Why Airbnb’s new cancelation policies are absolutely wrong

[Andrea374]

Many hosts woke up this morning having received an email from Airbnb informing them that there would be some “minor” changes to the cancellation policies on the website.

As you may know, the world-famous online platform for vacation rentals offers three different policies for guests’ cancellations:

• Flexible: Full refund 24 hours prior to arrival, except fees
• Moderate: Full refund 5 days prior to arrival, except fees
• Strict: 50% refund up to 1 week prior to arrival, except fees

The Airbnb commission for any of those cancellation policies was 3%.

The email received this morning informs us that the commission will change based on the cancellation policy we apply to our listing(s).

If we choose the Flexible one, allowing our guests to cancel with a full refund up to 24 hours before their arrival, the commission will remain the same: 3%, whereas if we choose the Moderate it will be 4% and up to 5% if we choose the strict one.

In addition, guests will no longer have to pay the service fee to Airbnb if they decide to cancel!

It goes without saying, that this unilateral change in the company’s policy is absolutely wrong, and here is why:

Airbnb has once again decided to overprotect guests in damage to the hundreds of thousands of hosts who literally are the backbone of the website and of the industry in general.

Management is clearly forgetting that we, house-owners and managers, are not hotel-like accommodations and that we do not have all the tools, nor the client-base, to have new reservations in a matter of minutes when a guest cancels only 24 hours before.

This new policy will only create damages to the whole system, with guests feeling free to reserve the house and then cancel at the very last minute by choosing another cheaper accommodation, without any consequence.

I, for one, am feeling very frustrated by this sudden change, and consider this only a subtle and not so honest way to simply raise the commission to the hosts, without really considering the consequences.

I do really hope Airbnb’s management will hear our voices, through the feedbacks we are sending to the website and through our social media comments on the official page, and will decide to take a step back and restore the old policy which has led this company the become the world phenomenon it has been for the past five years.

Andrea ***

[Keith0]

The problem with the current policy as I understand it:

Joe Guest books. Joe Guest cancels.

Regardless of the hosts Cancellation Policy, Joe Guest is charged something - minimum is the service fee.

Joe Guest gets his credit card bill and say whoa. I am not paying this. I did not stay at this place. They can't charge me. Joe Joe Guest tells his CC company - charge back. This is a charge for something I never recieved.

CC company charges Airbnb back and nothing Airbnb can do unless they want to fight every single case in every single country with hundreds of CC companies all over the world.

As background to this problem - being able to cancel a hotel reservation without penalty is really the only competitive advantage hotels have over us. Airbnb knows this and that is why they are so miserable on hosts who cancel.

Now we are starting to see hotels and online travel agencies (OTAs) starting to charge cancellation fees. 

I sure don't know what the solution is. All my listings have strict cancellation policies. I sure can not afford someone booking and then cancelling on me and me giving them their money back.

Honestly I do not think it is a case of Airbnb trying to get ever lira or penny they can. It is more a case, I think, of Airbnb trying to adjust to its new role a major player in the travel world. 

People expect to be able to go online and book a room, without a discussion of why they are in town and who they are. Therefore the push for IB.

People expect to buy things and change their minds and return them and get their money back. Therefore a shifting cancellation structure.

Where are the hosts and the hosts interest in this? 

[Till-and-Jutta0]

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Keith schrieb: Joe Guest gets his credit card bill and say whoa. I am not paying this. I did not stay at this place. They can't charge me. Joe Joe Guest tells his CC company - charge back. This is a charge for something I never recieved.

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@Keith0 I’m not sure about this. It’s not the credit card company’s policy to charge back if a service is poor or a product fails, or the customer didn’t stay at an Airbnb. As long as the payment has been authorized by the client, the credit card won’t accept a charge back. A charge back only applies for non-authorized payments.

[Taryn4]

@Keith0 

I agree Air has a problem with the CC kickback but they could solve this by discouraging this type of traveler from the very beginning. Better education to the consumer and presentation of this as a community rather than a cheap place to stay (as an alternative to a hotel) would go a LONG way. 

If I didn't have to educate EVERY single first time guest I would aso be willing to pay an extra 1%. (I don't mind it 25% of the time but most people just aren't thoughtful). 

Ways Airbnb could make it easier on themselves by weeding out the lazy and self-entitled traveler:
-Make Profile blurbs mandatory

-Make location mandatory

-Make ID mandatory 

-Remind them that this is a community and may be someone's home and that this is NOT a hotel. 

-Create a loyalty program for the guest (the superhost thing is really just laughable)

-Allow hosts to see guests stars (we can help Air by not allowing repeat offenders and having to call them to try and file a claim over and over again)

Air would likely have less flippant travelers if they understood what Airbnb was before signing up. They don't need the masses (because who needs the ones that cost them money and cause trouble). What they need is repeat business and loyalty from the thoughtful guests and hosts! 

In our business (architecture and construction) we learned the hard way that saying yes to every potential client was devestating for both of us. Happy people make happy clients. Unhappy (or lazy) people make for unhappy clients. Air being too big for it's britches has also upset many City Municipalities (and punished hosts) based on it's trying to be seen as a hotel brand. 

I would use Air 100% of the time when I move out of my house every weekend if they had a loyalty program like hotels.com. Hotels.com costs way more but I get something free so it makes me feel like I'm winning and I keep coming back! 

I give Air 2 more years before they implode. HOSTS PLAN YOUR EXIT STRADEGY! 

[Paul261]

There is one appropriate way to respond - quit posting your property on Airbnb.  I also suggest avoiding HomeAway / VRBO.  Vacation Home Rentals lets property owners make their own rules.  That is also the case at a wide variety of startup sites serving the travel industry.

[Silvia71]

@Paul261 

It's true but We have only one possibility for change that decision wrong ...

Sign the Petition and SHARE

https://www.change.org/p/no-alle-nuove-politiche-di-cancellazione-airbnb-s-new-cancellation-policies...

Silvia

[Kristy-and-Steve0]

Agree, I'm very disappointed in Airbnb's decision to impose these new fee increases on their strict cancellation policy. It is becoming less and less beneficial to run an Airbnb with new taxes and limitation being imposed by the cities and now increase in costs. It's unfortunate and I will need to do a cost benefit analysis to see if it's worthwhile to continue using the Airbnb platform if fees keep increasing.

[Villa-Rental0]

Da migliorare c'è ben poco, sono completamente da rivedere.

Certo per l'ospite che prenota ci sono tutti i vantaggi di gestire la sua vacanza senza grosse preoccupazioni, tanto posso sempre divertirmi a prenotare senza pagare nulla, noi proprietari, non siamo molto d'accordo.

Bloccare una proprietà fino a 30 giorni senza avere conseguenze, oppure fino al giorno prima dell'arrivo, pagare solo il 50%, non mi sembra una cosa seria.

Infatti, un cliente serio, prima di bloccare una casa per vacanze, dovrebbe, in maniera tangibile, dimostrare la sua volontà di rispettare la sua richiesta. Se il cliente non ha la certezza di rispettare la prenotazione, dovrebbe attendere, dando ad altri la possibilità di scegliere il prodotto in oggetto. Oppure stipulare una qualsiasi assicurazione che tuteli la sua spesa in caso di imprevisti (Questa opportunità sarebbe una valida miglioria da offrire alla comunità).

Non so quale mente perversa (ma direi incompetente) abbia partorito questa nuove regole, ma certamente non è un proprietario di case per vacanze. Un appartamento, una villa o una qualsiasi struttura di casa vacanze non è decisamente una camera d'albergo o di B&B, una cancellazione a così breve scadenza è presso che impossibile da ricollocare sul mercato, anche in alta stagione, comportando gravi perdite per chi lo gestisce, esempio, una villa prenotata a Dicembre 2016 per un periodo di Agosto 2017, che viene annullata a Luglio 2017 (cioè tenuta bloccata per circa 7 mesi) senza pagare nessuna penale è presso che difficile da rivendere (se non impossibile). L'unica soluzione può essere di svenderla, ma non sempre la cosa riesce.

In virtù di questo, è sicuramente non sarò un'eccezione, saremo costretti con malincuore a cancellare tutte le nostre strutture pubblicate sul vostro sito.

Nella speranza di un possibile vostro ripensamento 

There is very little to be improved, these new cancellation policies must be fully reviewed.

Certainly for the guest who books there are all the advantages of running his holiday without great concern, so I can always have fun to book without paying anything, we, the owners, do not agree.

Blocking a property up to 30 days without any cancellation fees, or up to the day prior to arrival, paying  only 50%, it does not seem serious.

In fact, a serious customer, before blocking a  holiday house, should, in a tangible way, to demonstrate its willingness to respect his request. If the customer is not sure to respect the reservation, he should wait, giving others the opportunity to choose the product in question. Or take out a travel insurance that protects his funds in case of having to cancel unexpectedly (This opportunity would be a valuable improvement to offer the community).

I do not know in what mind (but I would say incompetent) has given birth to these new Cancellation policies but it certainly is not an owner of holiday homes. An apartment, a villa or any holiday home business is definitely not a hotel room or B & B, a cancellation at such short notice is highly impossible to place on the market, even in high season, leading to heavy losses for those who manage, eg, a villa booked in December 2016 for a period of August 2017, which was canceled in July 2017 (that is locked for about 7 months) with no penalty is very difficult to resell (if not impossible). The only solution may be of discounting, but not always a success

Because of this, and I am sure we will not be an exception, we will be forced to reluctantly cancel all our facilities published on your site.

hoping that you would possibly review these policies, we await to hear from you.

[Lorenzo133]

Ciao, volevo sapere se riusciamo ad organizzarci in qualche maniera per fare pressione su Airbnb affinché modifichi questa assurda policy.

Peraltro mi ha detto un operatore del loro call center che l'anno imposta al mercato italiano per favorire un numero più alto di prenotazioni!

Come singolo ovviamente non sono riuscito ad ottenere nulla, e comunque dovrebbero differenziare gli host occasionali da chi lo fa per professione.

[Andrea31]

Ciao Lorenzo purtroppo non ci ascoltano più . Quando hanno introdotto questa norma c'è stata una grande discussione e molta gente arrabbiata che ha manifestato il suo disappunto , ma non è successo nulla. Io ho smesso di dare la mia casa con Airbnb

[Lorenzo133]

Ciao Andrea, sicuramente a queste condizioni smetterò anch'io però prima inonderò i loro canali social per informare più host possibile. 

[Trevor14]

I totally agree.  I am quite sick and tired of listing companies treating my home as their "inventory" and trying to force me into their ready made polices that don't fit my business.  Airbnb, you aren't earning 5%.  You aren't handling anywhere near enough work or responsibility to justify imposing these terms on me.  Keep it up, and I'll simply make my current home a very profitable long term rental and move back into my vacation home.  Then you'll have one less very lucrative property in your "inventory".

[Inna6]

I totally agree. This is nonsense. Unfortunately I had bad experience with a guest who made a very long booking in advance. Then in 2 days he said that he would not come. But he refused to cancel the booking. I was begging him to do it, explaining that I need those days to be available so that other guest would be able to make a reservation. And not only he said "No", but he was very rude and even harassing. And you know what, he did made a cancellation - 1 day before arrival. Of course I was not able to find a replacement and the apartment was empty. 

Right now policices make guests plan their trips in advance. When they book apartment, they really mean it. If we allow everyone to cancell 24 hours before arrival with a full-refund, we will have a situation like on Booking.com. I personally do it as well: I book a few rooms in different hotels for the same dates. And then a week before the trip I decide which one to keep, and then I cancel all the rest. And I know plenty of people who do the same.

But as Andrea said: we are NOT hotels. We can't afford having last moment cancellations. 

Moreover, I hire a cleaning service. And they come and clean apartment a day before guest arrives (sometimes, if they are not available, they come a few days before the required day). So if a guest cancells 24 hours before arrival, I will get a negative balance, cause I've already payed for cleaning services. 

[Dario0]

Please sign the petition, it's a way to count our disappointment. Please help us italian host! airbnb employee confirmed us the new policies will be applied all over the world. thank you!

[Villa-Rental0]

Where is the petition ???

[Antonia6]

the petition is on www.change.org

https://www.change.org/p/no-alle-nuove-politiche-di-cancellazione-airbnb-s-new-cancellation-policies...