Asking for a booking deposit

[Alison422]

Hi everyone,

I am new to airbnb and am advertising our holiday caravan.

We have had several enquiries but I am nervous about just accepting bookings and then being let down nearer the time.

Is there anyway I can ask for a deposit on booking, with the remainder due six weeks before?

I can't find anything on the web site Help or on this forum.

Any information or experience please?

Many thanks,

Alison

[Alexandra316]

@Alison422 No, there is no way to take a deposit before the guests arrive. Airbnb takes care of all billing, and there is no way to take payment in advance.

One thing you can do is set your cancellation policy to strict

https://www.airbnb.ca/home/cancellation_policies#strict-with-grace-period

This explains all of the cancellation options.

Super Strict 30 and 60 policies are by invitation only.

It is challenging if you have a place with a short window for bookings. I'm in the same position with my cottage: I only have 2 months during the summer to make all my money for the year. Unfortunately, due to Airbnb's cancellation policies, I don't really take bookings through them for critical weeks. I have it listed on the Airbnb site, but most of my bookings come from elsewhere.

[Jeff158]

@Alison422 with your moderate cancellation policy the guest gets a full refund if they cancel upto 5 days before checkin. i.e. guest looks at the weather forecast on Monday and its grotty when due to check in on Saturday, they can cancel and get a full refund. (not good) I would recommend the strict policy. at least you get a 50% payment if they cancel.

All guests have paid airbnb at the time of booking, sometimes they pay 50% upfront and the balance 10 days before check in, and sometimes its payment in full. Airbnb release the money to hosts 24hrs after the guests check in.