Proposed Cancellation Option

[Caleb1]

I would propose a completely new cancellation option.

Auto-relist, Auto-rebook and Auto-refund.

If, for any reason, a guest cancels their stay, a Host may elect to have the unit automatically relisted and any portion of the rebooking used to refund the guest who initiated the cancellation.  Hosts retain the entire original payout.  Airbnb can support this by having cancellations result in the same unit and time frame getting priority placement in searches to try and ensure as timely a rebooking as possible.  If the unit doesn't rebook the cancelling guest is on the hook for the full amount of the booking.  Only Superhosts/hosts with xxx number of bookings or xxx months on the platform are eligible to select this option.

Any guest who cancels for any reason prior to arrival is not eligible to leave a review, regardless of their level of refund. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Caleb1 This would be a really good 'add on' to all the current policies (or certainly the moderate/strict/firm ones). It would show guests that hosts are not trying to get paid twice for their listing and would be entirely fair to all parties. I would not limit this to superhosts as it is fair to all.

My suspicion is that it would be too hard for the Airbnb programmers to code but you never know they might be clever enough. Hopefully they would recognise it would take the heat out of a lot of customer support conversations.

@Catherine-Powell could perhaps champion this for us.

[Catherine-Powell]

Mike, Jane and Caleb,

Thank you for commenting and for sharing these ideas. I've sent this message to a number of people on my team. We are also working on improving the Review flow, especially in circumstances when the guest doesn't actually stay in the listing!

Kindly,
Catherine

@Mike-And-Jane0 @Caleb1 

[Darran6]

I suspect Airbnb's algorithm already partially does this. My many last minute extenuating circumstances (🤨) cancellations have been rebooked promptly. 

This has been good and bad. Good that it at least partially replaces lost revenue. Bad that it makes managing my calendar a nightmare - minimum stay requirements no longer matching the vacancies, cleaning etc. 

A great suggestion, and one that would hopefully reduce/replace all the suspicious extenuating circumstances cancellations...

[Caleb1]

Ya this should override minimum stay requirements.  We have 3 night minimum for weekends, and now the guest who canceled is screwed because I'm not changing my permanent calendar settings so they can rebook the 2 remaining days.  Otherwise I wouldn't care, because I'd get paid for the day they didn't show and the 2 days remaining, so its the same revenue for me.

[Huma0]

@Caleb1 

I like this idea. I usually offer to refund rebooked nights if a guest cancels but have occasionally had guests who then continuously harass me asking whether the nights have been rebooked yet, even though I have told them there was no guarantee and that they can see on my calendar that the nights are still available.

I have a few questions though.

1. How does this apply if the guest already has received a partial refund? Let's say a guest booked for two weeks and cancelled in time to be refunded 50% of the accommodation fees. If the two weeks were rebooked and the guest refunded the remaining 50%, then the host has lost nothing. However, if the guest is then automatically refunded ANY nights that get rebooked, whilst others never get rebooked, let's say only one of the two weeks gets rebooked, then the host has still lost 50% of the revenue for that week. The guest has also lost 50% for that one week, but that's something they were already bound to do when they agreed to the cancellation policy. 

So, should the amount refunded be based on nights rebooked, or the value of the entire stay, if you get my meaning?

2. Does the guest get their Airbnb fees back?

3. What happens if the guest cancels, but then later the host needs to block some of the nights for some other reason so they are not rebookable? Would the guest automatically be refunded? From the host's perspective, if they feel it is unlikely those nights will be rebooked (especially if it is getting very close to the dates), it might be a good opportunity to make some improvements to the listing for example. From the guest's perspective, they may feel cheated out of a refund because the opportunity for the rooms to be rebooked has gone, but to be fair, they are the ones that cancelled and the host is not making extra profit from it. Then again, the host could rebook the nights on another platform and not even tell the guest...

4. What if you are, like me, a host who is picky about which guests they accept? I turn away a lot of potential bookings because I know that the guest is not a good fit for the listing or they are asking for things that are outside of my parameters, e.g. to bring pets or kids. Will the host be pressured into allowing instant booking or pressured into accepting any requests that come in for those dates?

[Caleb1]

Huma0

1. Eliminate partial refunds since guest would be eligible for the rebooking.  In return, host can't block dates.

2. Probably not, gives Airbnb a way to have a small penalty for the cancellation and fund the cost of the system administration to rebook.

3. Host would have to agree not to block dates as part of the policy.  Other platforms is definitely an issue, since our calendar syncs with other hosting platforms it could open up the possibility of a double booking.  Not a huge concern since other platforms have less penalties for the host cancelling.

4. I think that's a fair point, it would be up to the host to accept or decline.  Maybe an option of declining first but second will book regardless of host discresion?  We host kids, families, pets etc and they're the least disruptive to our unit.  We have yet to have anything significant with a pet because the guest is always petrified of losing the ability to use Airbnb.  Most of our guests who bring dogs kennel them when they are away from the unit, only damage we've had is a few scratches on a bedroom door.

[Mark116]

Based on the reasons that guests come here to this forum, I would expect that Airbnb is trying to figure out how to eliminate the strict cancellation policy.  This is one of the major topics of discussion you see on social media and reasons why guests complain.  I booked an airbnb, and then [something] happened and I cancelled and OMG THE HOST SCAMMED ME AND KEPT MY MONEY!!  And no one will help me!!!

 I'd be surprised if in the next year or so we didn't see the strict policy phased out or otherwise changed to make it more friendly to guests, because right now, it is the only 'host friendly' policy that still exists.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

This is the problem. Most guests book seemingly unaware that they might lose money if they cancel. There is a common attitude that, if they didn't stay, they shouldn't pay. After all, the host has lost nothing. They do not consider there are expenses involved in a property even if it is unoccupied and that tying up those dates and then cancelling means that the host may have lost other bookings and is now in a position where they will be losing money if the guest gets a full refund. They see it more like purchasing goods that they can return for a refund but, even then, refunds for goods have an expiration date, the same as a cancellation policy.

Airbnb really needs to make the cancellation policies 'in your face' so that guests simply cannot miss them when booking, like a window that pops up with big letters telling the guest again, but they are not going to do it because they don't care if guests book and then cancel. Airbnb still gets its fees and if any refunds are given, they are coming from the host's income.

[Mark116]

@Huma0  It's weird though, that Airbnb which has such easy access to so much data, always seems to pluck these policies out of thin air. 

They could easily poll and survey every single host on the platform, could easily pilot any and all various changes to how the interface works, could run any number of host or guest virtual/in person focus groups......  yet almost all of their policy changes give every indication of never being beta tested or even brainstormed by anyone, guests or hosts or even lawyers for more than half an hour.

I'd have to believe that 9 out of 10 hosts would be outraged at guests getting 3 days to make any complaint...which suggests that the host advisory committe either was not involved or that the host members are all outliers in every way.

To your specific point, there are a lot of things that Airbnb could do to improve the clarity and utility of the guest interface, your example of a pop up that confirms they understand the cancellation policy, showing them the full set of rules, etc. etc.  So easy but they're always tweaking strange stuff like the calendar instead of anything useful.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

I know. So many unnecessary tweaks. I don't even bother looking at the Insights section anymore, other than for my Superhost stats. I have no idea why they have spent so much time playing with that. 

Meanwhile, there is so much they could do to improve the booking process to avoid cancellations, misunderstandings and disputes. I don't think they just chose to spend the time elsewhere. I think it's intentional. They want as many guests to book as possible and as easily as possible, hence the push for IB. For every stage that you add to this, e.g. my suggestions above, you are making it a longer process. At any point, the guest might think, "Oh, I can't be bothered. I'll just book a hotel," or, "I don't have time. I'll come back to this later," and then change their minds. 

Plus, if you really push home the point that there are a bunch of rules to follow or that they are risking money if they end up cancelling, the guest is more likely to pause. Airbnb doesn't WANT guests to think about this stuff when they are booking. They just want them to hit that button. If it all goes wrong, Airbnb still get the booking fee. The listings and the booking process are designed to make Airbnb money, regardless of whether it makes life more stressful for hosts or if hosts end up with cancellations. 

I just wish they would stop talking to us like babies and pretending otherwise by dishing out platitudes about how important hosts are to them and how they are trying to make it easier for us. I have seen some improvements since I started hosting, but the vast majority of changes have been to the detriment of hosts. Meanwhile, they ignore repeated pleas for fairer policies to tackle stuff that is really important to us, e.g. retaliatory reviews. Again they changed the wording of the review content policy specifically to make it MORE difficult - no, actually almost impossible - to have a retaliatory review removed, so basically, did the complete opposite of what hosts have been crying out for.

[Biren5]

i have complained twice regarding retaliatory reviews but there's no solution to it as they have built their policies around guests it seems.

[Lenore22]

Love this idea

[Loretta126]

AirBnB is supposedly going to offer travel insurance any day now.  They'll make money off of that.  But if guests think they can get the host to refund if they cancel, they won't buy the travel insurance.  

[Huma0]

@Loretta126 

Good point.

Let's see what the Airbnb guest travel insurance looks like first...