Double standard on cancellation policy for Guest vs Host

[Bill289]

I just got my reservation cancelled as guest, I am furious. Apparently Airbnb policy on cancellation is a slap on the hand for hosts and HUGE penalty for guests. I am referring to long term reservation. I booked month to month on airbnb because I do not know the place I am staying and lets be honest the penalty for guest cancellation is HUGELY unfair. The policy for guest cancellation policy is that we lose the first month rent, now for a 1 month rental, that's the ENTIRE reservation is non-refundable. This places HUGE stress and anxiety on me as guest booking which cost 2k for monthly rental. That's 2k thrown into the fire, POOOFFFF.

Now what's the penalty for host cancellation? A slap on the hand. Per Airbnb policy they MAY receive a penalty fee after repeated cancellation. My host apparently cancelled the my monthly reservation (which was at discount due to being a long term) and rebook other people to get more $$. Now if we have the same policy for both host and guests, do you think hosts can cancel so easily and rebook other people to make regular nightly rate rather my discounted monthly rate? This is UNFAIR. Apparently Airbnb protect their host more than their guest. 

Anyone else ran into the same experience? 

[Sarah977]

@Bill289    I don't know where you got your information, but "hosts get a slap on the hand" is entirely incorrect. Hosts not only get fined for cancelling reservations, they get their calendar blocked for those dates so they can't rebook them, they will automatically lose Superhost status if they have it, and the Cancellation will appear on their profile, which makes other guests wary of booking with them.

If you have proof that the host cancelled your reservation in order to take a more lucrative booking, you can contact Airbnb to let them know this. 

[Bill289]

Hi Sarah, I read the entire Airbnb on host cancellation and I can say with 98% confident that none of them applied to my host. Now I DO NOT have beef with my host, my frustration is with Airbnb policy. It is their policy that allows for abusive behavior. To answer each of your statement:

>"they will automatically lose Superhost status" My host still has superhost status. maybe this will be *manually* removed after they review the case. In any case, it is not automatic. 

>"the Cancellation will appear on their profile", this did NOT happen. I have seen this so I know what it looks like from browsing on Airbnb. 

>"they get their calendar blocked for those dates" 100% not true. My reservation is long term for a month so I do not think this would apply, just my guess. How do I know? My booking is for Oct 7 to Nov4, I just checked host's calendar and Nov 2 and onward are free so this leads me to believe that she rebook my dates to others. Will Airbnb block host from 6months of booking if they cancel a 6 months reservation? I HIGHLY doubt, like I said when it comes to long term reservation, Airbnb cancellation is hostile towards guests and super lenient on hosts .

[Bill289]

In any case, my reservation for a month cost me almost $2k. My penalty for cancellation is me losing $2K. The penalty for host? None of the things stated in the Airbnb cancellation happened to my host. and EVEN if they do, is my penalty of losing $2K fair compared to the host penalty?

[Sarah977]

@Bill289  When I first replied to you, I thought that the host had cancelled your reservation before you ever had a chance to stay there. But now I think you were already staying and the host cancelled your next month? (Guests who are cancelled by the host before their check-in are refunded).The only way they could cancel you, and be able to rebook the dates, is if you, as a guest, were not following house rules, were damaging things, etc. In other words, they considered you an undesirable guest and Airbnb accepted the cancellation on that basis.

So do you want to give a little more info on the situation?

[Bill289]

Of course I can elaborate more. I am currently staying with a different host. Apparently she did not realize how much discount was for long term reservation so she reduced the discount rate (from 40% to 25%) on long term rate which prompted me to look for my next stay. I as hoping that my current host can continue with the current rate but it was not possible so I booked a property 3 weeks from now for the dates of Oct7 to Nov 4. This new host cancel the reservation just 1 day after my reservation was confirmed. This is when I get frustrated with the Airbnb policy on cancellation. As guest I was suffering from anxiety and emotional stress during booking because of the hostile penalty on guest cancellation. It means I lose my entire month of payment on Airbnb which would cost me $1900 if I cancel the reservation. I was furious when I found out that my host cancelled my reservation just 1 days after I made it and when I checked the property calendar, I found out that it was completely unavailable until Nov 1st. Nov 2nd and onward were free. Based on this I made my conclusion that she rebooked other people and the so called Airbnb calendar blocking never happened. I would not be this mad if I can easily find another property to rent, the truth was it was hard to find one based on my criteria. Not to mention the emotional damage and suffering as a result of hostile Airbnb cancellation policy for guests on long term reservation.  

I already contacted the support team but even they could not tell me exactly what penalty will enforced onto host, thanks to Airbnb's lenient and vague policy towards hosts. I can tell you EXACTLY what would happen if I cancel the rerservation as guest on a long term reservation. 

Again I have no beef with the host. It is Airbnb's double standard on cancellation penalty that angers me. 

[Sarah977]

@Bill289  Thanks for the explanation. I can understand why this would be frustrating for you. But I don't quite understand, sorry. If the new host cancelled your booking a day after you made it, you shouldn't be having your booking $ kept. If the host cancels, the guest gets their $ returned. The host cancellation policy only applies if the guest cancels, or the guest has proven themselves to be a "bad guest", and Airbnb approves the cancellation.

That the dates until Nov. 1st are blocked doesn't necessarily mean they were booked after you were cancelled. Some hosts fail to keep their calendars updated and suddenly realize they can't host, due to personal reasons (family is coming to stay, they are scheduled for medical tests) , or maybe they had planned renovations to the listing, etc. Of course, this is unprofessional behavior- it's the host's responsibility to keep their calendar up-to date. And for sure there are some unscrupulous hosts out there who will cancel on made-up reasons when in fact, they just want to accept a more lucrative booking. But I'd venture to say those are the exception, rather than common.

As for Airbnb not telling you what the host penalties will be, that has nothing to do with being a guest or a host- Airbnb is very tight about giving out ANY information- they claim it has to do with protecting guest or host privacy. If I, as a host, contacted Airbnb to ask what reason a guest gave for cancelling a reservation, for instance, there is no way they would tell me that. There was a post last week from a host whose daughter, who doesn't even have an Airbnb account, had her credit card info stolen and an Airbnb booking made on that credit card. The host had called Airbnb to find out if her daughter's name appeared as the booked guest, and they refused to tell her. 

[Sarah977]

@Bill289  P.S. Hosts get delisted from Airbnb for reasons that the host can't fathom (they didn't get a bunch of bad reviews, no one said it was dirty, they've never cancelled- they can't figure out WHAT they did wrong) and Airbnb refuses to tell them why they were delisted, if you can believe that!

[Bill289]

@Sarah0 The fact that Airbnb customer service's unwillingness to address my concern over unfair treatment in the policy of host vs guest is giving me 100% confident that they admit to the issue and they will not do anything to fix it. I understand that there are many unfairness going on by reading some of the topics here but I am talking about basic reservation process. The fact that the guests are penalized HEAVILY over long term cancellation is something that makes me want to go to regular hotel rather than airbnb. People make mistake and unexpected things happen, so I strongly feel that warnings should be applied fairly to both guest and host. That's not the case here, for long term reservation cancellation, the penalty for guest is the entire month worth of payment, whereas no significant penalty was applied to the host when they perform the same cancellation. THAT is not acceptable.

[Christine615]

I hate to weigh in here, but I'm curious.

1. You booked an Airbnb month to month.

2. The first month was discounted at 40% off.

3. The host wanted more money so reduced the discount to 25% off for the next month. Did you accept that change and pre-pay for the next month at the higher rent?

4. You tried to switch to a new host but that host cancelled your reservation after 1 day.

    a. Was it an "Instant Book?" Hosts are allowed to cancel with no penalty within 24-48 hours if they don't feel comfortable with a booking. BTW - guests can cancel within 48 hours with no penalty as well.

5. if YOU cancel a booking the host is allowed to relist those dates. If either of you cancels within 48 hours of a new booking the host is allowed to relist those dates.

Hosts can NOT relist a date if they cancelled on you after the 48 hour period is over.


So question - where are you staying now? And did you pay for the next month already (is that what you are wanting to cancel?)

[Bill289]

@Christine615 See my response below

I hate to weigh in here, but I'm curious.

1. You booked an Airbnb month to month. First time booking on Airbnb. Started on Sep 8 - Oct 7. 

2. The first month was discounted at 40% off. Yes

3. The host wanted more money so reduced the discount to 25% off for the next month. Did you accept that change and pre-pay for the next month at the higher rent? I am looking for another month of stay  for Oct 7 to Nov 4. I checked with my current stay, she raised the price. So I started to look elsewhere

4. You tried to switch to a new host but that host cancelled your reservation after 1 day. Yes

    a. Was it an "Instant Book?" Hosts are allowed to cancel with no penalty within 24-48 hours if they don't feel comfortable with a booking. BTW - guests can cancel within 48 hours with no penalty as well. No

5. if YOU cancel a booking the host is allowed to relist those dates. If either of you cancels within 48 hours of a new booking the host is allowed to relist those dates. If I cancel before arrival, I would end up paying the whole month as penalty ($1853). If Host cancel before the stay, host has no significant penalty to stop them from doing so. 

Hosts can NOT relist a date if they cancelled on you after the 48 hour period is over.
Cancellation was within 2 days, no idea why but her place is popular so I can only assume that she rebook others to get more $. Like I said the math works out for her, my reservation was discounted @ 40% while allowing others to book she get paid at regular price. Just my guess. Airbnb doesn not give reason for cancellation

So question - where are you staying now? And did you pay for the next month already (is that what you are wanting to cancel?)

 Airbnb did allow refund for host cancellation, I have no BEEF with that, what I am having issue was with the UNFAIR treatment of cancellation penalty on host V.S. guest. Like I said if I cancel I pay for whole month of payment whereas cancellation penalty for host is a joke. 

Again I checked with Customer Service already, they CANNOT refute my claim that there is an unequal treatment of host and guest when it comes to long term cancellation policy. 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Bill289

You clearly have no idea how the cancellation policy works on Airbnb.

The "cancellation policy" (flexible/moderate/strict/long-term) is applied when the GUEST is the one that does the cancelling (and no fault of the host). 

When a host cancels there is no "cancellation policy" applied whatsoever. The host is penalized. The calendar is kept blocked so that the host cannot host a different guest. The full amount is refunded (by Airbnb) to the guest and if the cancellation is prior to the intended check in date the host will not see a single dime from that cancellation. If the host were to cancel after check in nights not stayed are refunded (by Airbnb) to guest and Airbnb will collect the money back from the host from the host's next payout. 

If the host cancelled, then Airbnb is supposed to refund the guest automatically and immediately. Hosts have no power to "not refund" guests when it is a host cancellation. So if you have not recieved your money back for a "host cancellation" you need to contact Airbnb and be mad at them for not handling the refund properly. 

[Bill289]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 I am offended by the insult. If anything I can read English better than most here. Plus I contacted Airbnb customer service and they could not refute any of my accusations against their policy. First off, you said the calendar is blocked, here is the prove that it is NOT blocked. The first pic shows the cancellation of reservation between Oct 7 - Nov 4. The 2nd pic shows that I can book the place from Nov 2 and onward. Please stop posting with your ignorant statement, if you have doubt you can ask for proofs instead of making accusations. Everyone who replied here are mostly host, I highly doubt you know what goes on in the guest side of transaction just like I dont know what goes on in the Host side of transaction but I can read the host policy to see exactly what is going on.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

Actually @Bill289 I was a guest user way before I ever became a host so I know what it is like from both sides. If the listing is NOT blocked as you say, it seems the host may have had a valid reason (which Airbnb recognizes and accepts)  for cancelling YOU. That would be the only way the host would be able to get the dates unblocked despite a host-cancellation.

[Ana1136]

 @Bill289 you were not insulted by @Jessica-and-Henry0 in any way. Should we be all insulted because you said you can read english better that most of us? Your responses here are by hosts with years of experience and hundreds of reservations, and they took time out of their lives to give you a response so I suggest beeing a bit more respectful. And we have all been guests numerous times, but you haven't been a host so you are the one who doesn't understant how it is on the other side. Hosts are penalized heavily for cancelations which is explained numerous times on this thread.