Are guest cancellations on the rise?

[Robin4]

I don't know if this is actually related to Covid but in my first 3 years of hosting I had 2 guest cancellations.....in the last 3 months I have had 6!

Once upon a time a guest was profusely sorry if they had to cancel their booking and went into great detail as to why it was unavoidable. Now I just get a one liner, "We have had to change our trip plans, sorry"!

In 2 of these instances there has been no message whatsoever from the guest, just the Airbnb generic email response.....'Reservation cancelled by guest' no explanation, no reason, it's as though the booking never existed!

Fortunately this has not affected us greatly as other guests have stepped up and grabbed most of the cancelled dates but, I bring this up because....are Airbnb making it too easy for guests to simply change their minds? 

Some of these cancellations are within a week of the reservation stay and yet Airbnb sends me a message........

 

And I am the one left holding the bag, the guest doesn't have to give an explanation, an acceptable reason for their cancellation, all they have to do is hit the cancel tab......simply as that, they get a refund.

It's no good suggesting that Airbnb take guest cancellations a bit more seriously because that might offend the guest, but over the last few years guests have discovered that an Airbnb booking is a totally flexible arrangement and doesn't in actual fact commit them to anything. 

Once upon a time a reservation cancellation had to relate to 'extenuating circumstances' ......not any more, a guest can decide they can change their mind  and bingo, their money is returned to them.

Is this fair?!

Cheers.........Rob

[Gillian166]

I've got some guests who have recently rebooked TWICE, with zero communication with me. the only reason i'm accepting the reservation changes is because they are past guests. 

I'm wondering if there's a problem on the guest messaging side that guests don't know how to message us? that makes no sense, i've been a guest a dozen times, it's not hard to send a message, but still,  when guests no longer feel they need to reach out to us personally, are there other explanations? 
@Robin4 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Robin4 You seem to believe Airbnb are to blame but you have several choices for your cancellation policy. If you choose flexible then you will attract more bookings and a higher cancellation risk. We accept that by setting ours at strict we will not get as many bookings but those we do get are safer. You could even give a 10% discount for non-refundable bookings but as the EC policy still applies this doesn't feel sensible to me

[Robin4]

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Mike, my cancellation policy hasn't changed.....it was flexible in 2016 and it's flexible now.  Guests have changed, not my way of dealing with them. If I got a cancellation back then it was because of some dramatic circumstance for the guest which rendered the fulfilling of they stay not possible.

Now guest can cancel if they had a heavy night out on the town and would rather spend the day of the stay in their own bed than come and explore the Adelaide Hills wineries they had booked enjoy! And Airbnb let them!

You are right, I do believe Airbnb are to blame because, if I cancel a guest reservation I am in deep sh*t! I have a notice placed on my reviews that I cancelled a guests booking xxxx days before the stay, I get fined and my calendar gets blocked for the stay dates.

The guest cancels and they get a pat on the back and their payment for that booking refunded...... Can you please tell me where the equality is in that Mike?

Guests need to be made responsible for their actions Mike, just as we hosts are! 

Cheers........Rob

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Robin4 I really don't understand this. You choose to give a flexible cancellation policy and then complain when someone actions it. You benefit from that cancellation policy (because people value flexibility) as people book with you - To then blame Airbnb when someone takes advantage of the cancellation rights they have chosen seems quite bizarre to me.

I have never liked the flexible cancellation policy because guests can see if anything better/cheaper is available last minute and switch without penalty. As such we operate a strict policy and accept we may get fewer bookings - What we don't do is complain about a choice we have made when it goes against us.

If you really believe the guests are changing and more likely to cancel then why don't you firm up YOUR cancellation policy? Airbnb has given you several options to do this.

[Lenore22]

We have noticed a similar trend and I do think it is a change in guests and the overall climate. We've moved from a flexible cancellation policy to a firm policy, as we've started to have trouble filling last-minute cancellations, feeling the need to offer greater discounts to fill them (and sometimes they still sit empty... It's only happened 1-2 times, but that was enough for us)... and it's just super stressful scrambling at the last minute.

If you're bothered by the current trend, it may be time to adapt or revisit your policy. 

[John5097]

@Robin4 

In my experience the cancelation policy that host selects has applied to each cancelation. Mine is Moderate and if guest cancels within 5 days of check in host gets payout for that policy which is first night and half of subsequent nights. Even a hurricane isn't considered an extenuating circumstance. Have you had cancellations where the policy wasn't applied? 

I did try the Flexible policy that worked for a while, but soon enough started getting questions the day before check in if there was a canoe... or if there was rain, found a better deal, or just didn't feel up to packing their bags that day, they would cancel. 

Unfortunately, the world has changed. I only started hosting a month before covid but the Moderate policy used to be two weeks, and now 5 days. People had to become more flexible, work from home, Zoom, which carried over into their travel planning. Major concerts went from 2% no shows to 20% no shows, (that means they purchased a ticket and simply didn't go.) 

I haven't seen any loss of bookings or any complaints using the Moderate so would avoid the Flexible unless host doesn't mind some guest canceling last minute. 

With the high inflation and off season for us there will likely be more of an uptick with cancelations and slower bookings. I had 4 cancelations for the last hurricane and the ones who rebooked were all not as good. 

Other host have also been the worst. One canceled and rebooked 3 times before I used one of my cancellations, and others who don't read the listing at all, ask questions the day before cancelation dead line and break house rules. I find this is just how some people are in general though, and communication and setting expectations goes a long way, or people will take advantage, and its the few who make it more of a challenge. Its just not worth the stress and need to figure out another way to draw a line in the sand. 

[Robin4]

@John5097 

John I am not debating the attributes of the various cancellation policies, as I have said above, mine hasn't changed since I started hosting! What has changed is the current guests abuse of the booking system over those guest of the past.

A deal is not a deal any more......they will only honour it until something better comes along. 

It's very hard to run a business when the company you are putting your faith in keeps supporting the whims of their guest community!

Cheers.........Rob

[John5097]

@Robin4 No worries! 

I wasn't debating merits of the cancelation policy either. I was just stating that Airbnb has always honored the cancelation policy I selected, and mentioned some of them incase another host or guest may also think that the cancelation policy doesn't apply, which in my experience as a host for 3 years, has always applied.  

Some of the recent cancelations, which have been isolated and not related to the hurricane,  were from  inflation, I think, underperforming stock market, retirement funds, etc. I think this is shaping some behavior and guest can be a bit more budget conscience and manipulative. But in general agree that cancelations have become more challenging to manage. 

Both host and guest will likely be more stressed out with economy and inflation. 

It may be different for each host and Flexible may be best for others. In case some other host are reading this, I would avoid Flexible, it also conditions guest to expect flexible policy and as @Mike-And-Jane0 suggested can attract guest who are more likely to cancel last minute. The only time I had a guest request to cancel the night before check in is when I had a Flexible policy. At the time host didn't have option to issue refund so I just said to contact Airbnb, they ended up keeping their reservation, which I didn't expect, as it was an emergency, so now I'm lot more apologetic. 

I'm also finding that young professionals have been the easiest to accommodate. That may all change and thankfully only have isolated issues that involves Airbnb policy, house rules, etc. However I grew up in a B&B and know full well how much stress isolated events can be. 

Wishing you the best! 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Robin4 You say 'a deal is not a deal anymore' and yet with your chosen cancellation policy the deal you offer is 'A place for the night/nights that may be cancelled free of charge up to the point of arrival' Your guests are absolutely sticking to the deal you offer.

[Kelly149]

@Robin4  I don’t know that the guests are different, they’re simply following the allowable steps. I’ve had 2 reservations, as a guest, recently, where I specifically picked them bc they were flexible policy. One, our timeline changed and I canceled. I didn’t apologize or explain, it was all done automatically just like the IB on the front side. This is part of the ‘hotel-ification’ of abb. The second is in the spring and I see that reservation as a placeholder, not a guarantee. If it still works with our schedule then we’ll go. If it doesn’t I’ll cancel. And as such I wouldn’t have booked it without the flexible policy. 
I do agree that abb could have better cancellation options. Hosts should be able to cancel as needed with a certain amount of notice (this is why I always kept my availability to the shortest window). I’d like there to be a host chosen cancel fee ($25/$50/$100 whatever the host thinks appropriate) to account for the PITA factor of making a plan and then changing it. I would prefer something between moderate & strict. 
but clearly abb cancellation policies haven’t been created by/for hosts. 

[Diane275]

I have seen a big spike in cancellations from European and Canadian travelers.  I have a strict cancellation policy (30 days) and there have been other reservations that filled in but it’s definitely increased. I used to never see cancellations - and if they did there were extenuating reasons.  Now I get “don’t want to travel” 2 months before.   Clearly these guests are changing their vacation plans completely.