Refund and rebooking policy- terrifying!

[Paul1255]

Yikes, anyone else broken out into a cold sweat reading the details of the new refund and rebooking policy….

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2868/rebooking-and-refund-policy?src_section=310825&c=.pi80.pk...

[Caleb1]

I'm dealing with this garbage right now and its not even the new policy yet.  Guest called Airbnb to complain about flight cancellation and lied about reason for stay (said funeral, really coming out to party).  Airbnb tried to force me repeatedly to cancel and fully refund the stay.  Sorry, I'm not responsible for challenges with air travel and cancellation policy was agreed to by all parties.

My simple resolution was to have the guest cancel and I would refund and portion of a rebooking, Airbnb support declined to follow back up with the guest.  Fun times all the way around.

[Helen744]

@Caleb1, did the guest get in touch with you because that will be part of the refund process in future I believe?. other platforms already do this , in other words guests must ask the host if they can cancel,explain why and then request a refund.  You are within your rights to ask the guest to cancel for whatever their stated reason is and give a refund based on your personal level of Booking.  This should not have been escalated at all . The guest must comply depending how long before the booking they have cancelled. As stated it is not your fault that the booking was cancelled ,so do not refund anything they are not entitled to .You have not as yet received the money so if it was within 24 hours and  you are entitled to keep one day from the booking, you will also be able to take other bookings if there is still time This is normal and standard as far as I can see. Just do it and move on but check your policies. A guest like this cannot review you H

[Helen744]

Caleb , do not Cancel . It is up to the guest to cancel. The way you explain this it actually looks like a two way con between the guest and an Airbnb rep. Stick to your policy . It is not your place to cancel at all. This is a request for you to refund outside your rules. Keep open dialogue thru the ap . I t is not important why the people were coming as now they are not. it would appear to be a bit of emotional blackmail which may or may not be true but nevertheless there are simple rules and if this pressure is to force you to do a refund that does not fit your policies then that is apalling. Stay calm and compassionate but do not cancel All the best H

[Caleb1]

Helen-

100% agree.  I was initially confused, then super pissed, when Airbnb repeatedly tried to convince me I should cancel and fully refund.  I finally hung up on the rep when he said "So your final decision is to cancel it for the guest and fully refund it" after I had just finished saying under no circumstances was I going to cancel and refund it.  Way out of line.

The guest literally just canceled the reservation, almost 10 hours after Airbnb tried to convince me to do it then failed to call the guest back.

My concern is I've had a couple of times where guests check in, stay a couple of nights, cancel, refuse to leave promptly, then cite some trivial excuse (my dog is sick, my friends didn't show up) and Airbnb overrides the cancellation policy giving them a full refund and still allowing them to leave a review.  If this guest hadn't canceled until tomorrow she technically would have 'checked in' and then canceled and be eligible to get refund and leave a review.

[Helen744]

Caleb1 sounds diabolical. It would seem as if you are at the centre of the storm of scammers. The new airbnb policy should actually help with this because my reading of it would prevent people getting a refund unless they agree to vacate. Simple, but obviously a scammer thinks 'hey a free stay' and not much further . 72 hours would probably cover this as long as the 72 hours fall within the stay and are not'after the stay'. How in the hell can someone cancel and get a refund and refuse to leave. I would simply enter the house and commence housekeeping around them while informing Airbnb  that they appear to still be in the house. Tenants laws do not apply here. They have no right to privacy or to stay  where they have actually already cancelled. Tell them also that someone else is checking in as you are running a business where you have to make money to pay your bills not theirs. Offer to ring someone or a care agency but tell them very firmly that they must leave unless it is freezing or something ask them to sit outside while you get on with it and then lock the door. H. Some people are frail or mentally ill but  cross your fingers they are not in your house. Sometimes care agencies pay for short stays and do not follow up or 'tenants unions' try it on as there is a contingent of people who consider Airbnbs as reducing housing stock and are quite radical H. Its always best to be cautious at the beginning of your bookings and communicate with your guests clearly and insist they communicate with you but after saying that ' do not judge a book by the cover' there is no harm in asking a guest where they will be going next,or where they have been ,what they do or why they are travelling. 

[Helen744]

Caleb what is your cancellation policy? Surely that is followed. H.Anyone can cancel really anytime but not to get a refund and not to stay in the house afterwards. I had a similar situation before I wised up and became more wary but luckily for me after a frantic call from Airbnb where I was told that a drunken,drugged guest who had booked for three but turned up with two cars full of people  who had not communicated at all in the lead up except in a vague way and objected to being asked if she was planning a party and responded coyly that' she might have a few friends around later'. within one hour after I left terrified they had filled bins full of cans and marijuana droppings and stolen parts of the game station. The Airbnb people basically said if you want to get rid of them then  refund them . I agreed which opened up the booking luckily and  had a lovely very big male guest arrive,for which I am forever grateful .You live and learn and one thing I have learned is that all but the more sophisticated scammers target newbies. They can destroy you business before you even get started but as you become more  canny the scams do to and they are always there in one form or another and their one object is to take from you and give to themselves. your Airbnb rep was way out of line . H

[Katrina314]

@Paul1255 

Excellent article linked below on how the latest policy changes massively fuel the escalating risks for hosts of accepting bookings on Airbnb's platform, by Amy Hinote of VRMIntel. 

"Yesterday’s policy announcement affirms that Airbnb intends to continue buying consumer trust with refunds.

And why not? Airbnb isn’t refunding its own money. It isn’t refunding the booking fee it collects. The cost of this trust is borne on the backs of its host community"

The insightful, well-researched piece also contains eye-opening data which confirms that (contrary to what the company would have you believe), Airbnb's average stay value, average length of stay, and average booking window is below other booking channels - significantly so, in many instances (graphs in article)

"In addition to increased risk for bookings on Airbnb, compared to direct bookings, the average stay value (ASV) was 53 percent lower, the average length of stay was 31 percent smaller, and the average booking window was a 63 percent shorter for bookings on Airbnb"

Using Airbnb For Bookings Just Got Even More Risky With New Refund Policy

https://t.co/lKuTFyG75z

[Paul1255]

@Michelle53  Hope you’re doing well!

Indeed this seems like a sensible move to minimise potential problems.

[Michelle53]

@Paul1255  Reading between the lines on this whole "new policy" ,  it  likely came about due to guest complaints. I'm sure there is a department tracking those. 

It appears to me that host quality across the entire host population must be dropping along with guest quality, and guest complaints must be rising.  Hardly surprising when one is going for booking volume as the core metric. 

It wouldn't surprise me if more "minimum standard" rules were introduced to "guarantee the guest experience". 

[Michelle53]

ETA: The other things I always look for when reading any policy are the "weasel words" - or that language inserted by the legal department in order to absolve a company in the event they don't do what their policy just said they were going to do. 

Example:

"Claims must be made to us no later than 72 hours after discovery of the Travel Issue and supported by relevant evidence such as photographs or confirmation of the conditions by the Host."

In other words, they want to say they will ask the host for confirmation of the conditions, but the reality is they will just continue to proceed without it.    They could have used "and"  there. 

"In most circumstances we will attempt to confirm a guest’s claim with their Host."

In other words, if they call in the middle of the night, and the host doesn't answer the phone, tough luck. 

[Sarah977]

@Michelle53  "

In most circumstances we will attempt to confirm a guest’s claim with their Host."

In other words, if they call in the middle of the night, and the host doesn't answer the phone, tough luck. "

Oh, I wouldn't even give them that much credit. I envision them never attempting to confirm with the host, and then when the host complains, they'll say it was a circumstance where they don't notify the host.

[Robin1080]

o wow yes exactly what happened to me last night...they let scammers get away with working my manager for free after the guests entered the property and stayed for 8 hours messing it up and then calling BUGS....NOT TRUE...now i pay the manager and get scammed....

[Mark116]

@Michelle53  Maybe, but if there are more guest complaints I would say it is just as likely the problem is not falling host standards but is actually Airbnb's abject failure to educate guests on how to moderate their expectations and the multitude of redesigns that OBSCURE the details on each individual listing.  

As I've said before, I am fairly confident that my sample of 1 indicates that guests who make a request to book now believe they've actually booked.  There is no other reason why they would fail to answer posts made from the host minutes after they're request.  They think they're all done, and they won't think again about the booking until they need the check in details.  That is 100% Airbnb and poor design of the platform.

[Michelle53]

@Mark116  The realist in me says they likely won't recognize the failure to educate guests as an issue. The idea is to get people to book faster, not to take the time to read the instructions. 

Just as they don't own the actual assets, they also don't own the issues that arise from the faster-to-book process.  It's all a very neat and tidy way to make the host own everything, including the issues.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mark116  true, and then when the host doesn't get an answer and declines the guest answers immediately. It happened to me regularly

@Michelle53  yes, you are right, obviously, Airbnb rushes guests to book - everything is hidden behind "Show more>" links, house rules are on the bottom of the page... BUT, what ABB doesn't see is that by hiding all info they actually create a lot of unpleasant surprises for guests and the whole process became so time-consuming!

For example, a few years ago my "thank you for booking" message was short, and included just 3 questions about bed configuration, parking, and time of arrival. Now, it is a novel where I have to explain to them where to find house rules and additional house rules on desktop and where is it on mobile, and then x more messages on what to do if they planned to check in at midnight and I can't after 7 PM or if they travel with kids and my place is not kid-friendly 😞 And I have to explain over and over about transfer from Airport even though it is written on my listing but hidden somewhere bellow the map where nobody finds it

Since ABB decided to hide all info I am spending 5 times more time on communication than before. It's so frustrating for guests and for hosts.