Please rollout the new cancellation policies

[Debra300]

Recently, I had listed on another conversation some of the differences with listing with Airbnb vs. Booking.com.  One item I listed was that Booking had a cancellation policy that worked better for reservations booked several months in advance of the scheduled arrival date (bold text).  I just noticed that Airbnb has new cancellation policies for 30 and 60 days prior to arrival:  https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies.  These policies don't seem to be available to all hosts yet, because they are not options that I can select for any of my listings.  The rollout of the new cancellation policies to all hosts (and Airbnb upholding all cancellation policies) would be a great help to hosts who cannot quickly rent spaces in short periods of time when there is a late notice cancellation.

The key items that I like vs. Airbnb: 

1. You can display all of your spaces on one listing page, but still make individual changes as necessary. 
2. The ability to control the total financial transaction.  This includes a payment deposit, and obtaining an actual security deposit or credit card information for incidental costs.   
3. The guest has to work with the host to resolve issues, and cannot make unsubstantiated claims and demand a refund.
4. They cannot deduct or refund your earnings.
5. The ability to cancel a reservation if the payment isn't authorized, and the host is not penalized.  
6. More options for cancellation periods.  This is really helpful for reservations made several months in advance of the scheduled arrival.  For example, our cancellation policy is the guest has until 30 days before arrival to receive a full refund.  The only similar policy at Airbnb would be the strict 48 hour cancellation window.

Things that are more work at Booking.com:

1. Booking.com charges 15% commission on all reservations.  This cost must be incorporated in the room rate.
2. All reservations are instant. There is no opportunity to communicate with the guest before booking, and no guest reviews to see past travel behavior.
3. The site's marketing motto that no credit card is needed results in several bookings made with invalid credit card details, because the guest is just window shopping (and blocking calendars).  It takes 24 hours after reporting an invalid card before the reservation is canceled, and the dates are re-opened on the calendar.
4. The host is required to obtain a credit card processing account and other online payment accounts, e.g., PayPal, Google Wallet.
5. The credit card and payment processing fees may be more than the 3% that Airbnb charges.
6. There is a $300USD limit for deposits that can be collected (this amount may be different for UK and the EU).  We don't actually collect a deposit, but keep the credit card details.
7. You are responsible for paying all of the appropriate taxes.
8. There is a learning curve to becoming acquainted with the site's functionality.  There are some items that only Booking.com can change, e.g., only they can assign individual cleaning fees to each room (otherwise it's one standard rate for the whole listing), or can change the tax rate.

[Kelly149]

@Debra300 superstrict 30/60 aren't new... they just aren't available to most hosts. 

You're right, cancellation is one area where ABB falls short, and that's even before you factor in their willynilly application of EC

[Debra300]

@Kelly149,

I am usually late to know about things. Do you have any idea which host types or region where the 30 day/60 day cancellation policies are available?

[Emilia42]

@Debra300 

@Fred13 has a superstrict cancelation policy. He can probably shed more light 🙂 

[Kelly149]

@Debra300 Fancy ones 🤣

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Debra300 in the UK the superstrict policy is available to Cottages dot com and other competitors who advertise on Airbnb

[Fred13]

    Super Strict 30/60 program I was told by Airbnb has really been eliminated for new applicants since back in March 2020. I wonder why it is even still listed as an option today, if  indeed it is no longer available. 

    Under that program Airbnb  also paid for reservations 60 days in advanced to those hosts; understandable considering such places booked so far ahead usually have $250k+ receivables with Airbnb.

    Its original intention was that those places that 'required' reservations (by virtue of complexities, foreign travel, passports, etc) be made well in advance were eligible for it; before Covid-19 my place was booked 2 years in advance for example. For a while I heard the option was also temporarily extended to those with large amounts of individual listings, I bet that is no longer the case considering many of those types of hosts will not be back any time soon. 

   Those left on the program (like me) are 'grandfathered' in; at least till my place, I or Airbnb seizes to exist, whomever comes first. I hope is not me out of the three.

[Debra300]

@Fred13,

I am inferring from what you've written that the 30/60 day option was available to listings that generated high monetary volumes.

@Nanxing0,

Yes, Airbnb's inconsistent administration of the cancellation policy is very disappointing.  However, for spaces located where international travelers represent the majority of the guests, the flexible and moderate cancellation policies don't work well, because there is only a very small opportunity to re-book the room due to the associated travel required for many guests.  The same is not true for my Atlanta listing where I frequently get short-notice bookings from locals, especially for the weekend.

[Nanxing0]

@Debra300 I host in Philly and am with the same situation as yours. However the problem is that those local guests are pretty problematic compared to travellers. A lot of hosts around me are not very welcoming to those local guests. 

[Debra300]

@Nanxing0,

I don't get party planners at my spaces. I attribute this to the fact that all of my listings are connected to my house, and we live onsite or have someone onsite when we're away.

There are states requiring self-isolation for visitors or residents returning from high-impact states, but right now I don't think that you have the same challenges as hosts in St. Lucia.  In addition to getting a passport and flight/boat arrangements to travel to the island, all travelers (even repatriating St. Lucians) must obtain an approved travel authorization from the St. Lucian government, and a negative PCR test result for COVID-19 within seven days of arrival.  If a person doesn't have the test result, a test will be administered at the airport for $100USD, and:

1. Visitors - at their expense, will be housed in a government sponsored quarantine hotel until the results are returned.  If negative, the guest can go to the vacation accommodation that was booked.  Guests with a positive result will be taken to the local respiratory hospital for observation and treatment, at their expense.
2. Residents - will be housed in a government sponsored quarantine hotel for seven days.  Then a follow up test will be taken.  If negative, the St. Lucian will be allowed to complete seven additional days of self-isolation at home if they have accommodations that meet the requirements (separate bathroom and bedroom from other household occupants).  Otherwise, they must remain in the quarantine hotel for an additional seven days.  Residents with a positive test result will be taken to the local respiratory hospital for observation and treatment.

A 30 or 60 day cancellation policy, would allow hosts a better opportunity to re-book a space that have very limited opportunity for short notice reservations.

[Nanxing0]

@Debra300 It's not only about party planners TBH. There are all kinds of problems with local guests I can list all of them here. Never had any of those trouble with travellers.

About party concern, all my listings are small units so it's almost impossible to have a party in any of my listings, but I still had a group of people used my one-bedroom apartment with a small backyard to host a  birthday party though. The backyard was not furnished at all but the group still managed to drag the dining table and chairs out and had the party -- you can't imagine how creative those disrespectful people are. My friends host with whole houses and they suffered so much from those local guest parties that most of them are not accepting any local guests at this time.

Other problems I can list here, including frequent no-smoking rule breaches (most of them weed, which I clearly stated prohibited), stealing our stuffs (like coffee maker), also had a guest broke our TV and refused responsibility. 

[Fred13]

I never looked at the Super Strict 30/60 policies as mostly for high earners, since I got it from the outset, when we were just starting (2014); but in time I can see that is how they started using, to stroke high earners.

[Nanxing0]

The problem is not about what cancellation policy is there, but the EXECUTION/ENFORCEMENT of the cancellation policy. Guests always have some excuse to cancel and ask for a refund and Airbnb is known to side with guests as much as possible. Not to mention the extenuating circumstance clause.

As a matter of fact, I used to have strict cancellation policy but I have been offering full refund for most guests that cancelled as long as it's not a last minute. I have also been refunding those nights that get rebooked by others as well. It's very difficult to enforce the policy.

[Trevor243]

@Debra300We use Booking.com a lot - until this virus hit, AirBnB provided about 10%-12% of our bookings, Booking.com was around 40%. We are an agency and have many properties listed on all OTAs.

We use Payments by Booking.com - this solves many of the issues you mention - guests have to pay at the time of booking. We also set all dates to non-refundable. Guests get 24 hours from the time of booking in which to cancel free of charge, but after that, it's non-refundable. Sure, it costs a little bit more, but it removes all the fake bookings, the calendar blockers etc and saves a vast amount of time.

All OTAs have pros and cons. AirBnB's cancellation policy is not good for hosts, but they do handle the damage deposit automatically. Booking.com's cancellation policy is good, but they are a real headache with damage deposits.

A couple of weeks ago, Booking.com invited me to a Zoom type conference call with various managers and others to discuss the damage deposits. They are make moves to make it easier for us to take the damage deposits, but seem to be branding it as an option extra service. I expressed my concerns that they would use that as another opportunity to charge extra again.

One day, an OTA will start up that will do everything we want, support the hosts properly and will take the world by storm. The likes of AirBnB and Booking.com have become too big and too complacent .....

[Fred13]

@Trevor243 Thank you for the very informative post. I gather from it that those hosts that rarely (if ever) have reason to make a claim for damages, Bookings.com in that case may be a good booking-agency alternative?