Non-Refundable Booking Option. Is it worthwhile?

[Larry339]

I make available the non-refundable 10% discount booking option, and about 30% of my guests choose this option. From a guest's point of view, they get an extra 10% off the booking price, and as a host, except for extenuating circumstances, we keep the payout if they cancel. I find that shorter-term bookings closer to the date of arrival choose this more often than guests booking extended stays.

Since I have never had a guest cancel to date, the benefit for me does not appear obvious. Am I just throwing away the 10% revenue discount?  I do wonder if the non-refundable option attracts more bookings, but how does one determine that, especially since I have no comparison to previous years and have only hosted for six months.

I would appreciate feedback on your experience with this option.

[Sarah977]

@Larry339  As you said, you haven't had guests cancel, so there's no advantage to you. And I have read several posts here from hosts who said guests were able to get Airbnb to overide that "non-refundable" booking, so they got refunded anyway. As long as Airbnb is so guest-centric in passing out refunds for the "extenuating circumstances" that guests manage to come up with, this policy has zero advantage to the host, IMO.

[Larry339]

Airbnb does indicate that hosts using this option in the pilot did increase revenue by 5%. However, it is hard to compare. Thanks for your message.

[Gordon0]

>>Am I just throwing away the 10% revenue discount?<<

The carrot hasn't made me want to change, @Larry339. You'd need the odd cancellation here and there to make it pay for itself and, from what your experience has been, it doesn't seem to happen.

[Larry339]

The lack of cancellations has made me rethink this option.

[Susan17]

The Extenuating Circumstances policy trumps the Non-refundable policy, making it completely worthless. 

[Larry339]

@Susan17 Sort and succinct well said!

[Larry339]

@Susan17 Thank you, it does seem that the idea behind it may not work they way we think it should.

[Mikki0]

Extenuating circumstances aside, I decided to try this feature now while everything is slow. 

I chose Strict with Non Refundable option. I also have last minute booking discounts.

I know that potential guests don't see the actual discounts stated when searching for reservations, they just see the prices of their search criteria. 

What I have observed though is that anyone booking last minute knows the chance of them canceling their reservation is extremely slim. Getting the 10% discount seems unfair to the hosts. Does anyone know if there is a timeframe the non refundable offer is good? EDIT: I see now that they can get this discount for bookings 14 days out from the reservation.

My last booking seemed to be able to take advantage of Non Refundable 10%, and also last minute discounts.