OMG the increased number of Cancellations!!!

OMG the increased number of Cancellations!!!

We had possibly 2, maybe 3 cancellations in 2 years of hosting.  Now since the change in policy - we've had 10!! This is how flaky the guests are - the last one - "oh, I double booked, so since we can't stay with you for 3 nights we're cancelling the one night we did book." at exactly the LAST POSSIBLE DATE before penalizing (we're moderate and they held that date for almost 2 weeks - how could they double book anyway?!).  Anyone else seeing an uptick of cancellations? Anyone keeping track of how this is impacting their business?  If so, what metrics are you using?  

11 Replies 11
Allison116
Level 10
Walnut Creek, CA

I’m not sure what change in policy you are referring to. Did you used to have a strict policy and then change to moderate?

 

I have a moderate policy and I don’t have any cancellations. But my calendar is only open about 45 to 60 days in advance so I’m not taking bookings that are three for five months down the road and I think that can make a difference.. Not sure how far in advance you allow bookings.

Marzena4
Level 10
Kraków, Poland

So far, I haven't noticed any increase of cancellation rate here, on Airbnb, @Alice-and-Jeff0. Since the beginning I have been on moderate and altogether had 1 or 2 cancellations in almost 2 years.

But I have played a bit with cancellation policies on booking.com and there is a whole bunch of guests who will always cancel on the last possible day to avoid charges (right now I am on a forthight cancellation policy and think for such a small place like mine it's best). 

Talking to some of my guests I learnt that many of them use both the platforms, so I reckon that more and more will behave like that here on Airbnb as well. Give them the tools and they will use them accordingly.

// "The only person you can trust is yourself"
Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @Alice-and-Jeff0,

 

I hope you are good.

 

Thanks for starting this discussion and asking how others are experiencing this. Just out of interest are your findings based on the same amount of bookings as previous years?

 

Lizzie


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@Lizzie - Thanks for reaching out.  Actually, reservations are down - we're down to 81% booking when we were closer to 90%.  We will make less money this year than last.  Every time someone books and cancels Airbnb is right there asking me if I want to offer a 10% discount so I can get a rebooking. Since I use Smart Pricing, they keep lowering that price further and further in the hopes of attracting someone (they are cultivating a client base that will wait until the last minute - even the Airlines are keen to this crappy behavior and start raising the prices closer to the date). Airbnb has actually "suggested" that I lower my price FURTHER than the first year we started when we had lower prices to get reservations and reviews.  Recently they informed me that other hosts in my area were booking at $15 less than my property... so for less than $25/night (we charge on average $40 - where on earth can you stay anywhere for $40?!).  And yet, they want to offer me $300 to suggest other hosts.  So they need new listings (read: apartment renters in search of a few bucks until their landlord gets wise since subletting is illegal in NC!) and they don't need experienced, quality property owners. 

 

Allowing guests to cancel penalty free is not much unlike allowing for a reservation to be held for 72 hours for multiple guests to pay. There is no incentive for a guest to keep their reservation when Airbnb allows for duplicate bookings (yep, this has happened to me twice recently).  They make 3-4 reservations and then go back and see how much sh!!t they can get away with the host.  Since we have IB on, this has happened three times to us this last month alone.  One guest required an early check in (2 hours early) and since we couldn't guarantee it (we had other guests), even though we tried to provide them with multiple solutions - they cancelled after holding the reservation a week.  Another wanted to bring a cat - I'm allergic - and then tried to claim it was a therapy cat (thanks for that, too, Airbnb!) - and when I suggested that they couldn't leave the cat alone cooped up in our guest room unattended and uncrated (becasue of my allergy) and suggested from a therapy perspective that the cat should be with the person who needed the comfort - yup - after 2 weeks - cancelled.  Finally, the guest made multiple reservations and asked all kinds of questions about what to do and see in town then cancelled when she "realized" she had double booked.  How on earth does Airbnb allow that?! So she got a solid 6 hours of my time talking about the best things to do in town, how to get around, and to settle details about their visit for nothing after 2 days of communication.    

 

Guess, like so many Sharing Economy operations, the only people getting paid are the ones with the investment capital because it absolutely is not the people doing the work.   #disappointed

@Alice-and-Jeff0 Im looking for another topic and stumbled upon this but wanted to comment airbnb, uber lyft etc gig economy they want ppl to refer people to list there homes but dont be foolish the more that you refer the less people will book w you because that just means more supply, more undercutting and less$$$ dont be fooled

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

Not here, except for the usual 'We broke up' and/or medical emergency once-in-a-while cancellations. True @Allison116, the more advance the bookings the more cancellations will occur, stands to reason.

BTW, what change in policy?

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Alice-and-Jeff0

yes, cancellations increased since ABB changed his policy, but it is still not so terrible as at booking com. (but will be)

I have quit booking com because of that, there I had 50% of bookings cancelled

Edwin57
Level 10
New York, United States

I don't think is the policy, is the season more people are spending more time with thire family, in my case tomorrow is thanksgiving I have a guest that's bringing thire parents for New York, I think is just down like the stock market it goes up and down

Another cancellation.... this time for a 6-day reservation in January made and cancelled within 48 hours.  The people she's coming to visit informed her that they would not be comfortable driving in our neighborhood - can you say RACISM?!  So she gets to cancel penalty-free and we get nadda for 2 days worth of communication.  There is nothing in our reviews or ratings that indicate our neighborhood is unsafe but she can just bail because her local friends are jerks who haven't kept up with the changes in Durham.  I could NEVER cancel a guest for this reason.  NEVER!   This is not a situation of being "uncomfortable", because she has apologized and indicated that if it weren't for her friends, she would stay with us.  So I've reported her for racism, but that probably won't do anything. 

Ana846
Level 2
Winston-Salem, NC

I am new at airbnb so I started with a Flexible cancellation policy. In one week I got 7 resevations and 3 of them were cancelled, one even after the check-in time. Every time Aibnb sent the message: "we are sorry to inform you...but don't worry, this does not happen often..." Not really? That is 43% of cancellations in just one week!. I am sorry but I had to move to Moderate. Then, reading carefully the full conditions, I found the Flexible Cancellation Policy abusive. People can cancel 24h. prior for a full refund and less of 24h for just one night of penalty, even though, Airbnb sends you a link pressing you to refund even that single night. Depending on the lenght of the reservation cancelled this is almost a joke. For instance, I got a 3 weeks resevation for January under that Flexible policy. That means that that guy can get my listing blocked since the end of November until January 2 and pay nothing. But even, he can wait until January 3 and pay one night. And more, he can stay that first night and get the full refund for the rest. For Real? Airbnb, are you kidding me? Many of us only have one property to rent so, if this guy decides to do that, (which now I consider completely likely) he will cause a big loss to me as I my property will be out of the market to be book in advance and once the month has started is pretty unlike to get any decent/long term booking. And you will even dare to send me the link to refund the poor little guy even that single night!. This starts to smell to me like Uber. Airbnb is getting a millionaire bussiness taking advance of those people with not many options, which are us.

Susan151
Level 10
Somerville, MA

With smartbnb's new metric tool, I can now verify what I have "felt" about the increase in cancelations.

 

2016 [6 months hosting]: 2 cancelations

2017: 8 cancelations

2018: 14 cancelations

 

Each of these represents a loss of income since each and every one of them reserved the room well in advance at the suite's premium price. To be honest, I think they all had good reasons to cancel. It is possible that about 4 of them are good liars.

 

When the moderate slipped to five days before for a refund is when I saw the numbers start to slide up.