New group payment booking option - Fair to hosts?

[Clay0]

Thursday evening 10/19/17 I received a booking request for a three night stay November 3-6. I quickly accepted the reservation and replied with my default new booking message assuming all was normal. A few hours later I got home and opened up airbnb on web browser and noticed the reservation said "Awaiting group payment". It took me a minute to research when I found the new option that guests have to split payments amongst a group, which is a cool feature.

Here's the problem. The guests have 72 hours from booking time to complete the group payment, if not 100% paid after 72 hours the booking will be canceled. There is no fee to the guest for holding my calendar hostage for 72 hours. 

For my example, the payment is split among 8 people and currently as i type 24 hours remaining to complete payment. This means that the entire weekend (Saturday and Sunday 10/21 and 10/22) my calendar will show those dates as booked. I would estimate 95% of my bookings are made on either a Saturday or a Sunday. So come Sunday evening if the guest hasnt paid, that reservation cancels and I've missed the opportunity to have those nights booked this weekend. Then I will have to lower the rate as the date gets closer.

I think the group booking option is nice, however, AIRBNB needs to lessen the amount of time that my calendar is blocked off for a non-confirmed reservation. If a guest can't get their group to all pay within 24 hours then they probably won't make it in 72 hours either.

My vote is to lessen the time to 24 hours to complete a group payment to lower the risk of unbooked nights for hosts.

I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts.

Thanks,

Clay

[Zappa0]

Wow...great feature but 72 hours? Are you kidding? I thought 24 was a lot!!

[Victor-And-Daisy0]

WE AGREE WITH CLAY, LESSEN TO 24 HOURS THE HOLD UP WHEN RESERVING.

[Alejandro75]

I have not had a group booking but does it give you an option to not block the dates?

[Don-and-Lori0]

I agree Clay and thank you for pointing this out I am new to Airbnb and what do we do as a group to make a change if poss.

concerned. 

[CarlandMarilyn0]

I agree! 24 hours is more than enough time.

[Robert634]

Exactly. It completely contradicts the cancellation policy.

[Colleen47]

@Clay0 I think that group pay option is cool. I didn't know it existed. I host larger groups so this could facilitate their bookings. We all know how hard it is to gather money from and organize friends and their money. We'll see how it works. 

Colleen

[Lizzie]

Hello @Clay0, @Colleen47, @Robert634, @CarlandMarilyn0, @Don-and-Lori0, @Marzena4, @Kat17, @Marie21, @Branka-and-Silvia0, @Ami1, @Todd-And-Tatyana0, @Jimmy8, @Tom-and-Carina0, @Ewa18, @Andrea1063, @Flexyrent0, @Mary36, @Kate348, @Fred13, @Max-and-Dino0, @Shane-and-Rebecca0, @Jessica-and-Henry0, @Kelly149, @Allison116, @Dennis126, @Peg7, @Gerry-And-Rashid0, @Alice-and-Jeff0, @Brent46, @Zappa0, @Victor-And-Daisy0, @Alejandro75, 

It is great to discuss this new payment option and to hear your improvement ideas–thanks Clay for starting this interesting topic. It is a new feature so like most new things in life I am sure this will also evolve, so your feedback is fantastic to hear to help with this. 

To me it sounds like there are mixed feeling, but many of you like the idea of this payment option, you just think the timeframe could be shortened to 24 hours. Do you have any other suggestions on how you would like this developed?

As Jessica mentioned this option won't be applicable to everyone (for example if you only have a single room), but in general do you think this feature, personally for your listing, may help to increase your bookings, perhaps for by making it easier for guests to book a slightly longer period with you or make it more manage to book at all?

Thanks everyone,

Lizzie

[Shane-and-Rebecca0]

Limiting the "hold" time to 24 hours or less would be ideal. It may also be nice if a small percentage based deposit was required to hold the property.

Thanks!

Rebecca

[Flexyrent0]

Hello everibody,

shorten timeframe as much as possible is a good option.

Best option, in my opinion, would be have group payments not applicable in the last 3 - 4 weeks available.

It is not a problem to have some dates on hold for 4 or even 7 days if the potential stay is far away in time. It becomes a problem when it is next week. 

Bruno

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Lizzie

I would be worried about the combination with the new cancellation policy which giives guests 3 'free pass' cancellatiions per year. A group will drop out  one by one.... It;s a bad idea in my opinion and leaves hosts with larger property at much higher risk of cancellations. Personally II would decline a group booking being made in this way.

[Tom-and-Carina0]

On instant  booking you can't  decline  but one per year. Thanks for speaking  up.

[Wim6]

Hi Gerry, do you have a link for that? I looked it up but only could find the 3 free cancellations per year for the hosts. Not that each guest can cancel 3 times for free in a year thanks in advance

[Tom-and-Carina0]

Lizzy, I would not say I agree. I feel there needs to be more protection  for the host. Either a no refund  deposit  payed to host or only available  for booking  2 months in advance or both. This could potentially  be a trick that guests use to hold your place and continue  shopping.  I  take the risk of instant  booking for a reason. If guests can hold my place and keep  looking by inquiry to those hosts that do not use instant  book and hotels,Or even while they think about and plan the rest of there trip then cancel  penalty  free I  am  harmed. I'm sure this feature  as more power  for abuse than others. This needs much more planning  with potential  to harm hosts then it has received.  My listing  is less than 65 per night 85 on weekends, So why do they need time to get money  together. I see as a guest how great it would be when meeting  others. I  am  sure to use it in the future for our family  reunions. We have always managed to handle it tho without this feature.  I am sure that it is nice but not necessary. If protection  is not put is place it has the potential  of quite a bit of harm. I host in Las Vegas, NV USA almost  all of my booking are less than 30 days away. It would be so bad for me if people  start  using  this as a way to hold a place you are unsure of.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

@Lizzie - There are too many unknowns here and we're lacking in transparency to see what problem this is actually solving. Can you shed any light whatsover on this? 

It troubles me that features are rolled out and then posthumously we're asked to provide feedback.  Based on my lack of understanding of what this solution is designed to fix, let me provide you with what some questions to take back, because, we really can't provide you with feedback when we know absolutely so little other than a 72-hour hold is placed: 

1. To whom will this option apply?  We need to know which guests and which hosts.  
2. Under what conditions will this option be available to a guest? Is it a price per night, price for the duration, number of guests, more than 6 months away..... what thresholds need to be met for a guest to choose to split a payment?  You said it wouldn't apply to a single room - well, why not?
3. How will Airbnb limit abuses?  For instance - if 1 guest reserves and asks friend A and friend B to pay their share, can Friend B also reserve a different space for the same dates?   What precautions are implemented to keep, let's say 10 people traveling together, from "holding" 10 different listings for 72 hours?  Or better yet - those 10 people each "reserve and request to pay" for their 9 friends in sequence so that the same listing for that same time period is held for....count it...72 days!
4. What penalties will apply to guests who frequently hold and never book? 
5. Why is this not an optional payment plan for hosts instead of a mandatory one? I see the benefit for some hosts in communities where they have a large property and wish for the option to take multiple payments - but why force it on everyone?
6. How does this work with the "pay half now, pay half later" option? 
7. Will the host have any options at all?  

If the guest isn't ready to book and name the people who are going with them right then and there by adding their completed profile along with payment options to the booking, why wait 72 hours for a "maybe"?  Airbnb REQUIRES us to respond to a guest in 24 hours or we get hit with lowered response ratings but you would allow a guest 72 hours to respond?  If they aren't ready to book - if they aren't sitting waiting on our response to their request to book - why do we need to get back to them in a hurry?  For me, these two things do not parse themselves.  Airbnb either believes the guest is ready to book or they don't - which is it?  

Thanks as always to allow us to provide you with our thoughts.  I personally appreciate the opportunity to question these decisions.  I really hope this is not just a patronizing exercise as I think there is a great deal of information that needs to be relayed about this.