Cancellation policy change

[Jennifer303]

Anyone else have their cancellation policy switched to Flexible without their knowledge?

I only found out because my guests cancelled 24 hour before their 10 day stay and my payout was zero. I am furious.

[Wende2]

@Jennifer303   Hi.....Thanks for asking, I had no idea.  I did have a cancellation recently, it was weeks before tho.  Something they did at the start of Covid was make it so you couldn't change instant book.  I tried everything and someone said they did too.  I felt that was going too far, but this change takes the cake.

[Colleen253]

@Jennifer303  I have not had that happen, but I have had my check in settings spontaneously revert to 'whenever the guest desires'. It was a glitch tied to changing booking settings. I have made it a habit to check ALL my settings regularly, due to that. I would suspect your issue may be tied to a glitch as well. See this post, where another member mentions also a change in cancellation policy settings....

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Check-in-Start-Time-keeps-defaulting-to-FLEXIBLE-WHY/m-p/13...

[Jennifer303]

Thank you, Colleen. So shady!

[Tony1190]

Hi im trying to cancel a 31 night booking in January 2021 due to change of work circumstances, airbnb have already charged me for the booking about 4 weeks ago over £950, they say now that if i cancel I get charged service fee plus the first 30 nights - so they say I can get a refund of £64 !!!! This is absolutely ridiculous, im also staying with the host at the moment and he feels the same - come on be fair 6 weeks warning to cancel is hardly grounds for a 30 night penalty !!!

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Tony1190 

Your booking is for 31 nights automatically making it a long-term booking where the long-term cancellation policy is applied. For long-term stays, payment for the 1 month is needed to secure a confirmed booking, and this is considered non-refundable, but the host is able to issue an additional refund if the host chooses to for the host payout portion only. Service fee is up to Airbnb. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/149/what-is-the-cancellation-policy-for-my-stay

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1361/how-do-changes-and-cancellations-work-for-longterm-reservat...

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/475/how-do-i-choose-a-cancellation-policy-for-my-listing

[Helen3]

It's not ridiculous @Tony1190 ,  when you booked you signed up to Airbnb's long term cancellation policy which has a minimum cancellation period of 30 days.

If you knew that your work circumstances were likely to change you would have been better making a shorter term booking with a flexible cancellation policy (less than 28 days) and then extending it, if you needed to.

Unfortunately it seems your host isn't too familiar with how Airbnb works if they think you not getting a refund for the first 30 days under the long term policy is ridiculous.

If that is what your host says though, there is an easy solution, they  can just chose to voluntarily refund you more of a refund than you are entitled to under the cancellation policy you booked under.

[Tony1190]

OK Helen - that was not immediately clear, but its all resolved now and host plus air bnb were very helpful - thanks Tony

[Sarah977]

There is nothing "ridiculous" about you being bound by the cancellation policy you agreed to when you booked. It's a contract. Like all contracts, you are bound by the terms.

As others have pointed out, the host always has the option to refund  if they choose to.

@Tony1190

[Tony1190]

Thank you for your kind comments.