Changes to Instant Booking: No more 3 penalty free cancelations?

[John5097]

Hi everyone!

Has the IB cancellation policy changed?

Two days ago I wanted to cancel a reservation with one of the three penalty free cancelation but that was no longer an option and I got this new screen instead. The only option for penalty free was if guest indicated they planned to throw a party, or something was broken and needed to be repaired, which would include documentation and still blocking nights off. 

Last time I did this it was a different screen with different options, and host could simply click on "space not suitable for guest" and would cancel and open the nights back up. It also showed how many penalty free cancellations host had left. 

The AirBnb canceleation policy also claims that host using IB can use up to 3 penalty free cancelations that includes space not suitable for guest. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2022/can-a-host-cancel-a-reservation-without-adverse-consequence...

Can anyone else verify if this is a new policy? Perhaps in early stages of rolling out. I didn't see any announcements or recent post. Apologies if this has already been announced or some bug on my listing. 

The good news is that I was able to reach Customer Service, super host number, and customer service rep was excellent, reached out to guest who canceled on their end, (but next day tried to rebook again, and same CS agent took care of that one also) So I turned off IB and have had several bookings with much better communication. 

Just wanted to give fellow host a heads up to check their settings. You can click on cancel guest and if this screen pops up you may not have same option to cancel guest as before.  Also if you click on "Guest wants to cancel" you can send the guest a request for them to cancel. CS told me to do that from now on. 

Anyone else seeing this new screen? 

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays! 🙂 

[Brian2169]

@Colleen253 @John5097 @Huma0 

I'm guessing that there's a psychological reason. We've had guests who appeared to be unenthusiastic, moaned about price and amenities, then suddenly became determined to rent at any price after being rejected.

I think that advertising experts discovered this a long time ago and there may be some fancy name for it.

I see a lot of junk advertised at absurdly inflated prices, with a note that " Due to an extremely limited supply, we can only offer one (or two or three) per customer!"

I'm pretty sure that most retailers would be perfectly happy to sell an entire truckload of their "limited edition Santa plates" to anyone willing to pay.

I wonder how often this strategy causes customers who think they are cheating the system to make multiple orders under fake names.

[Huma0]

@Brian2169 

You might be on to something. When I have said no to a guest, they either accept it straight away and move on (had one of those last night) or they persist and persist.

I think it could also be a case that some people just cannot stand not getting what they want.  Even if they maybe didn't want that thing as much in the first place, being denied it just makes them determined to have it and 'win'. These personalities have very thick skin. It's not that they feel rejected, quite the opposite. Whether you want to host them or not is irrelevant. The only thing that is important is what they want. I try to run a mile from these types. They are guaranteed to ignore your house rules or any boundaries.

[Huma0]

@Colleen253 

But they do, unfortunately! Last week I ended up having to report and block a guest. She tried to IB but couldn't because she had a negative review. Her communication was also truly awful. She kept messaging and I kept saying no. Then she tried to request book using a fake profile. I realised it was the same person and called Airbnb. They told me to block and report her, but both her profiles are still active.

Thank goodness for that one bad review of hers (which also pointed out that several people were using that profile) because otherwise she might have IBed my listing.

[John5097]

@Huma0 @Colleen253 @Brian2169 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Sarah977 

That reminds me, I grew un in a B&B and my mom recently told me of a guest who was asked to leave because they were making too much noise. This was long before the internet. They went straight to the Visitors Center and booked though them, showed back up and left a tee shirt on the bed as a parting gift that said "Party Naked." So some guest just wont take go away for an answer. 🙂 

[Huma0]

@John5097 

Wow. No, really. Wow. Not sure what else to say to that.