Another update which will increase guest refund requests

[Mary419]

I’m very concerned to see this new update.

Giving a guest 72 hours to report problems instead of 24 hours is going to make the free stay scammers ecstatic. 24 hours was plenty. Why should a guest get to complain about cleanliness after staying for over 2 days?

After hosting thousands of guests I can give many examples including once when I went to re-clean a kitchen floor for a family who clearly had spilled their own takeout food sauces all over it and then told me the floor was dirty. I’m getting very worried about the future of this business when I see changes like this:

 

[Ryan2594]

I don’t see anything wrong here. 24 hours isn’t enough time to make a complaint. What if you had a guest that arrived on the premises in the evening and checking out early in the morning only to then find something wrong? You do realise most guests are on holiday mode and have trains/planes to catch. Around in my area there are a few AirBnB hosts who have bare essentials advertised which includes towels only for them to later charge the guests for the privilege of using them.

Do you all honestly expect guests to check everything is in working order on day 1? The majority of check in times are around 4-5pm while check out is typically 10am.

Having traveled extensively across hotels and hostels it can take time to pick up on things that should have been working or the place being spotless. The examples given by AirBnB are lame.

Sure, this policy shift is going to be putting more pressure on the hosts but I think it’s certainly needed.

[Debra300]

@Ryan2594,

A large amount of my stays for for two days.  In these types of stay, a guest will have until the end of their stay to submit a request for a refund, and I will have no ability to address/rectify a legitimate issue.  The guest will have a good opportunity to have a free stay.

[Amanda1983]

They should have the first day of their stay to report any issues one sleep and the arrival day! Simple accurate fair! 

[Huma0]

@Ryan2594 

Do you honestly think that if a guest has no keys or other access to a property they have booked that they would be 'too busy' to report it for 72 hours?!

And, if we are talking about cleanliness issues, if it's bad enough to warrant a free stay, it's not bad enough for them to actually notice during their stay but only consider in hindsight?

This is a policy almost DESIGNED for guests scamming for free stays.

[Shelly37]

Absolutely! I have back to back bookings most of the time. Every now and then, I get the cockroach/spider excuse. 

I supply Airbnb proof, with pest fumigation reports to prove that there are no insects as well as urge them to read other guest reviews prior to and after the scamming guest. 

All they need to do is send a photo of a cockroach to get a minimum 50% back after their entire stay. 

I also had a guest say the air-conditioner was broken. After two technicians stating there was no issue, they also got to cancel so they could leave and find somewhere cooler. They were supposed to leave at 10 am, but when I went to the apartment at 10 pm, they were still there scamming an extra night for free. 

All this within the last 2 months! What will the future bring?  Many of my guests stay for only 72 hours!  So ANGRY 😠 

[Amanda1983]

I am so sorry to hear about all of this! But with this policy change I think we will see more scammers. We just had our first attempt his weekend. 

[Amanda1983]

This is really hurtful to guests and all

of this is getting tons of press! I say several tiktok on this as well! 

[Mary419]

So what do you think a host should lose after someone sleeps in the bed and uses the facilities but isn’t happy? Because unfortunately we are talking about people losing all the payout over practically any complaint 

[Connie168]

I do expect a guest to note issues when they arrive. If they can't get into the property, that would be an immediate call to the host.  We've had guests who received the door code but then didn't follow the instructions as to how to enter it. Our On-sight manager goes down immediately to show them how to put the code in but this isn't a reason the host should lose the rental fees.

If a guest walks into the property, they can see if it is dirty, doesn't have the beds as advertised, etc. 

As a host, I'd like Airbnb to support my house rules.  We do our utmost to make sure guests are comfortable.  Too many haven't followed the House Rules - smoking on the property or sneaking extra guests into the apartment.  I have no recourse with Airbnb in these situations.  

Frankly, I don't get why they did this in the first place. If a guest wasn't happy they always had the option to get ahold of Airbnb to voice a complaint.  

[Helen744]

@Ryan2594  the issues that many hosts are struggling with,maybe not you, is that the punitive side of the scenario is way out of proportion and the guests are really not being given the space to talk about positives. A balance would be nice because 90 per cent of hosts are doing a fab job but one mean minded guest aided and abetted by Airbnb ,weirdo zombie review process, who simply will as you point out be gone in the blink of an eye can leaving a ruined business and a devastated host . Who should be 'sucking it up buttercup" . a lot of babies ,people who cannot cope with their own responsibilities are travelling and just assume 'mummy ' is there still. If Airbnb figured out that hosts of two or three years  with many good reviews are professionals. H

[Stephanie365]

So, what you're saying is if a guest checks in at 8 pm and leaves at 10 am, and upon leaving they notice something that absolutely did not affect their stay (how could it if they didn't notice until they were leaving) they should be able to b*tch? 

get over yourself.

[Mary419]

Yes that is absolutely how it works @Stephanie365 but nobody would admit something did not affect their stay obviously 

[Sarah977]

@Ryan2594  I think you are misrepresenting or misunderstanding the way guests are going to use this. So a guest checks in to find the towels advertised weren't provided. Is a decent, reasonable guest really going to try to get their entire stay refunded because of that?  I hope not- that's the sort of thing a reasonable person would simply mention in the review. And I don't buy the "I'm in holiday mode so can't possibly find time to report this within 24 hours."

And it seems to me that a place that doesn't provide what it says they do would have reviews which warned future guests about that. Do guests not have any responsibility in booking a listing with good reviews? If they book the cheapest place in town and don't bother to read the reviews, whose fault is it that they booked there? (Don't get me wrong-I'd like to see crappy hosts removed from the platform).

Honestly, there is only one situation I can think of where this policy is warranted, which isn't particularly common. There are  some good, experienced guests who try to be fair with hosts, understanding that no one is perfect, that maybe the host assumed the cleaner showed up as scheduled but didn't- they try to give the host the benefit of the doubt to make things right.

They may report to the host right away that the place hasn't been cleaned well, or that there are no towels as promised, or the fan doesn't work, but they have a bad, unresponsive host who first of all doesn't respond for half a day, then says they'll send the cleaner back, or someone to fix the fan. The guest, having had great stays before, is patient, yet no one ever appears to clean or bring towels, etc. 

[Mary419]

Sarah you’re spot on with this one possible scenario. I thought of that exact thing too. The fact this scenario exists doesn’t balance the many much worse scenarios that will make hosts feel helpless/used/abused and will unfold using this policy.

Even normal people (as opposed to professional con artists who are out there more than ever) might abuse this new rule. Lots of people wish they didn’t spend so much on their vacation and look for a way to complain at the end to recoup a little cash. They might stay for a few days and then notice dust bunnies are under the bed because surprise dust gathers quickly in some homes due to age/locations. Basically a house may be clean before a person walks in but not so clean after they trudge around in their dirty shoes, eat, use the bathroom and do laundry. Then they start to inspect the cleanliness on day 2. 

And I would argue even then in the one special scenario we can agree on, a full refund shouldn’t be at stake if the guest remained on site for 2-3 nights and stayed waiting before tattling to airbnb. The cleaning fee isn’t the only thing airbnb is forcibly taking back from hosts nowadays. It’s half or all of your rent. Based on sometimes unverified complaints.  

“You stay you pay” should be part of the policy, if anyone is reading this who makes decisions. 

One thing that solves the realistic Honest scenarios is the reviews. If that unresponsive host scenario happens and a guest writes a review about it once that already makes everyone else wary to book. And it makes those who book hyper alert of problems on arrival.  And if it happens twice or more in reviews for a listing then basically bookings would die off completely.

That’s why the main competitor of Airbnb whose name I cannot type out here has never (so far) offered any forced refunds on owners due to complaints. Only genuine fraud would warrant their involvement (meaning a guest shows up and the person who is their host has no right to rent and the house can’t be accessed because it was a fake ad).

Reviews solve the problem for all normal issues of hosts who just ignore guests. 

[Michelle1016]

This is concerning. We are currently thinking of managing all our properties without listing on Airbnb.

We are in an area that is seasonal in the winter.

We finally realized that is more profitable to pay an accountant to oversea our book keeping and pay our local taxes, then pay Airbnb.

There are other free platforms we can use to lease to traveling nurses, seasonal golfer, ball players, hockey and figure skaters. 
We became lazy relying on Airbnb. 
As a guest, I always have time to inform a host of a concern I have. So, 72 hours is quite a large window. 
Thanks for posting this.