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 ***
Hello Lorenzo,
My name is Judith and I work here at Airbnb alongside Aisling. She received your email and asked me to follow up with you. As you are aware, we recently updated our cancellation policies for all reservations in Italy booked on or after October 18, 2016. We’re constantly trying to find ways to improve our platform, and these new policies are a way for us to make cancellations easier to understand so that more guests feel comfortable booking with Airbnb.
We hear your concerns regarding the increase in host fees, and while the policy will remain in place, we greatly appreciate your feedback and thoughtful discussions in our community forums.
We thank you again for your understanding and for your valued time and contribution.
Thanks for hosting,
Judith
www.airbnb.com/help