guests guilt tripping us about sticking to our cancellation policy

[S14]

Just wondering if other hosts are experiencing this and how you're handling it.

Obviously, anyone initiating a booking after March 14th is well aware --super aware -- that they are making plans in the middle of a global pandemic. As such, obviously there are risks (duh). We are all living in a time of great uncertainty. It's actually hard for me to understand why anyone would book any travel at all during this time, unless it's for emergency travel.

We are in NYC. We have had a surprising number of people booking vacations here lately. Bizarre, because nothing is open except some limited outdoor dining -- no museums, no theater, no nightclubs, no tourist attractions. What are these people thinking?

Anyway, we are so strapped for income since the pandemic began -- and since Airbnb decided not support hosts during this crisis - so if someone wants to book with us and if they agree to all our house rules and our cancellation policy -- and if they don't have any bad reviews -- we're not turning them away. Of course, we do all the enhanced cleaning.

NY State initiated a travel advisory about 2 1/2 months ago, which is updated literally every few days. It is public. Easy to find on a simple internet search. (Would you book travel during a worldwide crisis without doing a quick search first? Who would do that?)

Anyway, we are having a rash of people cancelling and demanding full refunds. We always apologize but refer them to Airbnb Support. We tell them that we will abide by Airbnb's decision in case Airbnb decides that their situation fits into the Extenuating Circumstances policy. Generally, these cancellations do not fit. Even when it's crazy last minute, we (graciously IMO) offer them penalty free alterations to any date in the future, as long as we're available and as long as their new dates meet our minimum and maximum stay durations. Sometimes, the date change happens. Fine. We even give them our current pandemic era reduced prices for future dates, knowing that we might be back up to full rates by then. Some people are fine with that. But, it's shocking how many dig into hard core guilt tripping. Hey, we lost almost all our income since March. They took a risk for the cost of one vacation. And most importantly, they absolutely agreed to our cancellation policy when they booked. So, why all the guilt tripping?

And Airbnb seriously makes it worse. In virtually every canned message to guests about these sorts of (or all?) cancellations, they specifically suggest that the guests ask the hosts for a full refund. Why??? So, Airbnb makes the host into the bad guys. Why doesn't Airbnb back us up?

This has become quite unpleasant. Not to mention that the constant bickering style messages from the guests is taking many many hours of time. I hate this.

Times are hard for everyone. Why are hosts suddenly scapegoated? Not fair.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Mark116 Its one of the many useful things I have learnt on the forum. Along with being amused by peoples views on life, hosting and the Extenuating Circumstances policy!

[Alexandra316]

@S14Personally, if a guest is continuing to give you a hard time about your cancellation policy, I would just stop engaging with them. There is no negative impact on your Airbnb stats for not answering them, unless they're sending you a new enquiry new dates every time they message you. Once you've explained your position, I don't see the benefit of continuing to reply to them. 

I also would be careful about brining up Extenuating Circumstances. If the only reason they're not allowed to travel is Covid-related travel restrictions, they shouldn't be eligible anyways.

[S14]

@Alexandra316 -- I normally would agree about not engaging with difficult and unreasonable people. The problem is that these particular guests (not just one) are telling me, in writing, that they are not coming and are cancelling. But then they don't cancel until like 10 minutes before the checkin time! How can I get them to cancel if they are going to cancel? Wreaks havoc on many scheduling matters -- only one of which is our ability to rent it. As usual, support is just no help at all.

My only reason for continuing the discussion is to try to find out whether or not they are coming!

Any ideas on how to find out? Hey, we live downstairs. It's our home. Don't we have a right to know whether or not they are coming? I mean once they clearly state in a message that they are definitely not coming, how can we get them to press the cancel button?

I believe they are delaying hitting cancel solely to be vindictive because they well know it's a problem for us and they are angry that they are not entitled to a full refund. I would like to believe that the delay is because they are undecided, but if you read the messages from them, you would know that they are not undecided at all.

[Alexandra316]

@S14 If they haven't actually cancelled, then yes, that creates more of an issue. What I usually do is dangle the carrot that if they cancel and I manage to rebook the dates, I will refund accordingly. That usually speeds things along: it's definitely an incentive for them to take action, and quickly.

These do sound like horrible people to deal with. The issue also becomes that if they don't cancel and simply don't show up, they can also write you a review. 

[S14]

@Alexandra316

Hi, yes, well I already promised to agree to rebook which would result in no penalties or extra costs to anyone. They have declined and stated that they prefer to cancel. Yet, they are not pushing the friggin' cancel button!

[Alexandra316]

@S14 Not what I mean: I mean you tell them that if you're able to rebook their dates to a different guest, you will refund them. 

[S14]

@Alexandra316

Oh, well that would represent a breach of our policy. I wrote a long response to that suggestion somewhere on here. Maybe you didn't see it. I laid out all the reasons I have a problem with that under the current policies (even though I'm not opposed to the concept). Currently, I do not feel that that is workable. If you're interested and cannot find my separate response to that, I can try to find it and re-post it here.

Thank you for helping to thing this through!

-- It was a response to Kelly about that same suggestion. Sorry, I should have flagged you. I'll try to add the flag. (Eh, it won't let me edit that for some reason. On my system, it shows up just a few messages after this one.)

[Ann72]

@S14  I hate the guilt-trippers!  Stand firm and listen to @Alexandra316.

When Maine (where I list) kept revising its policy, I updated upcoming guests.  You can do this with your remaining reservations so there are fewer surprises.

[S14]

@Ann72  -- Yes, I agree and I am updating them. The problem starts as soon as they learn that there is a potential problem -- even if I am the one who informed them. Unfortunately, it doesn't help to prevent guests from demanding a full refund when they are not entitled to it. And wow do they get nasty -- not everyone of course, but there are way too many who do.

[Kelly149]

@S14 you could always lead with: "I won't be paid until after your reservation dates arrive and therefore it would be impossible for me to refund you before this time." Followed by "of course if someone else chooses these dates after you release them then we will refund you the double payment. I'm sure you understand that you prevented all others from accessing these dates when you had agreed to our cancellation policy when you booked your reservation." It can sometimes help to point out to a guest that they aren't just "paying" for the stay but they're also "paying" for the fact that they made those dates unavailable to the rest of the world. Pointing out that you did provide them with the service of not allowing others to view and purchase these dates MIGHT deflate the "but we aren't getting anything for our money" argument.

[S14]

@Kelly149  Your suggestion involves a significant change to the Cancellation Policy. My point is that the Host Cancellation Policy is not negotiable and that the Extenuating Circumstances Policy is solely governed by Airbnb.

Please look at Airbnb's own website:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2701/extenuating-circumstances-policy-and-the-coronavirus-covid1...

On that page, it clearly states:
"The host’s cancellation policy will apply as usual to reservations made after March 14, 2020. "
That quote is its own stand-alone paragraph, very clear -- the 2nd paragraph after the heading "Summary." And I always point guests to that page in addition to the page that spells out the details of the cancellation policy before they book. I won't accept a booking until they confirm that they agree with all this.

Also, on a practical level, your suggestion ignores that fact that I must pay for a housekeeper when the guest waits until the last minute to cancel. It also ignores the many hours of responding to aggressive guests who are (at the improper suggestion of Airbnb) demanding, after the fact, a major change (reversal in fact) of a policy they agreed to before booking. I worked in corporate business for over 30 years before retiring to set up my bnb. I can tell you with certainty that there is no business contract in the world that is negotiable after the fact. It's a slippery slope to start renegotiating things after the fact. It opens up discussion for renegotiating everything! House rules, everything! Consistency is important. Also, it is not fair to other guests who are too polite to make demands which fall outside of their explicit written agreements. Under your proposal, the rude, selfish, and aggressive guests get rewarded and the polite ones who are intelligent enough to comprehend what they read and explicitly agreed to get nothing. I will not treat people unfairly like that. And I do not feel that is a valid business practice.

Hosts on Airbnb can choose ONLY from the Host Cancellation Policies which Airbnb defined. If there were a policy written as per your proposal, I might choose that one, probably would -- but then it would all be agreed to up front and would be applied uniformly to everyone.

Again, Airbnb handles all the "extenuating circumstances" exceptions, not me. One of the major reasons for working with Airbnb is because they supposedly deal with the money. I do not want to spend my life haggling with guests about money. I did not bargain for that.

[S14]

P.S.  @Kelly149  -- Actually (surprisingly), I have never gotten any "we are not getting for our money" argument -- nor has anyone ever raised the issue to me of any possible "double" payment in case we're able to re-book for the dates. In my experience, these cancellations that I'm talking about are very last minute, even as late as a mere 10 minutes before our standard checkin time - hardly enough time for anyone to expect a new booking.

The ONLY argument I've gotten during this horrible ordeal is "it's not fair because it's not our fault that the government issued a travel advisory for COVID which affects us". Guests who make THAT argument sometimes add (when it's true) that the specific travel advisory which affects them was issued after, not before, they booked. I totally agree that it's not their fault. Guess what -- it's not my fault either! I didn't create the Corona virus!

Strangely, I get the exact same argument from people who booked after a travel advisory was already issued and is currently in place that would affect them. That's why I'm writing here.

The purpose of any cancellation policy is primarily to cover unforeseen circumstances -- i.e., circumstances which did not exist at the time of booking. Otherwise, there wouldn't be much need for a cancellation policy. (I suppose it also serves to prevent people from simply changing their minds. But in our experience, that is rare. People are usually very excited after they book and tell me repeatedly that they can't wait to come.)

The Cancellation Policy which we associated with our listings is designed to be fair when circumstances out of anyone's control cause a cancellation. We have the "strict with grace period" policy which allows 48 hours of full cancellation, then 50% cancellation as long as the cancellation is made more than 2 weeks before the booking date -- which is fair because, again, we can't be expected to get another booking so fast. And those percentages only affect the nighty fee because they guests always get the cleaning fee refunded, it seems.

Before Corona, we were booked up many months in advance, many bookings 6-12 months in advance. (We offer really nice spaces at kind of bargain prices; so we are normally booked far ahead.) Most people do plan trips far ahead. Short notice bookings are rare. I assume that is the experience of most hosts, especially if you do all the work to make your listing very desirable.

Anyone who books DURING a worldwide pandemic crisis KNOWS that things are constantly changing and that any travel plans made now include some risk. Even though I"m not a news junkie per se, well you'd have to be hiding under a rock with no internet in order to have not heard the phrase "these uncertain times" many many times a week since mid-March.

BTW, I always specifically advise people, in writing, to check all travel advisories related to the pandemic before finalizing their booking. I have now added, for future inquiries, more language which states that our cancellation policy is not negotiable -- in the same paragraph where I talk about the pandemic. It's not like I'm trying to hide anything! Obviously, it's not my job to tell people to exercise common sense in booking -- but I seriously try to go above and beyond by highlighting any possible problems in advance.  If a guest can't read or has reading comprehension difficulties, I don't know what to say.

Incidentally, I have been hosting on Airbnb for over six years. We live downstairs and we have two bnb's upstairs. We are not wealthy, nor are we some kind of big business with deep pockets. If we were, we wouldn't have to home share!

[Ann72]

@S14 I'm 100 percent with you on the attempt to break contracts.  Last year Airbnb tried to guilt-trip me into refunding a guest who had tried to game the system, and this is what I wrote:  "It is my clear understanding that if I were to breach any of my obligations of the Terms of Service, I would be shut down by Airbnb.  (Clause 15.4: Airbnb may immediately, without notice, terminate this Agreement and/or stop providing access to the Airbnb Platform if (i) you have materially breached your obligations under these Terms, the Payments Terms, our Policies or Standards, (ii) you have violated applicable laws, regulations or third party rights, or (iii) Airbnb believes in good faith that such action is reasonably necessary to protect the personal safety or property of Airbnb, its Members, or third parties (for example in the case of fraudulent behavior of a Member).)

"I am therefore somewhat shocked that a representative of Airbnb would ask me to breach a Term of Service (clause 9.2) in this manner."

They tried one more time, pointing out that, "as the host, you are the only one who was the power in bypassing your strict cancellation policy."  Please note that confirmation from Airbnb CS that the host is the only one who has the power to bypass a cancellation policy.  

I know that you're dealing with guests, not customer service, but just wanted to share because this is relevant to the contracts we enter into not only with Airbnb but with guests.

This season I was able to persuade guests to cancel by telling them I would endeavor to refund as much of the 50% balance, if not all, by rebooking the cancelled dates.  I had to nudge one person to cancel by pointing out I wouldn't be able to re-book if she didn't cancel.  The point here is that if you just say firmly, from the start, that you will ATTEMPT to refund the 50%, that can make them go away.  You haven't promised you'll do it, you've promised you'll try.  And you haven't started the conversation by saying no.  

[S14]

@Ann72  

I LOVE your response to Airbnb. I think I'm going to use that! It's so very very correct.

I'm not comfortable with promising to attempt to give a partial refund when I'm really not going to do that though. Any other ideas (to get guests to push cancel after they have said they will but then just don't)?

I've written CS and as usual, no response. I dread another 3 hour wait on the phone,

[Ann72]

@S14   Yeah I was totally channeling Claude Rains --