New strict cancellation policy update

[Lizzie]

Hello everyone,

The Airbnb team heard feedback from you and the host community about the upcoming change to our Strict cancellation policy. In order to address your concerns, we’re delaying the change until May 1, 2018.

Before the change goes into effect, we’ll share more about what we’re doing to address your concerns, particularly around protecting your listing details from being shared with guests who cancel. But for now, we’d like to clear up some confusion and help you better understand the new policy and how it will benefit the whole community:

Here’s how the new grace period policy will work—and some of the protections we have in place for hosts:

Limited-time refund within 48 hours after booking when the check-in date is at least 14 days away

Guests must cancel within 48 hours after booking and can only cancel if their check-in date is 14+ days away. This means that no matter how far out your guests book, they only have 48 hours from the time they book to cancel for free. We want to make sure that if guests change their mind, you have enough time to get another booking.

Three refunds per year per guest

To prevent abuse, guests are limited to three fully refunded cancellations a year.

No full refunds for overlapping bookings

To make sure guests are not making multiple bookings and then cancelling, any booking made by a guest when they already have an active booking for those dates will not be covered under our grace period policy.

Your hosting success is top of mind for us, and tests of this policy—including among hosts with strict cancellation policies in place—strongly suggest the change will result in increased bookings and successful stays. With this grace period, not only do guests book with more confidence, but they also have the ability to resolve booking mistakes without requiring your valuable time and intervention.

We value your feedback, and will follow up shortly with more insight into how your ideas are shaping this policy.

Thanks,

Lizzie

----------Update April 24th, 2018----------

Hello everyone,

Just to let you know there is now an update regarding protecting your listing details, as mentioned above. 

Here is the link to take a look: An update on the Strict Cancellation Policy

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Brian2306]

i like the new restrictions 

Kind Regards Brian 

[Peta7]

The NEW restrictions was introduced on the 03-29-2018 and the OLD much prefered by Hosts 🙂

[Jeremy100]

I agree with Helen that full details should not be disclosed to the potential guest for the first 48hrs.

[Sam3650]

Thank you

[David126]

@Lizzie

Not an issue for me, well so far, but other Hosts in very different situations have very valid concerns and I wondered what the AirBnB Team response is to them?

[Joseph522]

Hai 

[Ben205]

@Zappa0Don't get me started on group pay! Guest gets 72 hours to round up the team. Then another 24 hours if one of them doesn't pay. For 4 whole days, your calendar is blocked to other guests and even though 97% pay up, ABB say, it is stressful knowing what the outcome will be.

The guest can also send you a message when they book, but because they haven't paid in full, the message sits in your inbox and you're not sent a notification. They may have a question which needs to be answered, but you wouldn't know unless you log into your dashboard every day!

But, not to hijack this thread, giving guests any personal details without a confirmed booking is a retrograde step. Blocking a calendar for 2 days before the guest can cancel penalty-free is not good.

Put these together and it's hard not to feel under attack and powerless!

[Genevieve151]

I do not like this cancellation policy at all as our condo is in a remote area and we will not get another booking if it is cancelled.  We like a strict cancellation policy and that is what works best. We also do not want to give any guests information until it is booked in full. I also agree with 24 hours not 48 hours for guests to respond and pay.  What you are doing is putting the hosts on a roller coaster.  There are excessive texts that come with all of this plus the stress of the booking being cancelled. 

[Sean119]

@Lizzie25 We have been signed up voluntarily with the Grace Period since December and have seen no increased views or bookings.   ABB says the 48-hour Grace Period allows the host 14-days to rebook in the "rare" instance the guest cancels, yet ABB gives those guests three (3!) penalty-free cancellations per year.  That is not my defnition of rare, especially when probably 90%+ of ABB guests don't book listings more than twice a year.

ABB clearly wants MORE guests, but many hosts want BETTER guests.   

[Yuri76]

Do we like hostes have that 48 hours to cancel without penalties just like the guessts?????? If not why not ?

[Mary167]

Why does Airbnb continue to ignore the very important question asked by many of us:  "Why must you release our address and confidential information until the 48 hour grace period has expired?"  The hosts are the only ones inconvenienced by this new 48 hour cancellation policy.  We were given no option to accept or decline it.  Yet we have no voice in one of the most important issues:  Releasing our complete address to people who might want to rob our home (since they already have detailed descriptions and photographs of what we are offering, including artwork, antiques, etc) or to guests who want to find out our exact address before they decide if our location really suits them.  At the very least Airbnb has a responsibility to protect our privacy and security, from looky-loo nosy neighbors and from potential burglars. 

Please respond to this very important question!!!

[Lizzie]

Hello @Mary167,

I just want to let you know that there is now an update regarding the release of listing information. Take a look here. 

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Tom-and-Christen0]

@LizzieI am curious what competitive advantage the 48 hour grace period will give when all hosts are required to have it...with all cancellation policies being equal, any advantage (if one would exist) is negated by all being the same. I, too, would like the guests to have two options:

Book now and conirm

Book and make tentative for 48 hours - and allow others to book my dates in the meantime

Will hosts get 3 free cancellations as well per year?

This is my understanding based on my communication earlier with support; and it gives me great peace of mind in knowing that I can avoid double bookings by cancelling the one on Airbnb that is "on hold" for two days if a non-cancellable reservation would come in for some or all of the proposed dates.

In the end, if guests know their reservations can be cancelled by the host just as easily within 48 hours penatly free, it will erode confidence in Airbnb as a source of lodging, in my opionon.

I agree with the others that it is reassuring that Airbnb is listening to us - this is the reason we use Airbnb instead of VRBO (where the callous disregard for homeowners is well documented).

Thanks for the update,

Tom

[Joe563]

I agree there is no protection for the hosts! We heve the placed booked 6 months in advance and the dates are blocked for anyother bookings. the a guest cancels 15 days prior to booking I have to scramble to get those days booked if i can!!!

[Joseph302]

I had not considered that my full details and contact information would be shared during the "grace period." This is truly alarming. I hope AirBNB addresses this safety issue; a guest can always communicate via AirBNB until the grace period has ended and then my contact information and listing details can be shared.