Reservations from South Korea

Zacharias0
Level 10
Las Vegas, NV

Reservations from South Korea

Anyone else dealt with the new reservations coming in from South Korea? Apparently if you have a Strict Cancellation policy their government allows the guest to cancel at any point during their stay and they can still get 50% of the remaining days of their reservation back. I've turned down two reservations like this so far in protest. This rule would apply for most any cancellation policy if you read the fine print.

 

Not sure how many hosts can absorb that cost if the guest cancels randomly and you've set a 3 day minimum for your place. From my understanding the can choose to stay only one day and then 50% of their monies will be returned back for the remaning days. Now you're stuck with half of what you could have made had you not taken that reservation.

 

Thoughts.

 

 

16 Replies 16
Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

Thanks for the heads up, @Zacharias.  I am always amazed at the fact that this is an international business and we are expected to understand the various limits imposed by other country rules.

Even as a fellow Korean, (my personal opinion is that) this in itself is a good enough reason to refuse to host Koreans. As a host, I would not be willing to accept these terms. Therefore, I would refuse to host any guests where an unfair (to hosts) cancellation policy is shoved down my throat.

 

If both parties cannot agree on the terms, there is no deal. Very simple!

 

If AIRBNB wants no discrimination, they should practice what they preach and respect their own rules and guidelines first. 

If we decided to not host these guests its not discrimination. Its simply not in our best interest to host them. The terms of the deal have to be favorable to both parties. Telling a host its there way or no way is not how business is conducted.

Actually it would be.  Youre denying them due to the country of origin, which is expressly prohibited discrimination on the platform.


To be exact, no one would be denying them just because of their nationality, the reason would be because of the cancellation terms that would be applied (because they are Korean). If they insist on special treatment it is within my right to say no. I will stick to the strict cancellation policy REGARDLESS of nationality and if my decision as a host is not respected, I have the right to refuse to host anyone who wants a flexible cancellation policy against my own decision.

 

It's my home and ABB clearly states that hosts are solely responsible for choosing their own prices and appropriate cancellation policy among the choices given to us. (Strict/Moderate/Flexible) 

 

I expect my choice/decision of cancellation policy to be respected.

Kati18
Level 7
Vancouver, Canada

Yet another policy that hosts don't get informed about until after the fact.  Luckily I don't have a strict cancellation policy for my listing but who's to say that it won't filter down eventually to the rest of us.  Or some other government doesn't agree with a policy of Airbnb so they challenge it and Airbnb appeases them.  

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

I am affraid flexible cancelation policy will soon be the only option on ABB

 

Alexandre205
Level 9
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Great news for serious hosts ...

We've only had bad experiences with guests from South Korea until now, here in Vietnam.

So often we've received uncomfortable or unclear requests, usually about "local girlfriends", meaning prostitutes, which we've always declined. The same when they don't answer to any of our questions.

But whenever we host them, we can't behave as we do with the rest of the world. They perceive everything differently, either because of language barrier or because of their habit to only interact with Koreans. We never feel comfortable.

They look very surprised to have to meet human beings before checking in, indeed. Probably because there are many hosts allowing self check-in to any guest and closing their eyes as long as they get paid ... 

We've been treated very harshly once by a group of Koreans, and since then, we always have to insist on our House Rules, half of which we've added only for Korean guests, indeed, to protect us. We always redoubt wrondoings until they leave, because we don't live there so we can't check what's going on during theyr stay.

So now it's one more thing, special cancellation rules for Korean guests?

Why doesn't Airbnb protect more hosts instead of giving one specific category of guests even more leverage to worry their hosts.

Why should be feel guilty to be more worried with Korean guests?

Flemming2
Level 2
Almere, Netherlands

I think it is not fair that some countrys like korea get a better position in line with rules in comapring to outher guests. This is not right and airbnb should not allow this. they do allow you to refuse the booking without consequences though. Besides that our experience with guests from korea is not good at all. they ruined a lot of things and also the food they prepare makes the house and everything smell really reall bad. So how do you deal with that. Can you refuse them because of there cooking style.

We were told there were no consequences for refusing - then we find  if we decline these guest requests then our decline rate goes up -  we are then told that if the decline rate hits a certain level our listing will be de-activated. That sounds like a consequence to me.  It's worth checking what is happening to your progress stats. In our region we get lots of requests from South Korean guests and we are not the only host experiencing this problem.

Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

Good catch @Zacharias0 and thanks for the heads up.

Because of this law, it is not discrimination to refuse South Koreans with South Korean rights because of this law. You have a legitimate business reason to pass, you are not discriminating due to race.

We have a similar law in the US in regards to military.

Military can claim "Active Duty" and renege on a housing contract.

I learned to charge them double rent in the first months to cover this risk.

Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

This is so frustrating. I just had to turn away two South Korean guests today (and it's not the first time) because of the stupid policy. It is a shame because they seemed like lovely people, but I just can't risk the chance of a last minute cancellation and I also don't want to accept because I disagree in principal to this change. There should be one rule for everybody, not different rules for different nationalities - that is discrimination. A host should also have some control over their own cancellation policy.

 

In addition, when Airbnb says you can cancel penalty free, that's simply not true. A listing where I have had mostly long-term guests, and therefore not that many bookings so far, slipped below the 88% acceptance requirement because I declined a South Korean guest. The Airbnb rep told me that was not a penalty, but clearly it is if it carries a risk of being delisted!

 

I think this policy is not helping, but rather hindering, Korean guests because a lot of hosts who would have previously accepted them are turning them away. I used to host lots of guests from South Korea, but the only recent ones I've had were a couple living in New Zealand, so the cancellation policy wasn't an issue in their case.

 

 

Airbnb should never have agreed to this.

Ryan111
Level 6
New York, NY

This is still happening.  I just had a notice.  I have asked them to respect my policy and not the gov't opf S. Korea and that they will not ask for a refund if I accept.  

Dariusz6
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

I understand Airbnb point of view and why they do it. It is better to comply with Korean government rather than being kicked out from the country completely and loose business worth hundreds of millions. Your protest declines of Korean guests is not important to Airbnb and negligible loss.