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

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Lizzie - Is this allowed - requesting "deposits" up front from guests?  If so, what are the steps we need to take as hosts  to properly go about doing this? 

[Airbnb2]

No no no, airbnb takes th deposit after you make a valid claim, you have to take photos of th damage and provide receipts for th repairs or cleaning service you used, and i suggest setting your deposit to atleast 500, and remember th deposit does not cover stolen property

[Marie54]

Read his details again.  he's not talking about reparations for damages.  He's talking about collecting advance payment for peak season rentals.  Interesting... I like it.

[Rita189]

I think this new policy is appaling for hosts and do not agree at all. This is my only livelihood beside a very small pension. I hada xmas booking which cancelled 4 days before because a parent of the guest was dieing, the guest was instantly refunded 50% and of course it was impossible to fill. On New Years day I received  the death certificate and a short note asking for total refund. I wrote back to the guest that whilst I was very sorry for the loss I was not in a financial position to make a total refund, and wondered if he had taken out holiday insurance to cover this eventuallity. It is insurance companies who should stand this loss not small businesses like ourselves. The guest was good enough to cede to me the rest of the money.

I have also had people just change their minds on a whim, sometimes because it is raining! I do not see that we should be the loosers. The idea that guests should also be refunded Airbnb fees and not ourselves is an outrage!

I am cerainly going to be looking for a new way to advertise my property in the future.

Rita Cave

[Colleen47]

@Kim176 

So true. So true. Cancellations are by no means rare and we have to protect ourselves when booking high season and holidays. Our larger home is quite difficult to rebook unless I have minimum 45 days notice. After all, how often do you and your 15 closest friend decide to run away to the mountains last minute? I like your work around and would like to know how guests have responded?

thanks

[Bronwyn20]

Same story here- people book months in advance for group travel- one week before cancellation is very hard to fill

[Marianna53]

I say "Good on you! "I feel the same. I am going to change mine to strict as well.

At least you have a guarentee they will come, or at least, that's what you hope for.

Cheers, Marianna.

( host in New Zealand)

[Pamela138]

I agree, if Airbnb wants to make it easier for guests to cancle then Arbnb should allow hosts to KEEP the fee unless it is fully re-booked. Do do otherwise is dishonest businees prsactyoces by Airbnb 

[Airbnb2]

Omg

[Frances-Ruth0]

Luckily I have not dealt with many cancellations as a Host. I have recently changed my cancel policy from Strict to Moderate. But for PREMIUM weekends, I have in my details that those particular weekends(and I have the dates listed) are subject to the STRICT Cancellation Policy. AND BEFORE I ACCEPT, I have this acknowledged in the messaging with the guest that they are aware of this.  I ok'd this with Airbnb and have this in writing from them. Unfortunately we as Hosts are unable to customize any other way.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Frances-Ruth0

how can you be sure ABB will respect your superstrict cancelation policy for those premium days? Did you spoke with ABB rep, or you have this on writing? I mean... we can write in our description and house rules whatever we want but at  the end it is some ABB rep who decides...

[Pal1]

AirBNB WON'T respect your strick no cancellation policy.

I had a terrible guest earlier this year and the warning bells were going off before she even arrived (Michelle from Germany in case she applies to anyone else). After she booked the unreasonable requests started coming in clearly showing she had not read my profile. She wanted a hair drier, then she asked for bicycles, then she asked to be picked up at the airport. After she arrived and stayed two days she fabricated that my place was dirty so she could get a refund without paying me the rent. I had a strict no claim policy.

AirBNB phoned me at midnight (no sensitivity to where on the globe I lived) and shortly after an email. I had two hours to respond to the accusations or I would be found guilty of being a bad host. It tooks several days to get some of the things removed and AirBNB told me "I was a good host and all penalties had been removed". Then later I had another guest and was not paid for them as AirBNB was refunding Michelle and would not pay me until they got the money back! I have not hosted since.

After many days of being ignored while phoning repeatedly and sending emails my third Case Officer told me the case is closed and "I had been educated". Extremely arrogant!

I am still waiting to be paid for this last guest. I declined and cancelled future guests because I was not willing to host for free!

I am in the process of gathering my case and presenting it to the Department of Fair Trading in my country.

It is a pity that there is not a direct competitor to AirBNB and we could all take our business there.  The closest I have in Australia is FlatmateFinder.

[Pal1]

Interesting to see that AirBNB has demoted me from a Level 2 host to a Level 3 host in the past 24 hours. 

The only thing I have done in these 24 hours is post to the conversation.

They don't like negative feedback?

[Linda108]

@Pal1  The levels are related to the number of posts.  More posts and the level number goes up to a high of 10.  There is no "demoting".

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Pal1 That is a promotion - the upper limit is 10 - so you are on the way up, not down