Experiences with an early checkout under a moderate policy?

[Daniel1598]

Hello all,

Just wondering if anyone has experienced an unexpected early checkout by a long-term guest. For example, 20 days before the end of a 4 month stay due to a work relocation, moving into a newly purchased home, etc. If a moderate policy is in effect it looks at though a 50% payout occurs for the remaining nights. Does anyone have insight on when to expect payout(s)? Also, any other good-to-knows in this type of scenario?

Much appreciated!

Daniel

[Elena87]

@Daniel1598 

This booking would fall under the long-term cancellation policy which supercedes your regular choice as the term is over 28 days. 

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#long-term

[Daniel1598]

@Elena87 It slipped my mind. Thanks for the reminder.

[Alon1]

@Daniel1598 

I don't accept any long term bookings on Airbnb for various reasons. 

   However, I do have quite a few Airbnb guests who do end up staying longer term, that is extending beyond the initial booking more often than not extending as non-Airbnb guests, i.e. privately. 

The complexities of the Airbnb Cancellation policies is one reason I won't accept longer terrm bookings; moreover, Airbnb tend to bend over backwards to override even Strict Cancellations.

  (For this reason also I won't accept bookings many months down the line. There are too many variables involved, aside 'extenuating circumstances' - which may or may not be genuine -  I found that such persons want to park a booking, but are quite likely to change their minds closer to the date of arrival, having blocked my calendar for several months... So thank you, no thank you.)

However,  my principal reason is that I am a live-in-host. (It seems you are also?)  Therefore, I would not commit to strangers without gauging compatibility. 

Thus I don't set weekly or monthly discounts on my Airbnb listings. Consequently, I invariably find that those who express interest in longer term raise the question of discount; and my response, let's see how we get on during the initial period of booking. Moreover, there is the incentive of extending beyond the Airbnb booking without Service Fee. So cheaper all round. 

Lastly, I've read quite a lot of CC posts with monitions of taking bookings from 'locals'. Suspicions abound for a variety of reasons as can be read on these posts, one common one is fear of housing 'homeless' people. (This fear seems to be quite prevalent in the USA).

In London, aside turning down local Party seekers by rote, I welcome locals, especially longer term inquiries given many are what I term 'Inbetweeners', jobs, housing contracts & renovations, etc.

  I offer a flexible and negotiable arrangement, rarely involving even lodger agreements (which are not worth the paper they're written on without a solicitor stamp).

All in all, it means longer term persons, following their Airbnb booking, pay up front into my bank account for the period they wish to extend. This works very well, because they often will extend cautiously, and then find another extension is required. 

For me all this is quite natural, because I'm not exclusively an Airbnb Host. I also take longer term bookings from a website called Spare Room, where 'short term' tends to mean 1 - 3 months. But again I generally won't commit for more than a month initially. -- However, I am getting less and less lodgers from SR because many seem to have gravitated to Airbnb for their searches.

[Oad0]

@Alon1  I would be very weary taking guests privately. In Most places, after 15-30 days guests are considered tenants, and require court eviction which is a Long process. Many such posts on YouTube. 

[Alon1]

@Oad0 

Looking at your blank profile, I can only wonder what country you live in?

I venture to guess it's probably USA, and certainly not the UK otherwise you couldn't possibly have made this comment.

[Ron-And-Carol0]

ABB is looking at the best interest of the business- which on balance should be in ABB, Host and Guest best interest. It’s a difficult balancing act, especially when you consider national, State and regional laws and customs, individuals, ever changing laws and rules and more. 

If my City, market, we can not rent or advertise for less than a 30 day rental. If we do violate the law the fine is $5,000 USD per day. That has put a chill over our business. We are adjacent to Los Angels which is adding taxes and fees and restrictions to laws effecting ABB like renting. Honestly it’s a sad stage of affairs. It’s an example of local governments taking away property rights. It alludes to what I mean by what ABB faces in terms of a complex market landscape. 

ABB with this landscape In the back of his mind then has to take into consideration the balance between host and guess interest.  

The ABB terms of service agreement and sundry related documents have become  extensively long and complicated in response to the legal landscape ABB is facing. From the host standpoint they have become incomprehensible and onerous. I no longer understand the offering from Airbnb. I get a change in terms of Service followed by another one and another one. I haven’t got time to read through the documents and Airbnb says it’s all or nothing. I can understand why Airbnb says that but the flipside of it is that as a host I am becoming much more uncomfortable with the relationship.

From my perspective Airbnb has done one thing that makes me very comfortable and which is the primary reason I use Airbnb and that is their insurance policy. That protect me against liability in some aspects of Damage from guests. 

The insurance to do something in Airbnb could use to offset the risk of guest cancellations or  shortening of term by long-term guests. Airbnb could institute a insurance charge to the host to cover these risks. When you look at the large scale macro they should be able to do this because on balance things should work out logically. It would also be incumbent upon the host To select the insurance option. It could be a very small percentage of the rent depending upon the experience factor that is under written in the insurance.

 We have had a pristine record of excellent guests and a fully five star rating, with one exception. We had one guest who is absolutely horrible. They clog the toilets and close the bathroom to flood by putting baby wipes in the toilet when it stated on the package do not dispose of in toilets. They also Did other things which were distractive and inconsiderate of the hosts property. That experience caused us to become much more cautious and to decide to only rent to people who had prior recommendations. Now it seems that Airbnb is trying to reduce the ability of hosts to make judgments about the guest  they host.  As you all know when you rent your property in which you live to others you are aware of other risk factors and you want to be very comfortable with the situation. Any reduction in my ability to make judgment calls about perspective guess as another layer of concern to me as a host. Once again I think that an insurance policy could go along way towards  reducing my fear factor and at the same time I still would like to know that I am not hosting somebody who could become a major problem downstream. In particular it is noteworthy that under the law once a tenant is over 30 days they become a month-to-month tenant by law and may require a court evection if they overstay and stop paying. This could mean that a host could have in non-paying guests who could be very distractive or disruptive in their space for anywhere is from one month to six months or even longer if they chose to fight you in the courts; and, you would have huge legal costs in order to evict them. Airbnb needs to take that into consideration in order to continue his current business model successfully.