AirBnB’s 25% compensation for canceled reservations

[Niklas24]

I was very impressed when I received Brian Chesky’s video message that AirBnB would compensate hosts for 25% of canceled reservations in the period 14.3-31.5. Or so I thought, however, reading the fine print I am very disappointed to realize that this program is very poorly conceived, and most hosts will receive far less than the 25% and many will receive nothing.

The issue is that AirBnB’s 25% compensation is based on what the host would get through their cancellation policy, which means that hosts that have had a strict cancellation policy are much more likely to benefit. Another factor, although less important, is that cancellations of short stays are more readily compensated than the longer stays.

I believe an almost universal experience for hosts was that in 2-3 weeks after around mid-March the vast majority of stays for the period 14.3-31.5 were canceled. It feels unfair that AirBnB’s compensation policy favors certain hosts with certain policies and certain type of stays. In my case, I had maybe 80% reservation rate for 14.3-31.5 with reservations worth thousands of euros. Every single reservation has been canceled by now, yet I am receiving zero compensation because I had a moderate cancellation policy. Had I realized this in time, I would have at least reached out to guests and asked them to cancel closer to their arrival date in order to make me eligible for the 25% (which is an insane incentive in the compensation policy).

A much fairer solution would have been to compensate for every cancellation regardless of hosts’ policy even if that would mean a smaller compensation percentage. I hope that AirBnB would still revisit their approach.

[Helen350]

@Kerry320  The payout is 25% of what you would have received under your cancellation policy at the time of booking. So if your policy was 'strict', you will get 25% of 50% = 12.5%. If your policy was moderate, you will get 25% of the first night & 25% of 50% = 12.5% for subsequent nights ONLY IF GUESTS CANCELLED IN THE LAST 5 DAYS before the stay. If the guests cancelled  more than 5 days beforehand you get 25% of nothing = nothing! Same with flexible, but 24 hour window applies.

If you go to your dashboard >reservations > cancelled, you can see if any of your cancellations qualify.... Someone just posted that compensation payouts also appear on your 'Earnings' page. But of course, if you were not on a 'strict' policy, you are unlikely to get anything.... 😞

[Kerry320]

Thank you Helen, I have checked my cancelled bookings page. Apparently I am not eligible for any compensation payout at all for the five bookings between March and June that have cancelled due to covid-19. Great news Airbnb due you treat all your long time hosts in this fashion? I've been a superhost since 2013, obviously not rated high enougnh  by Airbnb.

I'm a host in residence with 3 rooms listed on the site and have an almost perfect feedback score. Looks like the smaller people don't matter to Airbnb.

[Kerry320]

I have now checked my cancellation policy for my 3 rooms listing and they were set at moderate. I have now changed the setting to strict, and although this is a detriment to possible guests who need to cancel for legitimate reasons. I recommend to hosts in a similar situation to mine to do the same. 

[Simon2580]

IT's a CON. If you operate a flexible cancellation policy you don't get compensated. Only if you offer a punitive cancellation policy do you get compensated.  In my book, if you offer a flexible cancellation policy you are a better host than one that doesn't and I believed I was reflecting the supposed ethos of AirBnb by offering a flexible policy. 

[Paula675]

I thought the same. I expected the 25% which would have been better than nothing. 
I also thought that the strict policy shouldn’t be honoured as that certainly doesn’t help the guests. I feel let down as I genuinely thought we’d qualify for this 1.superhost for over a year, 2. Hosting up to 2 listings within the home and 3. Big impact on earnings. I wasn’t too bothered even about the super host relief fund. I’d love  to hear from someone who actually got any monies for both funds!