new Airbnb terms - watch out for what happens on 12/7/2016

[Annette33]

So today we all got the email by Airbnb announcing their new terms, to be implemented on Dec. 7.  It's very long and needs to be studied in detail. Just skimming over it,  I see Airbnb staying clear of stuff and putting more and more (legal) responsibilities on hosts, such as : "If a guest requests a booking of your accommodation and stays at your accommodation, any agreement you enter into with such guest is between you and the guest and Airbnb is not a party to it." 

But what struck me immediately is the time frame for implementing the new terms :

1.) Existing hosts (registered before 10/27/2016, which is most of us) will not be able to accept the terms before Dec. 7

2.) We will have to agree to the new terms before we can access our accounts.

That means: to remain online with our listing and access it without interruption, we all MUST accept those new terms exactly on Dec. 7 : before is not possible, and after means you cannot access your account until you accept. That spells disaster to me, website crashing, etc.. which genius has thought this out?

Here is a copy of that section:

[Bridget0]

What they are saying, badly worded, is that the first time you access your account on Dec or afterwards, you will be asked to agree to that. If you don't agree, you will no longer have access to your account. Meaning if you log in Dec 5th, nothing is different. If you next log in on Dec 9th, you will be presented with the agreement that must be agreed to or your account access will be disabled.

Super badly worded!

[Annette33]

@Bridget0 , just read it carefully, please: It's not a question of bad wording.  You read it as, "If you don't agree, you will no longer have access to your account." But that is not what it says! It says, "you will have to agree before you can continue access to your account". That has nothing to do with what happens if you disagree, that comes later. It does mean to me that if I monitor my listing and I want t stay up to date and access my account without interruption, I have to do it on 12/7.

[Sabine42]

i'm more worried about this part

"If a guest requests a booking of your accommodation and stays at your accommodation, any agreement you enter into with such guest is between you and the guest and Airbnb is not a party to it." 

[Alan76]

This just means BUYER BEWARE! the buyer meaning the host.  This will not change anything,  AirBNB does not now help hosts who have ben pilfered and or robbed and they wont afterward either.  The "Host Guarantee" is empty language.  If you read it carefully you will see that they will not do anything to help you at all.  AirBNB is a good money maker for most non-criminal hosts, but DO NOT expect their host guarantee or anything they say they will do to help to come to any fruition.  All AirBNB does is let YOU meet ME, use my house and exchange money for us,  with a little remaining in their palm.  Nothing more, nothing less.  They are not in business to be our lawyer, babysitter, or arbitrator. They are a clearing house for our money.   After you make your reservation, you are on your own. Most of the time this works out well.  For the times that it doesn't, well, that's just a cost of doing business with AirBNB.  I speak from experience.

[Sandra126]

If that is the case, will it mean that Airbnb will no longer be able to refund guests without asking hosts for their side of the story as it is nothing to do with them anymore? Since this is the agreement. Or is ''staying'' not an agreement?

I read about this from time to time on here, there is one example just a little down the list today.

[Gretchen2]

where can i find the new terms? when i log in they are nowhere.

[Annette33]

@Gretchen2 , I got it in an email 11/1 from Airbnb. Here is the important link:

https://www.airbnb.com/terms?eluid=1&euid=fa09a6af-8fee-85c9-c2bd-0fdd514aa5f5.

you might also want to lok at this:

https://www.airbnb.com/home/terms-of-service-event

[Astrid-and-Suraj0]

Hi everybody, I ask u and myself: Who can cope with this big amount of Data? Who read or has time to read everything there? In the summery ( I think the 2nd link) u see, that nearly all areas have been updatet or changed.

Does anybody here know, if the prices have changed? As far I know they took 18 % per stay, some directly by the guests some indirectly from the payment to the hosts. As Airbnb is the world biggest hotel without owning a sinngle bed 😉 the company earns a lot with us, guests and hosts.

And as this is a community page of Airbnb, they can read and answer directly to my question. So: Dear members of the company, would it be possible to inform within a more clear summery of the  main changes?

Thank you very much,

Asterioid

[David126]

Actually I can see positives if AirBnb are cutting thelselves out of the loop, all the issues we have seen about Extenuating Circumstances, guest being allowed to bring animals etc etc goes away as it is an agreement between you and the client.