Cancellation Policy more options

[David7758]

Hi everyone

We run an Airbnb in Portugal and I would welcome your views on more Cancellation options for guests and hosts.

Airbnb only has 2 choices.

1. Full refund for cancellations made within 48 hours of booking, if the check-in date is at least 14 days away. 50% refund for cancellations made at least 7 days before check-in. No refunds for cancellations made within 7 days of check-in.
2. Moderate
   Full refund 5 days prior to arrival

   We would welcome a cancellation policy that would allow guests to cancel 30 days prior to check-in with a full refund.   Option one is too strict and does not allow for guests to make bookings in advance as they can't cancel if covid19 restrictions change ( which they do all the time) and Full refund 5 days prior to arrival is too short notice for us to be able to get a new booking. 

   I have tried to address this with customer support and sent out feedback forms but with no response from Airbnb. I have found that 90% of our bookings were from Airbnb and now that % has been reduced to 20%. Most of our bookings are from other suppliers such as VRBO and booking which offer more cancellation options. 

   I would welcome your views and how we could go about requesting this option from Airbnb.

   Beatriz 

[Kathi137]

@David7758 

I too feel very frustrated by the set options for cancellation. I have 3, the 2 you mention plus a "flexible" of 24 hrs. full refund. None of these are fair to both the guest AND the host. I just had someone cancel for a full refund 5 days before their booking (booked a month ago). I felt very frustrated & disappointed by that. Of course extenuating circumstances, particularly Covid related, make flexibility desirable, but if people are booking in good faith, I think a 30 day, or even 2 week, full-refund policy is fair to both parties. If Airbnb doesn't open up the options, I may look to switch to VRBO if they offer cancellation policies closer to my needs.

Kathi

Vancouver

[Sharon1086]

I completely agree with you @Kathi137 . My company manages 53 listings in the San Francisco Bay Area. In my opinion, I think the current "flexible cancellation policy", which allows guest to cancel up to 24 hours before checkin should not exist from the beginning. We have a lot of guests cancelled at the very last minute, a day before their checked in, or some better cases, few days before their check in, while the average booking lead time is 15 days. There is almost no way for us to get a new booking even if guests cancel with a 2 day notice. This cancellation policy definitely leave us, the hosts, in a very bad situation in many cases. 

I understand we do have options to choose "strict", "firm", or other less flexible cancellation policies, but because the existence of the "flexible cancellation policy", and Airbnb has a filter to search specifically properties offer flexible cancellation, which brings more traffic to the properties that offer "flexible" cancellation. Therefore, if your property does not offer the "flexible" cancellation, it indirectly lowers your listing position to the 3rd or 4th page, instead of on showing on the 1st or 2nd page. 

Overall, I think the "flexible cancellation policy" is extremely unfair to the hosts, given the fact that Airbnb knows how long is the booking lead time (how many days people book before their check-in day). With the algorithm, Airbnb indirectly "force" us to offer "Flexible" if we want to fill the calendars.

I do think VRBO's cancellation policy is a lot more fair and reasonable compared to Airbnb.

[Dawn86]

I have found the same with Airbnb.  I have been a few situations with guests and now I have switched to a strict cancellation policy.  I don’t like to do that but I have had  too many cancel at the last minute

[Sarah977]

@Dawn86  A host always has the option to refund guests more than they would get under your cancellation policy. If you feel it's fair to refund them in full if they cancel 30 days out, there's nothing stopping you from doing that.

[David7758]

Hi @Sarah977 , yes you are correct the host can offer a refund, but Airbnb will still charge the guest their service fees or deduct from your commission, so effectively it is not a 100% refund to guest and you will also lose out especially if you are on commission as you will lose a booking and still have to pay Airbnb for the booking. 

[Sarah977]

@David7758  I don't know if the option has been rolled out in all areas, but I just read a post on another hosting forum, that said there is now a cancellation policy that does exactly what you want- called Firm, it is basically a Strict policy, but guests get a full refund if they cancel 30 days or more before check-in.

I think they still lose the service fees, but nothing hosts can do about that.

[David7758]

@Sara977 , thank you,  that was very helpful, yes Airbnb has added a new cancellation policy. I have now updated to firm.

Firm 

NEW

Full refund for cancellations up to 30 days before check-in. If booked between 30 and 14 days before check-in, full refund for cancellations are made within 48 hours of booking. After that, 50% refund up to 7 days before check-in. No refunds after that.

Firm or Non-refundable 

NEW

In addition to Firm, offer a non-refundable option – guests pay 10% less, but you keep your payout no matter when they cancel. Learn more

[Sarah977]

@David7758  Great, glad you found it.

I wouldn't advice any host to opt for the 10% non-refundable. There have been many reports here of Airbnb CS reps overriding that policy and giving guests a full refund anyway. As long as some clueless CS rep can make that decision, that option is of no benefit to hosts.

[Sven279]

I would need at least to different cancelling policies for  the same listing, one very strict only for festivals and so.

When there are festivals, tickets are sold out 6 months ahead. And all participants book rooms long time ahead, often with premium prices.  If someone cancel 30 days before, there is a big risk noone else need rooms.

[Sarah977]

@Sven279  You can't have more than  one cancellation policy for a listing. What a host would have to do is have 2 listings for the same place, with one listing only open for certain dates or times of year, with a strict policy attached to it, and another listing for dates and times of year when they would be more likely to be able to rebook dates, with a more flexible policy and perhaps a lower price.