Guest Cancellation Policy Update

[Lizzie]

Hello Everyone,

A few weeks ago Airbnb made changes to what guests see when they book and what happens when they cancel a booking, those changes were discussed here on the CC.

You can read more about the changes in this Help Center article. We also want to open a thread here on the Community Center, to continue the conversation. We appreciate how important it is that our host community is informed when changes happen on Airbnb, even when those changes are for your guests.

What changed for guests?

The names of the cancellation policies themselves haven’t changed, so the policy you set—Flexible, Moderate, or Strict—will still show up for your guests. However, now when a guest makes a booking, they’ll see more information explaining the terms and refund cut-off dates for the policy you’ve chosen. We also changed Airbnb’s existing policy so that we now refund Airbnb guest service fees for cancellations, up to 3 times per year. This way, if a guest cancels within a fully-refundable window, the reservation—including guest service fees—will truly be fully refundable.

How will this affect me as a host?

This additional messaging for guests is meant to eliminate confusion about our cancellation policies and, ultimately, to encourage more bookings—especially for more flexible listings. The changes won’t affect refund cut-off dates, your payout, or your host fee. Guest cancellations are rare and we’ll continue to monitor this rate in light of the new changes.

Why did Airbnb make this change?

Through feedback and research, we’ve seen that guests often overlook the cancellation policy terms of the listing they book. This leads to confusion and frustration in the rare event that their plans must change. This added education is meant to help align guest and host expectations going into each booking.

I hope you find this information useful.

Thanks for your time.

Lizzie

[Colleen47]

This exact scenario just happened to me twice this month!

[Lucille10]

There seems to be no way a host can complain about Airbnb, eg. when reservation dates are wrong, ie. the dates given by Airbnb do not corresponde to the dates requested by possible clients.  This has happened to me twice in a row, and have had to refuse the booking which I do not like to do, but am left with no other option.

[Pal1]

Note that as Hosts we can still suffer a financial penalty if we cancel a reservation.

Straight from their Policy website: https://www.airbnb.com.au/hospitality

**********************

Commitment to Reservations

When you confirm you’ll host someone, they’re trusting you to take care of their needs. Whether it’s a family holiday or a business trip, an unexpected change in accommodation can be very disruptive.

If the unexpected happens and you can’t avoid cancelling a confirmed booking, here are some things to keep in mind:

TIPS

• As soon as you know that you have to cancel, let your guest know right away. This will give them as much time as possible to find new accommodation.

• Cancel the reservation on Airbnb to initiate the refund process.

• If you know other hosts in your area, consider asking them if they can accommodate the guest’s trip and offer to make an introduction.

• When there is an extenuating circumstance or a safety concern, Airbnb may make an exception to host cancellation penalties.

KEEP IN MIND

We want travellers who book on Airbnb to feel confident in their plans, so we take cancellations seriously. You can be subject to penalties—including financial penalties—if you cancel a confirmed booking.

[Brenda122]

A few months ago a guest requested me to cancel the booking as she had problems with flights anyway I thought I would oblige as the booking was for August I assumed that if cancels the dates would clear and I could fill it no problem wrong now dates are blocked of 

[Christine1]

Hello,

I am going to sound a bit brutal here, but the misunderstandings which so many Hosts have about the consequences of taking actions to initiate a guest cancellation, are the result of not knowing how our webtools work.

However this need not be the case.

A great deal of online guidance has been posted by Airbnb, yet it seems way too few of the Hosts who posts problems and complaints in these forums appear to demonstate the basic understandings which are well explained in our user guides.

The Help Centre menu is a comprehensive guide to using your hosting tools and the more Hosts review the hundreds of frequently asked questions the less problems they can expect to have with every aspect of their hosting. Including all manner of issues surrounding cancellations.

I want to take this opportunity to emphasise that there has been NO CHANGE to the Host cancellation policies and the way they are administered. All the usual terms and conditions set by Hosts attached to the policies of their choice remain unchanged.

The only change to cancellation policies and refunds has been the % booking fee that is separately levied onto guests by AirBnb. This is a cost that is levied on guests for the use of the Airbnb site to facilitate the booking.

Previously if a guest cancelled this money was never refunded to the guest.

Now Airbnb are prepared to refund their booking fee 3 times per year. After that, if the guest pulls out of a confirmed booking, Airbnb will not refund booking fees to the guest. 

In respect of cancellation fees-penalties-rebates-50%-100% etc to Hosts; nothing has changed!

Host cancellation terms and conditions all remain the same, and are still paid out or forwarded in accordance with the Hosts chosen policy.

Some of the comments by aggrieved Hosts read as if hosts think funds they expected will be refunded for routine cancellations. These AirBnb policy changes are not intended to be interpreted that way at all.

Airbnb are making changes to smooth out a problem area which was flagged by Hosts and guests. That problem being the unpleasant surprise guests had when they expected a refund bigger that the one they got when they needed to cancel. 

For example if the refund they were due was 100% according to the Host policy, they expected all the money being held by Airbnb to be returned. Until recently this never occured because Airbnb retained the booking fee. They will no longer do this-they will refund the booking fee[max 3 times per year. All of this was explained in routine mailouts and update notices to hosts. I remember getting this advice, reading it, saving it and reviewing the norification a couple of times just to be sure I was interpreting it correctly. 

For Hosts to get upset about Airbnb ensuring that Guests understand the terms and conditions of a cancellation policy or any other aspect of their online transactions or rights and responsibilities is disengenuous and improper.

Afterall, these discussion forums are full of hosts who bemoan guests NOT reading or understanding the information provided by Hosts. For heaven's sake, can we have some consistency? Education of guests and more particularly Hosts is critical to having a successful hosting experience. 

One of the beautiful things about Airbnb for me, was the ease of setting up my listing and OMG booking requests came in quicker than I expected. But I am so glad that I had the [unusual for me] wisdom of reading the FAQ Guides evening after evening, for the first few weeks before my listing went live. I combined instructions and advice from Airbnb, and blocked my Calendar for a few weeks while I learnt more about Hosting. Knowing how to use Hosting tools is critical and central to having a smooth low-risk, trouble free experience. (Ok, I threw in the idea of trouble free because it's a reasonable aim to believe in and work towards. #: ) 

My cancellations run at 1%. I let the policy stand, and have overidden it twice to increase the refund, without any pressure from my guests. I have learnt the difference between "Airbnb asking me" and an automated message......

Please, read the message twice....so many of the messages are automated options and suggestions.

Pause before reacting, and make your own decision about what you want to do. 

It's your project and you are not being bossed around or disrespected by Airbnb. You can influence cancellations with the way you manage your site. You need to be proactive and continually looking at how you are coming across to the viewing public and present your website, your listing and yourself, in a manner which positively influences the behaviour of potential guests.

Comparing AirBnb to other options;

Early on in my Hosting I had a few well meaning guests who wanted to help me increase my activity with greater exposure to travellers and they recommended alternate booking sites that they had been using up until then. I said thanks but no thanks as I was pretty busy anyway. 

But you know what? curiosity eventually lead me to ensure that I wasn't shortchanging myself by staying where I was comfortable due to a fear of branching out.

So I checked a few of the recommendations for alternative online booking agencies.

I read all the detail of their policies, terms and conditions, and all their fine print.

As a consequence, I have never listed with any other booking site, however I remain up to date with how they operate, due to the requirements of "my day job". 

I recommend that disgruntled Hosts check out what's available to travellers via other homestay booking sites. The value for money is extraordinary and frequently impressive and tempting! I am grateful for the current opportunities I have, and I try to stay abreast of my relative position in the market. It saves a lot of angst. 

IMHO too many negative comments towards Airbnb are due to ignorance of Airbnb policies, site tools and contracts, and an equal degree of ignorance regarding comparable websites and how they operate. 

My hope is that moderate notice is taken of many of these grumblings; instead can I respectfully request a greater effort is directed towards the education of Hosts by Hosts themselves in partnership with Airbnb. Learn how your site tools work, make better use of them, they are more versatile than many realise. Stay up to date, it's part of Hosting. Communicate with your guests-often and be their guide and facilitator.

BTW lets not forget the Hosting Guides which are available in the Community Centre. 

Hi @Lizzie, can you [please and thankyou] put up a fresh link to these guides? 

I am not trying to cause offence, I hope I haven't, but surely I am not alone in my thoughts? 

Regards, Christine. 

[Linda108]

AAAAHHHHHH...., @Christine1, breath of fresh air.  Thank you for your posting.

I have long advocated for basic host education as an integral part of a listing going live.  Like you, I read what I could and attended webinars that helped me understand the sharing economy and this platform.  I must admit, at first I was hoping someone would mentor me because I was insecure about both the business and my ability to navigate in this online world.  Feel much more confident now, in no small part due to participating in the host forum.

[Christine1]

@Brenda122,

Hi There,

Teach your guests how to use their tools to cancel or alter a booking.

Don't make their cancellations.

You can get guidance on this and other transactional procedures via the Help Centre tool-icon on your website dashboard, next to your pic.

Best Regards,

Christine.

[Lizzie]

Hello Everyone,

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts on this, it is really good to hear all your points.

It is great that a few of you have also been sharing your suggestions on how you think it could be improved.

Many of you have mentioned, finding more of a middle ground - whereby you understand that guests do want some flexibility, however you feel hosts shouldn't loose out from a cancellation.  

@Marit-Anne0 suggested to set a different cancellation policy for peak times for example when there is an event in your area and @Jeffrey6 suggested adding another standardised policy setting which could sit between Moderate and Strict. 

Thanks to you both for sharing this.

It would be great to hear your thoughts on these ideas, plus I always think it is good to hear your suggestions on what you think could work well, please do share them here. 

Thank again, speak to your soon.

Lizzie

[Pamela138]

I do not understand how Airbnb would expect hosts to lose high season income because a guest is shopping around. And I think it is VERY wrong to punish hosts by dropping thier listing lower if they chose a strict policy. Why????? 

Airbnb has become very unfriendly to hosts. Not the way it started out at all. 

Many of us rely on hosting as a living and our resort seaosn is short. I need ot make a whole years' income in three months. A cancellation of a week, is like losing a whole months' income. I don't see how you have the right to do that. 

[Christine1]

@Pamela138, and others in a similar position

1. Why are you trying to make a whole year's income in 3 months?
2. Are there other options you might like to investigate for generating booking in your local area, that would eliminate being vulnerable to losing funds due to guest cancellations?
3. Guests shop around for savings, we all do. The challenge for any accomodation provider is to offer a product and service which is of such value to each particular guest that they won't want to cancel.
4. Not all guests are driven by price, there are other factors which result in bookings. Hosts can take steps to attract guests who will not cancel or change their travel plans, or if they do, they cancel and don't expect or request a waiver on fees.
5. Seek first-hand information from your guests about why they cancel or alter plans. This gives you valuable knowledge to manage in future and hopefully you can lessen cancellations
6. Cancellations are a normal part of travel, accommodation and hospitality. They also occur in all other areas of commerce.
7. Cancellations are a risk factor that needs to be actively managed and not an aberration. The soon we adapt our mindset and management the more comfortable we will become.
8. I have had a strict cancellation policy for many years. Previously I have had other cancellation policies in place. My listing has not been punished in the search results as a consequence of having a strict cancellation policy. It's not part of the way the search tools are engineered. That's just an ill advised rumour.
9. Another forum contributor commented that Airbnb originally began as a way to obtain a supplementary income. It's still a core part of their business model, and likely to remain so for the indefinite future. 
10. Regards, Christine and Wombat. 

[Pamela138]

Wow, are you ever patoniozing. Do you think I WANT to make my whole living in 3 month's time? Do you thnk I am studpid and don't undrstand the hospitality industry? ( I workd in hospiatlity for 30 years).  This is a resort community. Zero income in winter, massive number of visitors in summer. I didn't create that situation. Plus, the cost of living is high all year round. This has been like this since before I was born.  I have a large mortage and even if I moved to a cheaper state, I wouldn't have enough profit from the sale of my house  to buy another home. Airbnb has saved my home, it pays my mprtgage. BUT I cannot  afford ot have people take bookings lightly and cancel on a whim. When I make an airline booking, I am out of luck if I change my mind or have emergencies unless I buy insurance. BTW, guest can buy insirance. YOU have no right to decide how I run my rental. Walk a mile in my shoes and don't assume I am not creative. I'd be homeless if that were the case. BTW, when folks cancel too late for a refund, I offer them to come back another time at no charge. I think that is fair and I still have my income, they still have a vacation at another time. 

[Airbnb2]

ehh

[Karen313]

@Airbnb2 C'mon there must be better use of your time than trolling people that are actually concerned about the small businesses they are running. Do you have any useful input?

[Dael0]

That is a really nice idea, giving people who cancel the opportunity to stay without paying at another date.  That is very generous.  Thank you for sharing that idea, I think I will see how I could also offer it.  Best regards

[Kelly149]

@Lizzie yes, Lizzie, I would be in favor of a better option btwn Moderate & Strict. One week is not enough time to have a chance to re-book. I would be onboard with a policy that refunded 100% a month out, 50% 14 days prior. Or alternatively hosts could fill in their terms like they do their prices so that those who are more impacted by seasonality are able to adjust accordingly. I'm not sure how it could work in practice, but it also seems that the refund should have some basis within how long the reservation has been held. In other words, if someone changes their mind within minutes or days of making a booking, then that to me is less severe than the guest who books 6 months out, holds the time for months and then cancels. There does need to be some acknowledgement that the guest may not take the room, but they have taken up space on a host's calendar for however long they held the reservation.