Payouts for Canceled one night reservations over Halloween weekend 2020

[Lacy21]

            I just received a “misc. credit” from Airbnb to supplement the cancelation of one night bookings on Oct 30th & 31st and it is substantially lower than the amount I would have received from the two bookings. My property was booked for $375 a night before cleaning fee’s and the amount I was reimbursed was for only $55.40 a night. This is equal to 14% of the original payment, which means that I lost $640 dollars for the weekend. This time of year, is very slow for our property, which means that we depend on Holiday’s and local event night bookings to make it through the Winter. How can Airbnb state the following:

“Hosts who have confirmed reservations for these dates will still receive payment for the cancelled reservations. We’ll issue a cash payout equal to the host payout you would have received for the booking by the end of October. This will appear as “Misc Credit” in your Transaction History”

and then only reimburse a fraction of the payout amount? This type of business practice is deceitful and shameful. Haven’t hosts suffered enough this year?

@Catherine-Powell Can you shed some light on the issue situation?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lacy21 If you have a strict cancellation policy and the cancellation was a few weeks ahead of the stay then Airbnb Said they would provide 25% of what you would have received. 25% of 50% is 12.5% so 14% is actually quite good.

[Lacy21]

Sure, if I had canceled the bookings,  however  it was not my decision. The entire policy makes zero sense. How does the number of night stays prohibit parties? A guest staying one night will have a party but a guest staying for two nights will not? If Airbnb planned  reimburse hosts in the ratio you laid out above then it should have been clearly stated in the email that was sent out, rather then camouflaging the real payout. It is obvious that Airbnb canceled the bookings when they did to ensure the lowest possible payment to hosts. Its bad business through and through. 

[Colleen253]

@Lacy21 " How does the number of night stays prohibit parties? A guest staying one night will have a party but a guest staying for two nights will not?"

It doesn't. The whole thing is simply meant to make Airbnb look good to the outside world.  As another host so aptly said recently in another post 'virtue signalling'. I like to call it bullsh1t.

[Super47]

@Lacy21

You're correct. The wording Airbnb originally used in their communication to hosts - and  in their Oct 2nd Press Release to the media - in relation to host reimbursement for the forced Halloween cancellations explicitly gave the impression that hosts would be paid out in full. (The 25% referred to by the previous poster refers to payouts from the $250 million 'relief fund' that was meant to compensate hosts for income lost to Covid refunds - a minority saw some minor benefits from it, most didn't. That ended on May 31st though, so is completely unrelated to the Halloween reimbursements) 

"We’ll issue a cash payout equal to the host payout you would have received for the booking"

 

However, the original Resource Centre article that was available at the time the press release went out, and for several days afterwards (which clearly stated '.. hosts who have confirmed bookings cancelled will still receive the expected payout for that reservation'), appears to have now been removed, with the ice-cream girl 404 error showing in its place.

 

The Help Centre article currently showing simply states 'Hosts will be reimbursed by Airbnb by the end of October' - amount of reimbursement unspecified, and no mention of 'expected payout' or 'cash payout equal to the host payout you would have received for the reservation' qualifiers that were doing the rounds last week. 

There have been several other hosts popping up here and there, questioning the amounts they've been paid for their Halloween cancellations too, so I guess we'll have to wait and see if this is just another 'glitch', or if Airbnb has quietly reneged on its stated commitment to paying hosts out in full, now that the 'hosts won't lose any money' angle has already been widely touted in the media. Wouldn't be the first time. 

[Colleen253]

 "I guess we'll have to wait and see if this is just another alleged 'glitch',

 or if Airbnb has quietly reneged on its stated commitment to paying hosts out in full". 

Where can I place my sizeable bet?

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Lacy21 @Colleen253 

In light of @Super47 evidence the actions of Airbnb here are absolutely shocking. 

So much for the new era of transparency.