AirBnB robbing hosts with flexible cancellation

[Heba9]

I'm a host with a flexible cancellation policy and can't help but feel cheated by AirBnB. As AirBnB continues to encourage hosts to adopt flexible cancellations, AirBnB is at the same time excluding those hosts with flexible cancellation from the $250 million support for hosts. Also, by encouraging more hosts to adopt a flexible cancellation during this time to attract more guests, AirBnB is basically going against the law of many countries that are in lock down and mandating social distancing.

Why is AirBnB excluding hosts with flexible cancellation from the $250 million fund while continuing to push more hosts to adopt this policy that is actually robbing them of their income. No amount of exposure or flexibility will change the travel restrictions in place or stop the spread of virus. Waiving the 3% host fee till June 1st is a joke! Who is the world is traveling and making bookings between now and June, and even so, that's nothing compared to the 1,000s in income I've lost from cancellations (at least 14) between March and June.

[Mark3205]

@Ute42 i completely agree with you that its impossible for airbnb to compensate everyone and that they don’t have to in the first place... .. part of me wishes they hadn’t so i wouldn’t be wasting my time arguing on this forum!!! (Actually i quite enjoy it)

However what irks me is the rather grandiose way they announce a rescue scheme , which then turns out to be totally cynical and excludes the vast majority of hosts... what we have now is hosts who clearly have strict policies (which may include you) trying to protect their positions with these absurd ‘you made your bed’ arguments ... surely not in the spirit of the times and everyone should be treated fairly and not penalised. Personally i had absolutely no idea all those years back that cancellation policies dictated your ranking... i just hit ‘moderate’ because it was the one in the middle!

its created a culture of ‘have’ and ‘have nots’ entirely based on a decision made years ago which has no relevance with the current situation

i suggest they scrap the scheme altogether and maybe give the 250 million to charities OR make a nominal payment to everyone affected just as a kind gesture, but those with strict policies who are currently licking their lips aren’t going to like that suggestion

@Anonymous 

i am lost, where do i say your post is ‘factually wrong’... i don’t say that at all

i think i’ve covered everything above! However i agree entirely with your second point, if there is a way they can establish how it could be distributed fairly to those in countries without a robust welfare system then i’m all for it, send the lot in that direction... but on that basis how on earth can you argue that its ‘fair’ for it to go to one person in a western economy who has a strict policy over another who doesn’t.. a cancellation is a cancellation mate, affects us all the same, so please stop rolling out this ‘you made a decision all those years ago’ argument, it is not appropriate in these unique circumstances

[Daragh4]

I imagine people who chose a strict cancellation policy did so on the understanding that 50%, payout is the minimum as per the contract with the platform. This affects many areas of the business: for example, perhaps a lower price than a moderate host, a desire to guarantee income for the cleaner etc.. 

[Mark3205]

@Daragh4  Yes  i get all of that but this is kind of my point, this whole thing is getting distracted by strategic decision-making arguments made years ago

its all irrelevant as far as i’m concerned, we are in a crisis, everyone is being smashed, therefore if they want to help then help everyone even if its nominal

Spring is my busiest time of the year and i’m now staring at an empty calendar for the next 4 months, thats the reality

[Mark3205]

@Anonymous i notice from your listing that you will almost certainly benefit from the refund scheme, which is something you have omitted to mention on this thread...

will you however join me in my campaign to have the scheme scrapped completely and the funds funnelled towards those more deserving and not in countries with what you refer to as a ‘strong social safety net’ , like yours and mine?

[Anonymous]

@Mark3205   OK, since you're such a clever detective, please tell me how I am supposed to benefit from a "refund scheme" when I haven't actually had any cancellations to refund?  

I blocked my calendar indefinitely several weeks before Berlin went on lockdown, and have therefore had no existing reservations affected by it. As an in-home host, I will not even consider accepting guests as long as social distancing is our only defense against this virus - even in the unlikely event that the government decides to allow it again. I don't expect to be paid by Airbnb for non-existent bookings, and have not requested anything from them.

Where we might differ on the concept of fairness here:  I think there is a difference between facilitating the terms of the agreement between guest and host, and overriding it.  For hosts who chose to offer flexible cancellations, Airbnb acted impartially, whereas for the others it changed the terms of the contract after the point of sale. If some form of recompense is due, I see more justification for those in the latter category (once again, this does not include myself). But this point is becoming increasingly mute because no cancellation policy entitles hosts to compensation when their own local circumstances make it impossible for them to fulfill the booking.

I don't have any interest in joining your campaign, inasmuch as the fundamental premise of it is asking Airbnb to renege on an existing commitment, when so much of its branding is built around the illusion of Trust. That would not be a good tactical decision on their part, even though I can appreciate the merits of your moral argument. 

[Anonymous]

That should have said "moot," rather than "mute."

[Sanee0]

why am i waisting 10 minutes of my day to read this entire post?

[Anonymous]

The word I think you meant is "wasting," rather than "waisting." I don't know any more than you do why you've wasted your time, but you can't deny that nobody forced you to post a message here. Had you ignored this thread, posted nothing, and gone back to watching Netflix or porn or whatever, we'd have been none the wiser. Perhaps this is a chance to ask yourself: why do you want these random strangers on a message board to know how you're spending your time?

[Daragh4]

I presume there must be a legal rationale behind the 12.5% refund for strict hosts.   I imagine lawyers are behind the decision, rather than altruistic motives.  Perhaps as the refunds will be automatic, strict hosts are somehow precluded from pursuing the matter in court.  Perhaps I am cynical, but I imagine there must be contractual and financial damage limitation at work here.  Nice little PR story too.  

[Mark3205]

@Daragh4 i thought it was 25% but i now keep seeing 12.5%... has it changed? 

where are you getting your updates from?!

[Daragh4]

@Mark3205 with a strict cancellation hosts get 50% of booking fee, minus cleaning fees etc.. Meaning 12.5% I imagine in most cases.  If it comes through!  It appears suspicious to me that the amounts are now showing up as 0.

[Nina69]

https://www-bloomberg-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2020-04-14/airb... a Superhost with a strict policy. I haven't received a penny of the 25% pledged for March cancellations and it's been almost 5 weeks. I don't think any

host has, yet Airbnb just raised another Billion