Changes Needed in Cancellation Policy

[David1668]

Many guests cancel reservations beyond the cancellation date for reasons that don't rise to the standards necessary to receive a refund; perhaps their plans change, they become ill but did not take insurance, or they're unhappy with the property. The current cancellation policy allows no recourse.

I owned a 10-room bed and breakfast for 10 years. When guests had to cancel, I would immediately put the room back into inventory and if it rebooked at the same rate, refund them. The idea of taking money from two guests for the same room made me sick. I just couldn't do it. I think AirBnB should require the same of its hosts.

Also, AirBnB doesn't allow for advance cancellations once the reservation has begun. For example, if a guest arrives for a one-month stay but after arrival their plans change and they have to leave for two weeks, if they cancel immediately, the property is not blocked until their departure but becomes immediately available. This greatly reduces the host's opportunities of re-leasing it.

I'm leaving a property midway through a three-week stay and have an understanding host who will block the property on the calendar for the nights between when I cancel and when I leave, and who will refund me if he rebooks it.

This should be standard practice at AirBnB. There is no reason it shouldn't be.

David

[Sarah977]

@David1668  Guests agree to  the  cancellation policy when they book. It's a contract. If you book a non-refundable airline ticket and need to cancel, you don't get refunded just because the airline resells the seat.

Yes, it's great for guests if a host is willing to refund if they can rebook. But your suggestion that Airbnb force them to, in violation of the cancellation policy, no, hosts have enough of Airbnb interfering in their business as it is.

And Airbnb would have no way of knowing if a host was able to rebook, as many hosts list and book on multiple platforms or through direct bookings.

[David1668]

Yes, hosts could book it on another site.  But AirBnB, I feel, should do all it can to eliminate cancellations as an income stream. I did this as a job for 10 years, and I found the idea of taking money from 2 guests for the same date sickening, and just would not do it. Guests almost always have a good reason to cancel, and I don't want to intensify their problem by keeping their money if I'm able to rebook.

[Colleen253]

@David1668 

Sorry, but I think all of us should retain the right to choose. If I choose to re list the dates, get them booked, and choose to refund the guest who abandoned said dates, great! If I choose not to, also great. My choice. I absolutely do not want Airbnb requiring me to do anything. 

“I found the idea of taking money from 2 guests for the same date sickening, and just would not do it.” 

I’m sure the majority of hosts on this platform feel the same way, myself included. That’s beside the point. 

[David1668]

I'm glad you can read minds. I have no idea how most other hosts feel about this.

[Michael5689]

My parents were booked for a month of March 2020 for $7k.  Cancelled in late February for a non-refundable.  They are in medical profession and got scared about the pandemic and decided to cancel.  I let the host know the situation and asked her what to do.  She asked me to cancel so I did.  It was such a whirlwind that I didn't think of the consequences.  I got back about $1k automatically due to the existing extenuating circumstances policy (before all the Covid rules kicked in to offer refunds.)  Based on the calendar and reviews the host rebooked quickly and filled almost every night that my parents had rented.  The host still only gave me an additional $2.5k back after initially agreeing with AirBNB to give $3.5k back.  The listing is still up but they haven't rented or had a review since April 2020.  Would love to know the back story if AirBNB told them to pay me back or they weren't allowed to rent again, but I'll never know.  They actually are just down the street from where I live and it takes my patience to not go knock on the door every time I walk by.

[Debra300]

@Michael5689,

The dates on a calendar can be blocked for a number of reasons in besides there being a reservation, e.g., buffer between reservations, repairs/renovations, use by family/friends, the host just doesn't want guests.  The host that provided the additional discount to your parents was being very generous, and went above and beyond to actually follow through on a promise.

I've said this in many posts, "Whenever you are traveling away from home, no matter the distance, destination or duration, you should always purchase travel insurance or use a credit card that offers the coverage that will protect your travel investment."

[Michael5689]

I'm not assuming anything on them having other bookings.  Our rental was for the entire month of March.  The host got one review in March and required at least 1 week rentals.  The host also got another review in April where the guest commented that the they liked it so much they stayed for more than a month.  The host doubled her income.

[Michael5689]

And this is behavior I would NEVER do to a guest.  I have always refunded at LEAST 50% of a reservation even beyond the free cancellation date.  I've always refunded 100% if I could replace the income.

[Sarah977]

@Michael5689  Well, hosts are just a cross section of human beings, and as such there are the easy-going or hard-nosed , greedy or generous, understanding or uninterested, some are all business, some are warm and compassionate, etc. Some hosts are very dependent on the income, others not. 

Personally, I am not dependent on the income, I just listed my spare guest room years ago because it sat empty most of year unless friends or family were visiting, thought it would be great to make some extra income and meet and host travelers from far-flung places. 

I seldom experienced cancellations and have been closed to booking since March 2020 due to Covid and sharing my kitchen with guests, so haven't had to deal with all these Covid-based cancellations.

But I have been easygoing with refunding- I even offered to refund guests a couple of times for the first night they missed due to overbooked flights or one guest's flight had engine trouble and had to turn around shortly after take-off. (My guests were also very nice and refused the refund offer, saying not to be silly, it wasn't my fault, I shouldn't take the loss, plus the airline put them up in a hotel o'nite)

All that said, I wouldn't judge another host harshly for sticking firmly to their cancellation policy- it's their prerogative and it is a contract the guest agreed to. The ones who have no qualms about double-dipping wouldn't be people I would choose as friends, but how they choose  to run their business isn't for me to take them to task for.

You also have no way of knowing if a host drastically reduced the nightly rate in order to rebook cancelled dates, so while it may seem that they are massively double-dipping, that may not be the case at all. Depending on the type of listing, they may have staff on salary, cleaners, gardeners, handymen, etc, who they have to pay regardless of whether they are booked or not, or risk losing them entirely. 

So unless we are privy to everything about another host's situation, which we aren't, it's not really fair to judge them for having an "It's just business, sir" attitude.

[Michael5689]

@Sarah977 I agree to some extent, but I forgot to mention in the original post that this was a house that my parents had stayed at the previous year and spent multiple thousands of dollars at at that time so they were repeat renters.  We even had discussions with them that this would be a yearly thing, so it wasn't even a one-time business transaction.  They had a potential good stream of easy tenants that didn't even max out their space that they could count on for a month of income each year. 

I can understand people acting a little weird in March of 2020 and every person for themselves mentality, but sorry, but I still will judge them for this.  🙂  There were problems with the decision from both a moral and business point-of-view.  An offer of rebooking at another time with the double-dipped income as a credit never came.

Anyway, we've gotten really sidetracked, but I agree that AirBNB should do something to make it easier to pay somebody back if nights get rebooked.  It's something I've always offered to my guests, but it's actually gotten a bit confusing with all the fees and such how much I need to refund some guests to keep them whole.  They did recently add a "Give guest a full refund" button after cancellations so that's a step in the right direction. I can understand technically from a programmatic viewpoint that it might be hard to implement an automatic refund if a rebooking occurs.

[Sarah977]

@Michael5689  Well, I'd say it wasn't actually very good business sense to not be at all accommodating to good repeat guests  who might become regulars. I guess money clouds reason for some people. 

I've also read many guest posts where the host said they would refund them if the dates got rebooked, then reneged on that offer, and to me, that is just really rude and unethical. And cowardly. The hosts are trying to avoid an  argument in the moment by promising something they have no intention of actually following through on, or once the money is in their account, they can't bring themselves to part with any of it.

Some of the things the hard-nosed hosts were saying on this forum back when Covid first reared its ugly head and took everyone by surprise were shockingly inhumane to me. Like that guests shouldn't be refunded at all, even though there were lockdowns, cancelled flights, and everyone was being told to stay home to try to stop this pandemic. The hosts would justify this by saying this was their livelihood and the booking  was play money to the guests- if they could afford to book a vacation in the first place, they could afford to lose the money.

Well, that just isn't true- some people save for years to take the vacation of a lifetime, lots of people were laid off work or lost their jobs entirely, they might have really needed that money.  Funny thing is, the hosts who were screaming the loudest were the ones who were overextended- they had several or even 20 properties and couldn't go a month without bookings, they had never come up with any plan B in case they didn't get bookings for awhile.

I had a real hard time drumming up sympathy for hosts whining about having to sell "some" of their properties. I did have sympathy for hosts like single moms renting out a spare bedroom to make ends meet, who were distraught about whether they'd be able to pay their mortgage or lose the only home they had. 

[Michael5689]

Yeah sorry I should have made the point about them being repeat guests in the original post and it just slipped my mind.

[Michael5689]

@Sarah977 I also agree on being human with people. I had a last minute covid cancellation just this month.  I only kept a bit of money to give to my cleaner since she's a sole proprietorship and counts on the money and gave the rest back to a sick guest even though I couldn't rebook.  I've even done that in a case where a guest got too scared by a particularly bad snowstorm.  In our case we do need the rental income to keep our place but a small hit here and there isn't too bad.  It is really tough for the ones that really depend on the income.  Either way I think if host's recoup most or all of the income it should be more encouraged and mainstreamed by Airbnb to induce those majority repayment.

[Dale1098]

EXACTLY! WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THE GUESTS AND TRAVELERS WHEN WE CAN! MAJOR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE CANCELLATION POLICIES AND USING IT AS FREE INCOME STREAM IT IS INSANE. AIRBNB IS ALLOWING IT! THEY KNOW IT IS GOING ON! 

[Dale1098]

DOUBLE DIPPING AT ITS FINEST AND AIRBNB DOESN'T CARE BECAUSE THEY ARE MAKING MONEY OFF OF IT. IT IS LITERALLY INSANE. THEY HAVE BEEN MAKING MILLIONS OFF OF DOUBLE DIPPING MAYBE BILLIONS!