Cancellation penalty for hosts

[Susan186]

My daughter was made homeless overnight, long story, and had nowhere else to go. We took her in. In doing so I had to cancel 2 reservations, one with nearly 3 weeks notice (the guest was very understanding) the other with 4 weeks notice. Airbnb do not see this as extenuating circumstances, and have stripped us of our Superhost status and fined us. I feel I no longer want to be part of the Airbnb 'family' (now that is a joke) and have one other cancellation, with 4 months notice, that I would have to make - Airbnb will fine me a further $100 if I do this. This is nothing short of blackmail!

[Mike340]

@Susan186

Sorry to hear of your changing and difficult circumstances.....

Cancellation fee. The fee will be waived for your first cancellation within a 6-month period. After that, the following fee will be deducted from your first payout after a cancellation. The amount deducted will depend on when you accepted the reservation and how soon before check-in you canceled it:

• More than 7 days before check-in, we’ll deduct $50 from your next payout
• Less than 7 days before check-in, we’ll deduct $100 from your next payout

Loss of eligibility for Superhost status. You won't be eligible to earn Superhost status for one year after your most recent cancellation.

Account suspension. If you cancel 3 or more reservations within a year, we may deactivate your listing.

Unless there are extenuating circumstances, there will be no exceptions to our updated cancellation policy.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990/i-m-a-host--what-penalties-apply-if-i-need-to-cancel-a-reser...

"Airbnb will fine me a further $100 if I do this"    further? ...have they already fined you?

..You "should" be fined $100 in total...not a further $100 

well, if you make 3 cancellations

1st.   No Charge

2nd. $50 

3rd.  $50 

How nice of them not to suspend the listing,given the circumstances....small mercies ..

[Aaron630]

I was charged $50, which ended up being $70 odd dollars in my local currency on my first cancellation which had more than 3 weeks prior notice. Think it’s a bit rich of Airbnb when I have no penalty for guests cancelling. Seems like an excellent policy designed to aggravate hosts. 

[Susan186]

I was hoping they would be nice and understanding! I haven't made the third cancellation yet, at that point they will deactivate the listing. What was I supposed to do, leave my daughter homeless (she had to come home from Portugal) so that Airbnb got their cut of my bookings? 

[Mike340]

@Susan186

I would not be surprised if they do not get a fair few "un-truths" about the reasons for cancelling reservations, in the hope the host will get some sympathy and can get away with not having to pay a fine.

The problem as always is the hosts with genuine issues, like yourself, then just get told they have to follow the rules...... 

What you can try and do is "prove" to them that you are not one of the "un-truths" so that they assist you better.

I dont know what you have "proven" so far.....just an idea ... you are a Superhost..I would have thought that would help a touch...obviously not

Did you get the impression that they were not going to talk further about it....

[Susan186]

This is what I got from them, seems final to me ...

"After reviewing the details regarding the cancellation, we have deemed it necessary to apply host penalties on this occasion. We take cancellations seriously as they disrupt guests' plans and impact confidence in the Airbnb community."

It seems with all extenuating circumstances you have to provide documentation eg doctor's certificate etc. I provided a copy of my daughter's boarding card to prove her arrival - I have 'tweeted' them which has now produced this:

"Thank you for the information. We apologize how things transpired with the cancellation. We stand for a community of trust and transparency with both Hosts and Guests. We have updated your Case Manager and requested that they contact you directly for assistance."

Sounds like they will look into it, but am not very hopeful ...

Thanks for you input

[Sarah977]

@Susan186  Oh, that's rich- "impact confidence in the Airbnb community".  You said the guests you had to cancel were very understanding when you told them why you had to. Plus the bookings were weeks down the road- you didn't cancel someone who was arriving tomorrow. I guess your confidence in the Airbnb community doesn't count. Really irritates me when I read things like this.

[Jeff158]

@Susan186 

you say you still have one booking in 4 months to cancel 

customer service would be more inclined to believe you if the listing was not available to book for the next 4/5 months, block the dates or go to listing status and snooze it.

ps. you are still a superhost

[Susan186]

Hi, thanks - didn't know I could 'snooze' listing - have done so. Yes, still Superhost that will drop off on 1st July at next assessment as I will fail the criteria by having 2 cancellations, I well exceed all the other standards. I haven't cancelled the one at the end of August yet as by then my daughter should have sorted herself out with a job and somewhere to live, so may still be able to honour it. 

[Susan186]

All resolved now, status quo again, thank you for your support!

[Chris662]

It is not fair to punish me/host with 50$ or 100$ or more, if I cancel a reservation.
I get around 20$ for one night.
This punishment fee should be according a one night rent.

There is a difference between profit oriented companies and some from time to time renters.

I consider to finish my cooperation with AirBnb as this regulation is unfair and privat host unfriendly !!!!!!

[Robin4]

@Susan186

Susan, there you go, I am so pleased that it was resolved in the affirmative for you...and it generally is.

The platform is computer run and the program responds to prompts from a pre-determined set of events. Circumstances are not taken into account and this why there is a Customer Support section....to iron out the wrinkles that the software produces.

Once again this is a re-inforcement of why you never hit that cancel button. It is always worth a few minutes on the phone to talk to a human being who has a heart, and breaths, and feel emotion, just like you.

@Chris662  Yeah mate, you are absolutely right! A host who cancels a $650 per night reservation gets the same penalty as you who hosts at $20 per night.....where on earth is the fairness in that! 

The suggestion of yours for it to be a nights hosting penalty would certainly be more fair and I would support any push to introduce that.

You understand that there has to be a rule structure here but, my wish is that the cancel button should somehow be less accessable. It should be a lot harder to actually cancel a booking both for hosts and guests. I am not saying remove it all together, there should be some mandatory mediation steps to work through before simply hitting that button......Steps like....

Can this reservation be moved to other dates? 

Can a money offer be made to save this reservation?

If this cancellation proceeds there will be a monetary loss, do you still wish to proceed?

But you are right Chris the penalty does seem unfair for you!

Cheers......Rob

[Rob6844]

The fairest approach ( which unfortunately is not possible under Airbnb current rules) is to have the same cancellation penalty apply to both sides. If a host decides to cancel, then the guest should receive the same penalty that the guest would have to pay if they cancelled. And why does Airbnb get to keep the penalty, not the guest who was cancelled and has to find another place at the last minute?  Am I missing something?

[Grant236]

yeah confusing.

[Pardeep2]

Can they take the fee is you haven't made any money? I.e says it comes from your next pay out, what if there are no further pay outs??