Changes to Instant Booking: No more 3 penalty free cancelations?

Answered!
John5097
Level 10
Charleston, SC

Changes to Instant Booking: No more 3 penalty free cancelations?

Hi everyone!

Has the IB cancellation policy changed?

 

Two days ago I wanted to cancel a reservation with one of the three penalty free cancelation but that was no longer an option and I got this new screen instead. The only option for penalty free was if guest indicated they planned to throw a party, or something was broken and needed to be repaired, which would include documentation and still blocking nights off. 

Last time I did this it was a different screen with different options, and host could simply click on "space not suitable for guest" and would cancel and open the nights back up. It also showed how many penalty free cancellations host had left. 

The AirBnb canceleation policy also claims that host using IB can use up to 3 penalty free cancelations that includes space not suitable for guest. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022/can-a-host-cancel-a-reservation-without-adverse-consequence...

Can anyone else verify if this is a new policy? Perhaps in early stages of rolling out. I didn't see any announcements or recent post. Apologies if this has already been announced or some bug on my listing. 

The good news is that I was able to reach Customer Service, super host number, and customer service rep was excellent, reached out to guest who canceled on their end, (but next day tried to rebook again, and same CS agent took care of that one also) So I turned off IB and have had several bookings with much better communication. 

Just wanted to give fellow host a heads up to check their settings. You can click on cancel guest and if this screen pops up you may not have same option to cancel guest as before.  Also if you click on "Guest wants to cancel" you can send the guest a request for them to cancel. CS told me to do that from now on. 

Anyone else seeing this new screen? 

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! 🙂 




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1 Best Answer
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I've always called Airbnb when I've needed to cancel an IB, so I've never seen the options that come up when you do this yourself. Airbnb still count this towards your three penalty free cancellations though and yes, if you have to cancel the same guest twice, even if it's for the same listing and dates (so basically the same booking), they will still count that as two out of three of your penalty free cancellations.

 

I cancelled an IB once explained to the guest why I was not willing to host him. He just booked again. I cancelled and explained again. He booked a third time. I was not about to waste all three penalty free cancellations on one idiot so managed to persuade him to cancel from his end. Ten minutes later, his girlfriend booked from her account...

 

Some people really can't take no for an answer 😞

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34 Replies 34
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I've always called Airbnb when I've needed to cancel an IB, so I've never seen the options that come up when you do this yourself. Airbnb still count this towards your three penalty free cancellations though and yes, if you have to cancel the same guest twice, even if it's for the same listing and dates (so basically the same booking), they will still count that as two out of three of your penalty free cancellations.

 

I cancelled an IB once explained to the guest why I was not willing to host him. He just booked again. I cancelled and explained again. He booked a third time. I was not about to waste all three penalty free cancellations on one idiot so managed to persuade him to cancel from his end. Ten minutes later, his girlfriend booked from her account...

 

Some people really can't take no for an answer 😞

@Huma0I'm just seeing this now. Jeez what difficult guest! I blocked off the nights after second cancellation and turned off Instant Book. 

This is very rare for me. I've managed to keep making adjustments and improvements to the listing and booking process to practically eliminate any misunderstandings. I think this one was a third party booking from travel agent as part of a travel package.

Occasionally I get a guest who didn't read the listing at all. I'm honest and upfront with all my guest. Its much easier to do in person. So far they haven't marked me down in the reviews. Although I would be fine with that, as I have to honest, and pretty good at explaining things. 

I also wanted to start another topic about communication when vetting guest. My experience is that I would be lucky if 50% of my guest bothered to respond to question within 24 hours. About a year ago ABB started bombarding guest with reminders and other spam, and I noticed a sudden change in communication. 

You would think it was younger guest causing the most stress but for my listing that hasn't been the case in general, especially after making adjustments and updates. 

I've been doing this two years and have made tons of adjustments. Its part of the process. Thanks so much for chiming in and sharing your experience. After guest cancels they should only be able to request to book. 

Although I think its impossible to 100% weed out problematic guest. Most guest love having all the info up front. I'm reassessing booking process again with this info, although plan to make a slight adjustment to the listing. Usually little changes go a long way! 

@John5097 “My experience is that I would be lucky if 50% of my guest bothered to respond to question within 24 hours. About a year ago ABB started bombarding guest with reminders and other spam, and I noticed a sudden change in communication.”

 

Generally, communication has gone right down hill. I’ve noticed over the last 6 m or so, it’s gotten much worse re guests not reading listing, house rules, or responding to questions. My IB question leaves nothing to the imagination - crystal clear. Yet 9 out of 10 bookings arrive without the information I ask for. It’s  beyond frustrating. 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@John5097 @Colleen253 

 

I also noticed that communication has really gone downhill. 

 

When I was still hosting short-term guests, there were always the problems you describe. With long-term guests, 9 times out of 10, the communication was very good.

 

That has definitely changed a lot recently. I had put it down to the pandemic. Since that started, so many guests ask for extra discounts, which was not the case before. Perhaps the communication has nothing to do with that though and has something to do with Airbnb bombarding guests with too much info, or something else altogether. I just don't know. What I do know is that I've never experienced such a level of bad communication from potential long-term guests as I have in recent months.

@Huma0 Many hosts have chalked this up to the pandemic, and report worsening guest behavior.  For me though, (knock wood) overall, my guests have been as great as ever. I think there is another element at play. I puzzle over why my IB guests are not responding with answers to my IB question and I have to chase the info. Even experienced guests are generally taking longer than ever to respond to any communication I send them. 
@John5097 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Colleen253 

 

I have always been a bit wary about those IB questions. Many guests do not answer them (and this has always happened in my experience), but it's not just non-communicative guests. I've had great guests with great communication that, when asked, told me they never saw them.

 

On the other hand, I've had guests who have obviously seen them by the way they phrase their messages to me (literally answering the questions point by point). So, they must be visible, right?

 

I am guessing they are visable, but in a way that it's easy for many guests to miss them, i.e. not obvious enough.

@Huma0 My IB question asks the booking guest to provide directly to me the full names of all the other guests, as Airbnb doesn't share that info with hosts. I'd say maybe 1 in 10 bookings comes with that info included in a message from the guest. And it's not like they misunderstand, and just link the profiles of the other guests, because I rarely get that either/instead. So I know the message is visible, for sure. How visible is the question.

@Huma0 I agree that the pandemic has had a dramatic change. My thoughts on it are that people had to start taking more control of their own planning, but then that led to a new normal, and then some taking advantage of the opportunity. Although even 6 years ago I was shocked at how little people read on social media when I created content as an admin and got to see the statistics which shows exactly how many people click on something. Even back then "memes" got the most traction, and now we have meme stocks, etc so I already try and get the most important info up front right away including using the captions in the photos. Although, maybe that's not at all why some guest behave the way they do, and I'm surprised to learn that guest can become that persistent, having to cancel them 3 times. Wow! In general, I suspect more guest feel more entitled and in a sense in complete control when they use instant book. Although I think its also a sign of the times and people feel more in complete control from social media. In a way I also like it because it gives me an opportunity for my guest to rate me and my listing based on their own experience, and that is very rewarding. I noticed you have amazing reviews and your guest defiantly appreciate all you do for them. 
@Colleen253   

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@John5097 

 

I think you may be right that sometimes guests who instant book might feel more entitled. I get it because, if Airbnb sells that to you as a quick and effortless way to book a listing and then the host starts messaging you asking lots of questions, it could be frustrating.

 

However, as I host long-term guests, I need that interaction and assurance that my guests actually understand what they are booking in the first place, because we all know that there will be problems with the stay if they don't...

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@John5097 

 


And thank you for your encouragement. Hopefully my previous reviews will keep me in good stead despite the recent frustratingly low ratings from that one guest...

@Huma0 Right, I only require a very brief first message for short term guest. I recently specified guest state how many guest, why they are visiting the area. My impression has been that even experienced guest just for a short stay want a concise message with relevant content. My experience with long term guest has been that a host can't be too careful. Even interviewing each other in person sometimes isn't enough. You have to be very specific. They can be very sneaky! I just had a guest last week who asked it it would be ok to check in after 10pm when their flight arrived. I said sure. (Thinking it would be before my specified check in time no later than 11 pm) But they checked in at 1:30 am and sounded their car alarm and woke up me and the neighbors. I sent a message next morning not to do that again even if it was an accident and haven't gotten a review yet, thankfully. I thought of waiting and just giving them a bad review but think its better to communicate, as it could have been an accident and they were perfect guest except for that. And from now on I'm not accepting guest with check in after 11pm. I'm still not sure if I'll keep using instant book or not. In general I think its the host responsibility to establish the boundaries and communicaiton. If I was renting long term I would let guest know right away that there would be more on an interview process to make sure it was a good fit. For short term guest, as I mentioned, I think most of my guest are just too busy and might not respond within 24 hours, as they might not be getting notifications, or try to respond to the text notifiaction and forget they have to log into their account to respond to a message. Anyways each host has to figure out what works for them. For me just providing concise relevant info has worked and so far I've never gotten below a 5* for communication, although I don't make any effort at all to reach out to them during their stay. 🙂     

PS.. wanted to add I wasn’t sure if it was the guest car alarm or neighbors, and included that in the message. It happened again with the next guest as well but at 7pm.  Anyway I find that direct communication works well. Some people are just clueless when it comes to oppressing locks and such. 

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@John5097 

 

Yes, for short term guests, when I was still hosting them, I wanted to know:

 

- Who they were travelling with

- Purpose of their visit

- Check in time

- That they'd read and agreed to the house rules

 

I still want to know the above (except for the first point as long-term guests are usually solo), but I definitely want to know more about them and I also make sure to double check they've understood a few things on the listing just in case, e.g. are they aware that this room faces a busy road or that it's on the top floor? I am sure this has avoided a lot of unnecessary stress and deterred guests who would have been a bad fit. 

@Colleen253yes, same here, ..... so time-consuming...

@Huma0 I had that happen recently, though not on IB. Guest was incredibly persistent and over 3 days I had to field requests and inquiries from him, his girlfriend and an associate of theirs. What I can’t understand is why people would so badly want to stay somewhere they’re not wanted? Especially in a home share situation!