New Strict (with grace) Period Concern - Do not share identifiable property info for 48 hours

[Marie677]

Hi - I was presented with the option to turn on the STRICT (with grace period) option for my listing.  I would be comfortable doing it (because I think it is right for the consumer) and taking the financial risk but I am VERY concerned about protecting my physical location and entry instructions from folks who are NOT confirmed guests.  This is one of the main reasons I choose strict...I figure unscrupulous actors will not risk a financial penalty and instead go after "lower hanging fruit".  I use lock boxes and electronic locks for the ease of check in for my guests.

My recommendation:  Allow this feature BUT change the viewability of the EXACT ADDRESS, ACCESS INSTRUCTIONS or WIFI INFO to the guest until after the 48 hours window has elapsed and they are truly a "confirmed guest".  This allows the flexibility to guests (which I support) and still protects hosts from bad actors.

Thanks!

[Andrea1063]

I do not see a 'grace period'

I do agree that location information should not be released until 24 hours before the booking date.  This could certainly be abused by those that have clued into it or have a mind to abuse this information. 

Our security and property should be of paramount interest to ABB! 

[Tom383]

bookings come in 'waves', at least for me... I will get 10 bookings on a Saturday and none for the rest of the week.. it is jsut a tendency of majority of tourists.. you are busy during the week to book and usually do it during weekend when you have time.

So it is unfair that a chance of a higher paid booking willbe missed by someone who will be granted a grace period.

For me if I have empty calendat 2 month or less away I decrese prices by 20%, 1 month 30% and 2 weeks 40%, less than 2 weeks it goes for 50%... if someone books 2 weeks before and wait 2 days to cancel I will be unlikely to get rebooked or I will have to do it at a heavily disocounted rate

[KandT0]

Yeah, @Tom0 in London, this applies to those of us who choose the strict cancellation policy partly because we want to deter bookings from those folks who block our calendars by making a reservation "just in case" they need somewhere to stay or because they just want to know the street address (possibly for some malicious reason), then they cancel. Or maybe also because we don't want to incur an absolute loss when someone blocks the listing for three months and cancels with only two weeks to get a new booking. That kind of thing. We like the idea of giving the grace period, but we are wary of giving away our full address and then allowing the cancellation. The address needs to be withheld until after the 48 hours expires, and then we may consider opting in to the grace period. It's another one of those Airbnb ideas that has been implemented without being properly thought through. Not unlike the crazy "upgrade" (NOT) to the calendar that has deleted all the notes on our reservations, does not allow us to enter new ones, and does not allow us to refer back to past bookings. See... Now you've got me started 🙂

[Mary167]

Now that Airbnb is allowing guests to book and then cancel within 48 hours, I need to verify that the guest can't see anything more than what is on my listing until the 48 hours has expired.  I can't find any option to restrict anyone who "books" from seeing all my private information in my listing as soon as they "book".   I don't want looky-loos having access to my address or anything else.  Airbnb must listen to our concerns about privacy and security.  How do we get them to listen to us?  How do we protect ourselves?

[KandT0]

@Mary167 You simply do not opt in to the 48-hour grace period until such time that Airbnb withholds full address from bookers until after the period has expired.

Now they can see it, and we will not be opting in until Airbnb fixes it.

Any host with concerns similar to ours also should not choose to opt in until necessary changes are made.

[Marie677]

I was alerted today that this is being turned on Automatically starting in the beginning of April without any choice to a host anymore.  Airbnb clearly does not care about physical property safety.  How can we escalate this concern higher?

[KandT0]

I was not aware of that, @Marie677. I will immediately post my protest at @AirbnbHelp on Twitter. I urge every host who objects to do the same.

[Mary167]

Thanks K&T.  The wording of the email I got today seemed to indicate it was a mandatory new policy that would apply to everyone who used Strict cancellation.

”The updated strict cancellation policy will come into effect April 05 and will apply to all reservations made on or after that date.”

Hopefully I misunderstood what they are telling me.  I don’t really have a problem with trying out the 48-hour cancellation option so long as Airbnb doesn’t release my confidential information during the 48 hours.

[KandT0]

I'll take a look at that policy update, @Mary167. Meanwhile, I have jumped the gun and already posted an objection at @AirbnbHelp on Twitter. Another good spot for stating your views is https://www.airbnb.com/help/feedback -- @Marie and everyone else, please do the same.

[KandT0]

I can't find any info on updates to the strict cancellation poilcy, @Mary167. What still applies now can be seen here: https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#strict -- The last updates I can see applied only to Italy and S Korea.