Moderate and Non-Refundable Cancellation Policy

[Sephlin0]

Can any of you please explain Moderate and non/Refundable Cancellation Policy?

[Emiel1]

@Sephlin0 

The Non-refundable cancellation policy gives guests a 10% discount on the booking, but then they will never be refunded when cancelling a booking.  Actually guests choose to have no cancellation policy at all (they take the risk of cancellation themself) in exchange for some discount.

The moderate cancellation policy refunds guest according what is explained here:

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#moderate

[Sephlin0]

Thanks for making it clear but how do I apply the non refundable when a guest booked. I clicked the moderate or non-refundable for my listings and a guest booked the other day and it’s only showing moderate. 

[Ann-And-Mad0]

be careful  as if any guest make a complaint  minor  ie they don't like the style of your mattress  airbnb can override your cancellation policy  so guest can check out early and refund your guest the days they have not  stayed... Its all in the small print.  

[Sarah977]

@Sephlin0  Yes, be careful- that non-refundable option may sound good, but hosts have reported here that guests came up with some reason for cancelling that Airbnb bought, and the host wasn't paid.  Some hosts who chose that policy when it was first offered have switched back to their original cancellation policy.

[Sephlin0]

Thank you!  I will watch for that and eventually go back to strict.  Does the host ever win??

[Sephlin0]

Thank you for the advice.  I have had bad experiences this year with guests cancelling last minute after they reserved my properties for months under the moderate policy.  I had switched to strict but just changed it to moderate non-refundable to give it a try.  

Do you think I should switch back to strict?  Have you ever tried the strict policy?

[Sarah977]

@Sephlin0  I've always had the moderate policy myself, and it's never been an issue for me, but I live where people come for a beach vacation- they've already bought airline tickets, booked time off work, etc, so they aren't prone to cancelling.

I guess you could try out the non-refundable option and see how that works for you- you could always switch back to strict if it doesn't. 

Also maybe do a search on this site for other threads on the non-refundable option, I know there are some, to see what other hosts experiences have been. I've been reading lately that Airbnb seems to be overriding hosts' cancellation policies with increasing frequency, no matter what the policy is. 

[Sephlin0]

Sounds good!

 Thank you!!!