Hosting: Angry guests after following advice in AirBnB help "Other Options"

[Elizabeth1850]

As a host I am following the steps here under Other Options 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/2728/what-options-do-i-have-for-cancelling-a-reservation-for-a-pl...

"If you want to cancel a reservation because of COVID-19 that isn’t eligible under our extenuating circumstances policy, message your guest and ask them to cancel the reservation. Host penalties don’t apply to guest-initiated cancellations.

If the guest doesn’t agree to cancel, you can still cancel the reservation, however penalties will apply."

Regarding sentence #1-2

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I messaged all my guests and asked the to cancel the reservations. None of the reservations qualify as extenuating circumstances, because the dates are after April 14. Some guests have been willing to do this. Yet to both our surprise when I get the email that says "Issue full refund" and go through that process, AirBnB is keeping funds back from that refund that we as hosts have not had visibility into. We are aware of the 3% that we are charged, but in most (all?) of the host user experiences we are not shown the full price including AirBnB's 15%. Since I had never seen the 15% in any accounting, and also since the button says "Issue full refund" I made false promise to guests that they were getting a full refund. Now those guests are upset at AirBnB for the policy and at me for not knowing.

Suggest: Include full disclosure of the full fee the guest paid on the Reservations tab of the host dashboard.

Suggest: Not calling the button "Issue full refund." Instead, call it "Issue refund minus service fees"

Regarding sentence #3

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Since not all my guests will respond to my request to have them cancel (above case), I will need to cancel the other reservations. The dates are over 7 days away so that is $50 out of my pocket for each reservation (About 20). I expect that AirBnB keeps the service fees in this case as well, but this is unclear. And of course my superhost status is gone. I do this out of consideration of the guests: due to the virus affecting our family, the changes in society including shelter in place, work from home, school virtual, and increased health risks and exposure, the single rental we have is no longer available to rent. It is occupied. If I was a guest, I'd want to know. Being turned away from the door with luggage is the worst. So to spare guests from this event, I will pay $50 each. That sounds like the opposite type of behavior you want to penalize.

Suggest: Back off of the penalties to hosts. What about a choice between either loss of superhost or one payment of $50, whichever they choose.

Suggest: In this other options text, include full disclosure of the fees guests will still pay in the event that the host needs to cancel.

Regarding the situation in general

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1. This could be solved on a case by case basis if it was possible to get through to a decision maker through customer service. 

2. Since we cannot solve through customer service, this is worse for AirBnB sustaining their business because we are generating more calls for you. You could have just solved my problem but now you will have 20. You could have had 20 returning customers and 1 committed host, but now not so much.

3. April 14 is a dangerously early day to expect the pandemic to be over. There should be a true no-fault (with permission on both sides) cancellation (service fees fully refunded, superhost preserved, no host financial penalties) and that should exist through multiple months.

[Anonymous]

@Elizabeth1850   I don't think anyone believes the pandemic will be over on April 14, but I have a different guess about what's happening here. Airbnb may not have a bottomless supply of cash-on-hand to refund all of the next months' future bookings at once, so restricting the cancellation window gives them a little protection against a cash-flow crisis. They would be wise to expand this window incrementally and stanch some of the profuse financial bleeding.

Rather than pressuring the guests to cancel now, I would advise waiting until the next policy update makes their bookings eligible.

[Elizabeth1850]

Transparency. If there are truly upcoming windows, put it in the "other options" help as such and also put it on a schedule. Add this to the stack of transparency related suggestions above.

Empathy. Why should the financial needs of AirBnB make it OK for the guest to have less notice from me that they will need to re-book lodgings? Just because there is an explanation for this policy doesn't make it right. I empathize with guests and want to give them the longest notice possible.

[Hideout0]

I have a similar issue, can you take a look here?
What are your thoughts? @Anonymous @Elizabeth1850 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Covid19-PENALTIES-FOR-HOSTS/m-p/1269126#M275583

[Elizabeth1850]

This does look like a similar issue, perhaps even worse.

I still feel like the core of the problem is a tricky and inaccurately worded policy, with no backup from customer service. For example, I find statements like "Airbnb will refund all service fees for covered cancellations" tricky because it requires referencing the word "covered" and leads us to more tricky language "made on or before 14 March 2020" (what does it matter, biologically, the booking date, if people can get just as sick if they are last minute people or planners?).

I hate to disagree with other hosts. I believe the policy as written is extraordinarily cruel and they might not believe this. Some other hosts are ok with the policy and even champion it. "All you do is this, easy peasy." (I'm paraphrasing). The reality is the policy as written is punitive to guests and hosts, will lead to anger and injustice, and where there is an opportunity for kindness in the world it turns that around and is instead unforgiving. I get where other hosts are coming from but honestly, as the ones feeling the worst effects of these decisions I am glad you and I are speaking out.

[Huma0]

@Elizabeth1850 

Airbnb have always charged guests fees on top of the accommodation costs. That is how they make most of their money and that is why, in general, they are guest, not host, centric. There's no lack of transparency there as guests are quoted the fees before they book (although why Airbnb can't have a fixed percentage for guest fees like it does for host fees continues to baffle me). No, hosts don't see what that amount is on their end, but the guest does.

The lack of transparency here is, like you say, Airbnb calling this cancellation option 'request a full refund' when it is only a refund of accommodation fees and not Airbnb fees. This is naturally going to upset guests and cause unnecessary friction between guest and host when the host is trying to do the right thing. 

Also, why is Airbnb pressuring hosts to give out full refunds and then keeping their share (the fees) for themselves? Not very ethical in my opinion.

[Elizabeth1850]

Thanks for writing and adding this info. It has probably been a while but how did you learn what the fees were to guests? And how did you learn they were not the same across the board? I keep wondering if I missed the memo during orientation / training 🙂

I suspect that this information can only be discovered as  guest during a disruptive event, and without that info (and even with info to the contrary... "Issue full refund" buttons etc) I had no chance at being fair with my guests. Therefore they are angry on top of all else they must be going through. There are probably writers on staff at AirBnB who agree with me and have been overruled by some manager for a while. Words matter!

Looking forward to hearing back if you remember that far 🙂

[Huma0]

@Elizabeth1850 

I honestly don't remember now when or how  I first became aware of the guest booking fee, but it must have been pretty early on as it's never been a surprise to me. I never got any orientation/training from Airbnb when I started doing this, just some basic instructions on how to set up my listing.

I do, however, remember initially seeing Airbnb state that the guest fee was typically around 6-12%, but quickly learnt that it could be much higher and as much as 20%. I really don't know why Airbnb does not set a fixed percentage for this. Possibly they increase it depending on demand in any given market. That's a good way for them to make the most money they can out of it.

As @Sarah977  mentioned, the guest always knows before they book what that fee is going to be as it is broken down for them. It is also broken down for them on the booking, so there should be no surprise there for guests, unless they being really clueless, even if Airbnb don't make this information easily accessible to hosts.

You can find more information on Airbnb fees here: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1857/what-is-the-airbnb-service-fee

[Huma0]

PS @Elizabeth1850  I know this also because, when I have booked an Airbnb as a guest, the fees were clearly broken down to me in the search results. You just have to enter the dates and the number of people you are searching for and then, when you click on the listing you are interested in, a right hand column shows you a breakdown of accommodation fees, Airbnb fees, cleaning fees etc. It's all completety transparent to the guest before they book.

[Elizabeth1850]

Thanks for the work you did on this and while your results are interesting, they are not my exact issue. My issue was that (a) the fees are not transparent to me as the host, and (b) the "Issue full refund" button led me down the garden path that I was going to actually issue a full refund and I told guests the same. Turns out I was mistaken. I looked like I was lying, hiding facts, or clueless, and I am not sure which was worse.

I would be fine even if they kept the fees secret and changed the button to "Issue refund minus service fees." Perhaps this would save one other host this problem.

Again thank you for the attention and solidarity. 

[Sarah977]

@Elizabeth1850  "I suspect that this information can only be discovered as  guest during a disruptive event".

Guests see the breakdown of what they will pay when they fill in the guest count and number of days and go to book. They clearly see the service fees, cleaning fee, any applicable state or federal taxes, etc. You can see this as well if you do an incognito search of your listing as if you were a guest trying to book your place.

As to how Airbnb arrives at the percentage they charge in fees on any particular listing, that's not something we or guests are privy to.

[Elizabeth1850]

Yes, I wish I had thought of incognito search all the way to the point of booking. I did it for price comparison but not any farther. Does everyone do this detective work? It seems above / beyond, especially in early days for the new host when you are still taking the words the company says as literal truth.

Short answer: This info should be documented, and info in documentation that claims the opposite should be removed.

[Sarah977]

@Elizabeth1850  No, I've never really done it, but I have asked a couple of guests if they'd mind telling me how much they paid in service fees- they said it was about 11-12%. But I know there are some bookings for other listings where the service fees can be up to 20% or more.

[Helen3]

It shows on your booking confirmation you get when a guest books @Elizabeth1850  I think

[Huma0]

@Helen3 

Yes, I believe it used to, but I checked on some recent booking confirmations and that information was not there, so perhaps they have changed that.

There also  used to be a way to see it via the confirmed bookings on your calendar. Not sure if that is still the case, but I will check and report back.