New '100% refundable' cancellations

[Belinda55]

Airbnb cancellation policy has changed, and is now 100% refundable to guests - this advertised with a large banner on my listing page. Yet I had no notification of this MAJOR change, and am not happy with it. (I am a superhost in Sydney who has been on Airbnb almost 4 years). A call to support confirmed that yes, this '100% refundable' is their new policy, although I cannot recall any notification of this happening.

Now there is NO disincentive for guests to cancel, and with my policy set at Moderate this could happen up to 5 days ahead. This is not acceptable, and I have immediately changed my cancellation policy to Strict - which I suspect will reduce my bookings, the opposite effect to what Airbnb is hoping.

Other platforms such as Stayz and Tripadvisor do not support such policies, and their standard policy is to take a deposit that is forfeited in the case of cancellation. I will certainly be prioritising my listing on these platforms now.

[Amir-and-Ati0]

Some people are just unbelievable! Airbnb is a great platform, it is for both guests and hosts, and Airbnb made a great move to give more flexibility to people. Do people expect Airbnb to have a voting system for any changes to their system? BTW, programmers have much more commonsense than other people, you'd know if you had ever met one 😉

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Amir-and-Ati0

I'm all for flexibility......but it comes with a PRICE TAG! The issue right now is that the hosts take on full reaponsibility and RISK  for allowing travellers flexibilty, while the actual travellers are free to do whatever they want and not pay the price for their actions/decisions. Compare to plane tickets. There are the more pricey ones which are fully refundable  vs. the cheap non-refundable tickets. And I don't know what it's like where you live but where I live, grocery stores do not refund fresh produce, fruit, meat or fish once it has been paid for. Certain items are time sensitive and this should be respected.

Also, I don't know how many programmers you know but my SO Henry is a programmer and even he complains that the ABB page is a pain in the behind to navigate. Henry once told me that there are basically 2 types of programmers - those who program with the user interface/logic/user experience and convenience as their priority or those who program with ease of data and program management & maintence (for the IT people) in mind. 

[Belinda55]

Yes, the new policy puts all the risk onto hosts. Other platforms like Booking.com do allow differential rates depending on cancellation policy. I've put a suggestion forward in the hosts forum that there should be more control for hosts re cancellation settings, please upvote so they will consider!

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/More-cancellation-options-re-new-100-refund-policy/id...

[Doug85]

Hi, can you confirm that Strict means that if I cancel within 48 hours AND within 14 days of reservation date, I can cancel and get ALL fees back?  In other words, this is in fact the Grace Period?

[Belinda55]

@Doug85

There is a new setting that can be selected by (some?) hosts to permit a grace period for 'strict' policies. Then yes, a guest can cancel penalty free within 48 hours of booking, as long as it is at least 14 days from check-in. But hosts may choose not to activate this new setting. 

[Haider1]

Hi Lizzie,

I've been seeing the banner more often recently suggesting that I allow guests a 48 hour grace period (within time of booking) to cancel for a 100% refund. Is Airbnb ever going to consider this accomodation for hosts as well? For example, when I was fairly new to airbnb as a host, I neglected to change my pricing for next ski season and my default rate was $99. On Jan 1st, I had a guest book my place for the next Christmas eve through new years for $700. I'd normally and easily get $2,100 for the same period. Yes, it was a mistake on my part, but this was obviously a guest who knew how to take advantage of these obvious and likely often mistakes. I politely let the guest know that due to my mistake, I needed to cancel. Keep in mind this was a full year in advance and about 1 hour after the booking was made. Airbnb promptly reprimanded me with a stern warning that should I do this again I'd possibly get delisted. And that week was blocked off my calendar.

I think it would be more than fair for Airbnb to extend the same 48 hour cancellation allowance to hosts if we're being asked to extend it to potential guests.

[Karen839]

I totally agree and I have contacted ABB with this suggestion following a very similar incident happening to me last winter. I lost my superhost status, was reprimanded and penialised after I cancelled a booking made within about 6 hours of the booking.

[Tony134]

THIS.  1,000 upvotes for you, Haider.

When you flip supposedly fair policy on it's head, and it's obviously lopsided... and management just looks the other way.

[Zappa0]

@Haidar0 nailed it

[Sean-And-Jenny0]

I understand it is all about the guest at Airbnb and that's great.  The problem is that people who are not sure will hold the spot and shop around making almost impossible to plan for rental income.  It has made it impossible for us to continue and we're looking into our other options.  Our private pay guests 1/2 down non-refundable, up to one year in advance.  We simply can't afford this change.  There should be a way to opt out.  The guest can book the date when they are sure their plans are solid and they have shopped around prior to booking. 

[Tony134]

A few things:

1.  The offer to enable the 'Grace Period' on strict bookings no longer exists.  It's now mandatory! (Horrible)

2. If I am self-employed and Airbnb is 'just a listing service,' how come Airbnb always gets the final say on which cancellation refunds are honored and which aren't?

3. If refunding guests that have made a mistake in booking because they didn't read listing or observe pictures is just "the right thing to do" (customer service Exact Words) why doesn't Airbnb just refund these customers out of it's own pocket as a cost of doing business?

[Sean-And-Jenny0]

I agree 100 percent.  You're in a market similar to ours.  It is competitive.  I guarantee that people who would like to stay at places that are booked will use this to cancel and book elsewhere.  It is going to be a headache all the way around as far as time spent on the site.   The time spent to book a guest, the phone calls to confirm, the moving dates around, and then I'm sure the cancellations.  I've had guests try to book one night just to get our direct contact to try to book outside of Airbnb and other sites.  That could also become a huge problem.  Once the location and contact information is out there is nothing to prevent the guest from going right to the source to save the fees.  I don't want that and get enough of it already if I'm honest.  We are a registered business in our City and take private guests but we would rather use the site.  Why?  It's easier for taxes, booking, advertisement and steady dependable cash flow.  With the addition of this new rule, it is no longer going to be easy and we'll be fielding people all the time.  NIGHTMARE.  

[Lizzie]

Hello @Sean-And-Jenny0, @Karen839, @Haider1,  

Thank you so much  for your feedback here regarding the Strict Cancellation (Grace Period) update.

I wanted to let you know, that your feedback has already been really helpful to the Airbnb Team. We have noticed you have a few additional questions and have raised some specific concerns. In light of this, we wanted to come back and provide you with more information.

We have just posted an update in the Airbnb Updates board here in the Community Center. Please do have a look at this post and if you have any further feedback it would be fantastic to hear it on that topic.  

I hope you find the extra information useful.

Thanks,

Lizzie

[Belinda55]

Thanks for that Lizzie, it's good to know that Airbnb actually reads these posts. But how about some response to the original post regarding having more cancellation options for hosts? I also have a suggestion to that effect in Host Voice, with 50 upvotes but no response from Airbnb in almost a year.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Voice/More-cancellation-options-re-new-100-refund-policy/id...

Thanks

[Rob446]

Just had a Guest cancel because he didnt read the T & C's and relize i didn't take pets.

Allthough the booking is 6 weeks away it was half term week and people wanting to go somewhere in Halfterm have probably already booked.

In reality all my guest could cancel with in 14 days of coming and get a full refund and leave me with £0.

Its a shame this is policy with ABB as everything else with the platform im very happy with.

If i cancel i get penalized, if guest cancels i get nothing thats not right.

Ive spoken to another letting company today who take full payment when the holliday is booked from the customer, if they cancel they only get there money back if the week booked is relet. Host still gets full money minus cleaning fee. 

Come on ABB you need to protect your host who earn you the money more else they will vote with their feet and go else where.

1 more loss through a cancellation and im off.