superhost status

[Cordelia2]

Dear AirBnd..

I think the Zero tolerance cancellation must be rethought - I have been hosting for just over a year and have maintained superhost satus.  I have 5 star ratings, excellent reviews from all my guest.  A few days ago I lost this superhost status - when I reveiwed my progress and went over your aims and targets and see that I have superceeded them and I lost my status because of 1 single cancellation I made.  I think this is not only unfair but way too extreme.  You have to take into account that cancellations are sometimes absolutley necessary.  They may be unforseen circustances that host are totally unprepared for - like - frozen pipes in extreme cold..major plumbing issues..family emergecies - why shoud we as host lose this status because of 1 single cancellation?  I can understand if it became habitual from host then i can see the lost of the status but for 1 single thing...Maybe instead of 0 cancellations a year maybe 3 is a good number that can replace that.  I hope you can agree.

[Meryl2]

I completely agree! I’ve been eligible for superhost for almost a year now....except for one cancellation I made last April 28th.

[Rebecca181]

@Cordelia2 @Meryl2 I agree  - A Super Host with a great track record should be allowed at least one penalty free cancellation. FYI: If you ever have to cancel in the future, see if your situation qualifies as an 'extenuating circumstance' and if it does, have ABB cancel the reservation on your behalf. Then it is not held against you. Also, I have cancelled guests but Airbnb did it for me as I had good cause (one person who Instant Booked was not who he appeared to be, for example; wrong phone number, and some other important information was wrong; another did not have an ID verification - I require this for Instant Booking reservations). I never cancel on my own, due to being penalized. I always have ABB do it. 

[Darla17]

How/where do you contact ABB to have them cancel for you?

[Zappa0]

I have called them for extenuating circumstances several times when the hurricane hit us. they cancelled on my behalf without issues,

[Sia-Vince0]

Absolutely agree, same thing happened to me - extenuating circumstances (booking for 2 - turns out party of 12 who were happy to bring sleeping bags and sleep on the floor - seriously) AIRBNB deaf to my request to reinstate my superhost status

[Seattle-Oasis0]

@Sia-Vince0 I would call back.  Use the terms "Safety" and "Not Comfortable" with booking.  I was recently bullied by an Airbnb rep who tried to force me to except a Batchelor Party which was a third party booking.  I reached out to contacts I had in Airbnb and it was taken care of penalty free.  Airbnb allows you to cancel bookings penalty free if your safety or safety of your property is involved.

I agree about the policy.  I now host 1280+ stays a year because I am a property manager.  Miraculously I have maintained a 100% rate thanks to some admin cancellations that I was able to get made, but lets say I do have one non-extenuating circumstance.  Should I be really judged on the same level as someone that hosts 10 stays a year?  

That is not equitable @Airbnb.  A change to the system should be considered.

[Kathryn-And-Allen0]

Airbnb - your policy is not right!!!!

I am SUPER upset that my superhost status was taken away because I cancelled one guest who was there to settle an estate. 

My reason for cancellation was in the best interest of the customer that was in the house at the time.  He had a death in the family and was unable to tie up all the legalities and get the estate on the market within the time frame that he had reserved my house for.  He needed to stay a few extra days and so I cancelled one upcoming guest and extended his stay to help him IN HIS TIME OF NEED.

It was indeed unfortunate that I cancelled a guest but I thought that a current customer already in my house and having to deal with a family member death would make that more plausible.

My stats as a superhost were well above the requirements for superhost.  I get great reviews and I try to do the right thing in assisting my guests with whatever they need while they are at my house.

Therefore - just for the record - I do not appreciate Airbnb cancelling my superhost status because of that one cancellation without any effort to understand what happened.  I am not and never have been in the habit of cancelling or not attempting to take the best of care of my guests!

"Your account could be suspended if you don’t focus on improving to meet Airbnb hosting standards."  was the message I saw after logging on the next day.  Airbnb did not even bother to send a considerate message requesting information but just a message telling me I need to "focus on improving"!

If I am missing something or have failed in some way other than just ONE cancellation done out of consideration for a guest, please call or message me and let me know, otherwise, consider each circumstance more carefully before you send out notes threatening to “suspend” my account. 

Kathryn McLain

[Larisa4]

I'm torn on this point. I agree there are extenuating circumstances that would require a host to cancel (property not habitable due to plumbing issue, power outage, etc.) and Airbnb should facilitate cancelling those, and could resonably require proof (pictures, insurance inspection form, etc) in order to waive the penalty.

On the other hand, I believe it should not be easy or to allow even a single cancellation without meeting that high bar. Looking at the problem as a statistic (as in, "I only cancelled a miniscule number of my bookings") or rationalizing as helping another guest out ("my current guest had to stay because he was in need") means absolutely nothing to the incoming guest who may have spent months planning the logistics -- and not just that of your place but airline tickets, entertainment reservations, coordinating with family schedules, etc. etc.

As a traveler I would be incensed at having my vacation plans ruined arbitrarily. So I think that I'd rather have Airbnb err on the side of compelling hosts to never cancel unless it's impossible to host. it seems that they already have that system somewhat in place if you call customer service to cancel and explain the extenuating circumstances, vs. cancelling through the website and then trying to restore your Superhost status after the fact.

[Louise231]

Yeah i'm with @Larisa4 a bit on this,

Cancelling last minute for a guest is such a big issue, especially of you're already travelling that it's always going to be a big part of the trust issue for guests.

Although hosts take on a larger part of the risks in my opinion on airbnb, honest guests FEEL like they are taking a risk, especially when they first use airbnb. Knowing that they should only be cancelled in 'ext cercumstances' at least gives them a back up that it's an unavoidable issue and airbnb will help them find a new place. Something similar to a hotel issue.

My problem is getting though to airbnb when you do have ext cercumstances needs to be easier and the support when something happens better.

If a host has to cancel because of last min family medical emergency, the last thing they care about on the way to the hospital is getting 'proof' to airbnb. Or holding in the phone for an hour.

[Larisa4]

I agree @Louise231, the proof should not have to be presented at time of cancellation, but you raise a fair point about my mention of currently having to call into customer service. However, if there were an established policy that proof would be required and that the host has 10 days to present it (with an easy means to do so like with the damage reporting interface). Then a host could simply cancel through the app or web interface citing the extenuating circumstance. There should be a text field for the explanation so the guest is presented with the context. It should also bring up the requirement to present proof, the instructions for doing so, and the timeline for submitting it.  (Can you tell I used to design user interfaces?? 😉