New strict cancellation policy update

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

New strict cancellation policy update

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


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Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


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1,325 Replies 1,325

"the non refundable appears to be to airbnb's advantage and not the hosts.

This link explains the non_refundable_reservations"

 

Man, there are miles between 48-hour grace period & 50% back 7 days out to "You agree you get nothing in exchange for a small discount"....

@Lizzie First thank you for your efforts, which obviously have not gone in vein.  As I said from the very beginning when this was first announce:

 

   1. Follow any one of the conventional measures: 1hr, 24 hrs, 7 days or 30 days are 'Standard units of ~mental~ measures' with humans, meaning they are easy to ~remember~ and easy to accept, natural for humans to set their internal clocks by , since most of our lifes are govern along those timetables. SO, a 24 hour timeline is a natural one, will more than suffice and it IS in the system already. Conversely, 48 hour comes across capricious and totally unnecessary, and doubles the 'pain' for the host. Why go there?

 

 2.  Use the '24-hour' Reminder clock with the guests which is already a convention (and an attractive one) in the Airbnb system as used to remind hosts to answer a query or respond to a request. 

 

   The ability for guests to be able to cancel is a good idea, if anything else it does two things:

   A- gives the guest a chance to correct a mistake and  perhaps added confidence to book, and

   B - gives the host a firmer ground not to feel guilty about keeping half the income since the guest was given ample time to change their mind.

 

    Again, thank you for exceptional efforts Lizzie.

   

@Tom-and-Christen0Tom & Christen- I'm curious where VRBO's callous disregard for homeowners that is well documented can be found? I have only good experiences with them. I feel using ABB is much more risky. Anyway, if you could pls tell me where I can find this info I would appreciate it.

 

Thank you! 

It would be nice if Airbnb not release our address until the booking is confirmed after the 48 hour period. This would protect the host privacy. 

Interesting, since I'm one of the only rooms with a Strict policy in my town of about almost a dozen AirBnb listings AND the most popular. 48 hours is too long, esp when it blocks the calendar and you have to hope the date gets filled, esp in slow seasons, doesn't matter how far out it is. I rely on AirBnb for half of my income. Small guys like me can't afford to lose bookings. We chose our cancellation policy and know how it could effect our bookings, just like guests chose a property with a Strict cancellation policy when they booked. Some hosts will still refund the guests even on a Strict policy. Plus, you guys have the Extenuating Circumstances policy where you override our cancellation policies anyway. Guests should be more encouraged to get travel insurance because the complaints and issues from all of these changes from the POV from the hosts AND guests sides could be solved with just that!

@Tom-and-Christen0 - I'm curious if you ever actually used VRBO?

 

Since you brought it up, I'll share my opinion...they are great.  The bookings, for us, are more family-oriented and plan-ahead types.  Our cottage is in a summer seasonal area and, to date, we have 11 VRBO guests and...drumroll...1 from ABB for 2018.    

 

Never had one cancellation with a VRBO guest.  Never had one issue with VRBO.  

 

We use ABB to fill all the shorter, remaining periods at the last minute...it's the nature of the different demographics to which each company caters.   

Tom-and-Christen0
Level 4
Pennsylvania, United States

Hey @Sean119

 

Frustrating...I had a long reply with my explanation and got wiped out...retyping now but will not be nearly as eloquent 😉

 

We advertised with them for a number of years. We will soon be doing vacation rentals for a decade and have seen many changes. Perhaps I am cursed with the memory of how VRBO used to be.

 

For me it's a bottom line question plus I have ethical differences with the way they implemented their sweeping changes to those of us who signed up for one plan and were forced into another, entirely different on, with no options of refund nor continuing as contracted.

 

Here is how I see it - one of our properties does about 50% of it's booking via our own website - we live in a tourist area and I am fortunate to have a very active Chamber of Commerce that promotes our property when potential guests call up looking for a place. Plus we have a very good relationship with several other homeowners and we share overflow dates.

 

However, after direct calls and website bookings, our other nights come from Airbnb (45%) and "other" 5%. Say we returned to VRBO and managed to shift (probably not add additional as seasonal and calendar realities limit total nights per year)  50 nights through them...that would cost me $380 on Airbnb and would cost me $779 for the same nights on VRBO. More if they shifted away dates from some direct bookings, which have $0 transactional cost to us. Why would I do that? It just equals 100% loss of total nightly revenue for around three nights. This business is about nights booked and the rate paid. Especially in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Taking actions that cut our total revenue (price wars, fees, commissions, silly expenses, etc) add up.

 

Again, your approach to business may be different or your experience and needs different.

 

There are legions of unhappy former VRBO home owners out there. I am one of them.

 

So that's it, only my opinion but it has clearly touched a nerve with a number of people. Didn't intend to offend, only offer my experience. So hopefully this more fully informs.

 

Best,
Tom

Thanks for this update. I just shared it with my FB community and we were very happy to hear of the delay. We know you have heard from enough hosts our concern about providing our information to guests and then they cancel. 

In addition, if a guest cancels will our listing go up in the algorithm search?  I know that if a guest cancels you normally go up in the searches and usually get a booking to replace it.

I want to discuss this on my podcast since even experienced hosts are confused about it, but I'll wait until we have a bit more clarity on the policy.

I understand change can be challenging. We got used to Instant Booking, kicking and screaming, and now some hosts (me included) love it. With IB there was an option and of course, once we started seeing our bookings decline and knowing that IB listings were getting a preferential treatment we were then "open" to try it. But IB works if you're VERY CLEAR about it. 

I think with the new policy we as hosts don't have an option unless we change our cancellation policy. Especially since we can't cancel a guest in those 48 hours if we get a better booking offer... 😉 

For Hosts' safety and security do not release our address' before the bookings are confirmed after the 48 hrs greace epriod! I do not need my "checkin" info being released to someone who cancels with ZERO penalty!

Thank you Lila for your well written reply.  I agree.  The choice for strict cancellation vs strict cancelion with 48 are both avaiable right now.  Why not let hosts decide what works for them since it's their listing?  I provide a very detailed listing with all information but the guests don't take the time to read them.  Then they complain how the booking doesn't fit their needs.  At this point, I hve probably spend 10 - 15 corresponding with them. In the meantime, my booking is blocked and not available for others to book.  I switched to Strict cancellation becasue I was getting too many last minute cancellations.   For the last year I have been booked between 75-100% and feel that it is working well for me. I too have had a couple of airbnb guesst play the system and have reported their activity. I don't think Airbnb does a good job of educating guests to how Airbnb works and how each host can set their own decisions.  I get angry guests when the decided to add a third person after they made the reservation to find out that there is an extra fee or guests that try to convice me to allow a 4th person even though my listing clearly states that it's only for 3 people.  They think I'm being unreasonable and will write that in their review.  I have been a superhost for 1 1/2 years with over 125 5 star reivews.  I work very hard giving my customers a good experience. 

Really appreciate all the well written responses to this issue and Lizzie's clear intention of addressing obviously MANY successful experienced hosts alreay providing ABB with good reliable income.  I do not support releasing host addresses or personal information before this proposed 48 hour cancellation OR on our already existing bookings.  As a single middle aged woman, security and safety are my absolute primary concerns in sharing my home. Although my added concern veers a bit off topic I would hope ABB will reconsider this policy and existing policy to release our information for ALL bookings to much closer to guest arrival. I frankly have few cancellations, but there are many good reasons to keep that information hidden until a few days before arrival. I think I have few cancellations because I have extensive house rules covering possible problems, encourage good communication with guests before booking, and don't allow IB.  Guests know ahead of time what to expect and can easily choose the best property BEFORE they book.  Isn't this the right way to book rather than have an "out" in the back of their mind?

 

I'm about to appear before my city zoning board in a few weeks to finalize my application to allow me to do STR's and the key issues the board looks at are safety for the community.  Our city is notorious lately for denying applications.  I'm terrified of being denied and I'm one of the most popular hosts in my area with over 400 visits and a Super host over 2 1/2 years. This is the majority of my income!!  Remote hosting is already strictly forbidden and owners must live in every STR rental here. Among the key issues the board is concerned about are Instant book, hosts with automatic remote locks, and guests having infomation they shouldn't have about our properties. I hope ABB will realize that we hosts are facing more and more difficulties getting approved to allow STR's in our homes with increasing reports of security breaches, wild parties, serious crimes & damages, and irresponsible hosts not screening their guests thoroughly.  It's very hard to convince city authorities that I have control over my property when ABB constantly makes new policies favoring guest's ease of booking over the safety and security of the host. I refuse to do IB or use automatic locks and meet every guest on arrival, which the board is happy about. But can you see how I already suffer from decreased visibility and bookings because of those necessary choices I have to make just to be able to get approved? But I don't feel confident answering their questions favorably about prospective guests having my information and then being able to cancel at ANY stage of the booking. 

 

I request a very serious consideration of ALL of ABB policies protecting host privacy and security over guest's ease of booking and also cancellation policies in general.  We hosts have already seen a drastic increase of guests being able to hoodwink customer service and hosts to secure undeserved cancellation and petty complaints refunded, even with our current cancellation policies clearly posted.  Also quality of guests and their behavior at our places has declined as well. Would be a breath of fresh air and reboosting host confidence to see hosts' basic needs considered over guests' petty need for "convenience" this time. 

@Sean0- I completely agree w you.

@Tom0 &Christen- I agree that VRBO used to be better when I first paid $1000 to sign up because I was so disgusted w the way Airbnb manipulated me, told me they had my back, and then didn't w a very serious matter w a criminal guest. However, in my opinion they are still hundreds of percentage points better for me. Can you pls tell me where the well documented disregard for hosts, or whatever you said in the other post is. I have never felt that way. When I had 1 only 1 out of 100's of amazing guests that was a problem, VRBO and paypal stood behind me when I showed them all my communication and photos, and this guy claimed to be a christian. HA!

You have not addressed the security concerns - if a guest has a 48 hour window (which I am totally opposed to) then I do not want any of my check in information going to that guest until they can no longer cancel.  This is a potentially HUGE security risk.  Book a place, get my lockbox info, then cancel - really???????

@Tom-and-Christen0-I can't find your post w all the links anymore, but I did manage to read one of them. It seems Expedia buying the company messed things up, and they don't care about bad press. I'm unhappy w the changes, however they still treat me better than ABB has which was extremely bad. I had to take legal action to get my money and to get them to do what was clearly the right thing. Never had a problem like that w VRBO. How long have you been dealing w ABB? I like Sean am getting the majority of bookings from HA and another site, and fill in blank w ABB thereby reducing my risk to headache, etc. 

 

Boycotting HA is financially unfeasible at this point. I used to have my calendar booked solid w ABB, but they have done too many unconscionable things. I understand that Expedia is also doing unconscionable things, but like I told ABB in the real world the case is not closed, meaning you can take them to court or file w the AAA. It looks like many other owners are in the same boat as I am regarding HA. Pulling out would cost them too much. BTW, how many ABB guests have you had? Quite different from the HA guest. Actually, that is a stereotype. I have become great friends w many ABB guests who even invited me to their country and homes, but never got a criminal or a crazy on HA.