnb should change the way they manage this. I am a guest not a host and I have experienced some disconcerting communications from hosts. I recently booked a one week stay in a spanish city and paid in full with my credit card (the transaction happened immediately, as opposed to some hosts that take 24 hours to choose whether or not they would like to accept the booking). A few hours later the host messages me to please Cancel my reservation as they made a mistake having the dates open to booking. In this situation, I am not the person who wants the reservation canceled, it is the host. Why should I get noted as a guest who cancels? In the end, I contact airbnb, they review the message thread and make it so the host is the one who cancelled. Guess what? The host messages me stating they are upset?

In my opinion, all bookings should be reviewed by the host for 24 hours before confirmation. During this time, either the host or the guest can cancel the reservation. No credit card charges should happen during this time. After this the credit card of the guest should be charged in full. If the guest cancels the host keeps all the money, if the host cancels the guest gets his/her money back, PLUS the host pays the guest a cancellation surcharge equal to the entire amount of the booking. (On a booking that a guest paid $1000.00, the guest would get a $2000.00 refund).

This would stop the inappropriate behaviour by hosts and guests.

[Susan1188]

In this situation you should refuse to cancel, as it will be on your profile, just as it would be on any host's profile. 

Host wants to cancel: his bad, he initiates cancellation and takes the hit. 

Guest books one year ahead to cancel 2 weeks before the stay:  same!  this should be on guest profile for host to see.

All cancellations are on every host profile.

No cancellations are on any guest profile.

So that's about all there is to say about that!

[Dan17851]

I think guest should have on profile that he has cancelled the stay so the hosts would know in advance. Its terrible if someone is blocking your calendar and you have plans already set up. 

[Shane197]

I booked a place with free cancellation but that was not a determining factor. I booked the place because it was the perfect place. Now, the host is "selling" the property and is asking that I cancel. If I cancel, and the host asked because THEY are selling...why should this show up on my profile? 

Obviously there is no one-size-fits-all approach, as anyone in my shoes would agree.