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

[Brian370]

I had a guest call me and ask to pay with cash.

i also had a guest want to exstend by paying cash.

two weeks ago I had a want to be guest find my home and ask to rent a room and they found my home by driving around looking for my location.

i feel the host should be the one who give out the location.  It should be a tab that send location to guest.

[Nancy458]

You can set your specific location on your host profile/reservation settings. Only guests who reserve have your specific location.

[Samantha32]

What on earth is so "strict" about giving guests a 100% REFUND if canceled outside of 2 week...and 50% if outside one week?

See HA/VBO - For guidance on what constitutes bona fide cancelation policies.

EVERYONE makes holiday plans well in advance - NOT 2 weeks in advance.

Should I not feel completely abused by a system that allows guests to reserve my 6BR/4BA mansion in a country club neighborhood for the Chritmas or Thanksgiving Holidays, only to cancel 2 weeks before arrival?  2 weeks from Christmas, and I'm out $4,000.  Good luck filling that slot with only 2 weeks to go!

And what about my resort ski condo?  Again, people book their vacations well in advance.  Why should I have to give a complete refund?  Let's face it, in these circumstances, 2 weeks is virtually no notice at all. 

This  is typical BS from companies that seek to ramp up sales on the backs of their "vendors".  The customers are coddled, and we foot the bill!

[Nancy458]

I am a host with a strict cancellation policy near a winter/summer resort.town in Nevada.  I work full-time, and I do not to deal with reservations from uncommitted travelers. I am very happy with my clientele and have NO problem getting bookings, pretty much all year. My advice to you is stick with your policy. Ignore the messages from airbnb. Remember, corporate is about making money.

I have rules about who can stay, I have minimum length stays, some people need to ask to stay and I have strict cancellation. So I do not qualify for super host status! Who cares? My business model works for me.  It works for my guests. Airbnb periodically wants me to change. As long as it is working, I am happy. Do what works for you and emphasize positive communication with potential guests. That is what counts.

[Joanne319]

Hi, as a home owner, I reserve the right to rent out my property under my terms. If I wanted to rent the property under a more moderate cancellation policy, I can do that by choosing either moderate or flexible cancellation policies. I do not agree with the 48 hour cancellation window. In peak season this will cost me revenue and I do not think this policy will improve my revenue. There are two things I like about airbnb; 1. it is trustworthy. 2. It is uncomplicated and very easy to use. This cancellation policy alters both of these two things for me. I prefer to take my chances against my competitors who like a flexible or moderate cancellation policy. So far my strict policy has not reduced my earnings. But the 48 hour window will definately lead me to trust my bookings less and create more hassles for me, all of which I do not like. I would like to remind air bnb that despite your roaring success, and as much as I love you, you do have competitors following quickly behind you. If you continue to erode the hosting experience by eroding our rights and creeping up the costs to us, well one day you may look around and another rising star is taking your business. To conclude, it isnt broken, so stop trying to fix it. Leave well alone.

[Paul1073]

This is definitely an issue.  Even worse is the lack of a strict No Cancellation policy that allows the host to choose NO CANCELLATION.  Other sites offer this option.  Airbnb seriously need to look at this.  

[Joanne319]

If you bring this in, I will probably flip to another company.

[Chris959]

It already has been operational since May 2018. With this policy it is a downhill spiral for hosts who used to have a 'Strict Cancellation Policy'. Its such a shame as AirBnB is a good organisation and has a great feel about it. Their latest ruling regarding Israel is something commendable.

With Bookings .com hosts can choose a variety of cancellation poicies that suit the individual host, but in many ways AirBnB is a superior company to be involved with and am loath to cut ties with it.

[Chris959]

After 3 different attempts I finally got a response from AirBnB....

' regarding changing my Strict cancellation policy to  a more strict cancellation policy. At the moment I feel that I do not have adequate protection from cancellations by guests. If it is possible can you tell me how I can make an application?'

AirBnB Response

''Hi Chris, my apologies for closing the ticket.
For now, the more strict cancellation policy is the Policy that you have.
As stated on this link:
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/149/what-is-the-airbnb-cancellation-policy?q=Airbnb%20cancellati...

www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

I understand that you are not happy about this policy.
We are always looking for suggestions to make our platform better for both hosts and guests, and insight from members of our community is immensely valuable to us. To send your suggestion, just go to our feedback form and enter a description of the feature you’d like us to create:
We strongly suggest, use this link:
www.airbnb.com/help/feedback
I wish I was able to do more.''

I believe the only way to change things is to keep on trying. This thread is just to vent our feelings and is not given much attention by the policy makers of AirBnB. Lots more Hosts need to  either try other platforms,  suspend their listings on AirBnB and go to Feedback .... www.airbnb.com/help/feedback

Best of all ....all 3 options!

[Peta7]

.....And we wonder......just how can one individual be allowed to do so much damage to a previously well thought out and much prefered Airbnb platform now with contradicting content impacting negatively on all long standing hosts, guests and the platform alike...virtually every host on the platform is reaching out to Airbnb just to be ignored!

We believe that all of the changes are made to bring Airbnb in line with competitors like Booking.com etc where only 15% max of reservations materialize. We have removed ourselves from these competitors sites some time ago and are eagerly watching the all NEW Airbnb unfold for a decision to be made whether or not to continue hosting on International platforms.

[Pilar1]

I am afraid there are even more worrying implications of the cancellation policies or there’s something we are not being told. I’m still waiting for a call from customer services with an explanation of why I had a cancellation FREE OF CHARGE one and a half weeks after booking, with no massage from the guests or warning from Airbnb. 

Taken from the initial post: 

This meant that no matter how far out your guests book, they only have 48 hours from the time then book to cancel for free. We want to make sure that if guests change their mind, you have enough time to get another booking.

This is obviously not true in this case and to be honest I’ve been worried ever since as I keep thinking it can happen again any time for no reason.  The  booking was made 2 months in advance for the New Year weekend which is quite popular in London so thankfully I’ve been able to  fill it since then; according to the agent I spoke with it was agreed by Airbnb directly with the guests as a “one off” but no reason was afforded to me for being so gracious and generous with them or why my Strict policy was not applied. 

Has anything like this happended to others here?

[Claire16]

Yes. Very similar experience. My guests had booked 6 months in advance for 6 weeks over the Melbourne Cup time (very high traffic in Melbourne). They changed their dates and decreased the booking length over the months - all of which I agreed to. They then still wanted a long booking discount eventhough the booking was down to 18 nights. Air BnB pressured me into accepting this.

Then only days before the scheduled arrival and after I had paid for gardening and house cleaning and bought food supplies etc, they cancelled. I was first told I would still receive payment as per my policy but then the guest sent a scan of a 'doctors certificate' simply stating that the guest was unable to travel. 

I was unable to verify these facts and to be honest, anyone could have typed up that piece of paper.

So they were given 100% refund and I got 0$. 

It's a win win for Air BnB as I am the one with the greatest financial loss but was not consulted. 

I understand that bad things may happen and would be happy to maybe increase the % of refund if the guest seemed genuine, but it should be up to me - not a huge company who can afford to take a hit. If Air BnB want to give extra refund outside of the hosts cancellation policy, they should pay it out of their own pocket - not mine!

I am a Super Host with many years loyalty to Air BnB. I am now giving preference to other rental companies over Air BnB guests as I don't feel like I have any protection and it is a substantial part of my income.

[Rich92]

Just more proof that Airbnb don’t listen. They just get an idea in their head, steamroll it through regardless. The feedback they get from us is just out of courtesy and very little notice of it is taken.

it is absolutely ridiculous giving a 48 hour period for guests to cancel. Sometimes we answer twenty questions or more before someone even books. It’s just a waste of our time. 

[Nancy458]

Hello rich: my experience is that experienced Abb travelers do not ask 20 questions.  Set your booking requirements so that guests MUST have 3 positive reviews. I have kept mt strict cancellation policy (7 days)-- so the 48 hour thing has not really had an impact. Most abb travelers ate pretty self sufficient. There is such a thing as too much communication with a guest.

[Jung4]

okay.