New Strict Cancellation Policy - Boo!

[Ryan63]

This new strict cancellation policy is really lousy for my business, and I'm pretty unhappy about it.  

My vacation home is booked almost every night, and nearly everyone who books it does so months in advance.  For the few reservations that guests have canceled, the rates I could charge for those canceled nights were only about 50-60% of what the canceling guest paid.  

It only stands to reason that a more forgiving cancellation policy will result in more cancellations, and reduced revenue for my business.  

Airbnb evidently sees an upside to this, and maybe it's a good thing for the whole community, but it's only bad news for my business.  Since I've been marketing my properties outside of Airbnb, this decision brings me a step closer to removing my listings and offering my property through other channels, where I can set my own cancellation policies.  

Shouldn't Airbnb have an obligation to poll its hosts before making decisions like this?  If that happened, I certainly saw no such participatory outreach. 

Infuriating!!!

[Allison2]

(deleted)

[Michelle838]

If the host were given a reciprocal option to cancel that would be more fair and would work in most circumstances. It would still tank me, but wouldn't be so awful for everyone else. It really seems to me like hosts should have the ability to set their own policies, or at least choose from a range of options including one with serious enough penalties to cause guests to work hard to avoid cancelling. I always recommend my guests consider trip interruption or cancellation insurance if they express concerns about the strict policy. 

[Fred13]

 I see your point more clearly, especially after reading your other posts above. In fact, you give me some ideas on how to better structure my 'Direct-Booking Refund Policy'. 

[Lisa723]

@Ryan63, off topic, but any tips on how you manage to charge your current rate and keep your place fully booked would be very welcome.

[Ryan63]

@Lisa723 In general order of importance, I think it's a) the fact that A-frames have never been more popular; b) We really sweat decor and photography; and c) I try to post heavily on Instagram.  The latter is by far my largest source of bookings.  I'm not relying much at all on Airbnb searches within my town and region.  

[Lisa723]

@Ryan63 gosh, instragram never even occurred to me. You are clearly doing a much better job of marketing your properties than I am. Our vacation rentals are lovely and get uniformly excellent reviews but I have trouble keeping them full at a reasonable price. I'm envious!

[Donald28]

Im curious how photos posted on instragram end up getting you bookings on airbnb? Is instagram really "a thing" with adults? I mean, I've heard of it and am a member but never use it. I'd love to know how I can use it to get more bookings if you care to expand Ryan. Feel free to msg me if you'd rather not post publically. thank you

[Tami29]

can someone explain to me what is the exact meaning of this new strict cancellation policy? does that really mean that guests can cancel their reservations 48 hours before arrival?

[Lisa723]

@Tami29, no. It means that after they make the reservation they have 48 hours to change their mind and cancel with a 100% refund, unless it's within 14 days of the check-in date.

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#strict-with-grace-period

Personally, this is fine with me. But as others have said the ability to cancel up to 7 days in advance and get a 50% refund is problematic for owners of vacation rentals, which generally don't rent on short notice, especially in high season. Hopefully the 50% penalty will be enough to deter guest from making reservations carelessly.

[Tami29]

thank you @Lisa723 🙂

[David126]

I see the issues but wonder if ABB is the place for you?

Giest can always cancel and if they know how the system works get a full refund citing Extenuating Circumstances.

I would never assume that I get to keep the money no matter what my policy is.

If you are using a Time Share then you need to make sure that their conditions are back to back with AirBnB's otherwise you have a major exposure.

[Lisa723]

I think some people are misunderstanding the policy. Guests only get a full refund if they cancel *within 48 hours of booking _and_ more than 14 days before arrival.* So basically they have a two-day grace period to change their mind after booking. (I think this is fine.) Otherwise they get a 50% refund if they cancel up to 7 days before arrival. So, @Ryan63, if you are able to rebook at 50% of the original rate you are whole.  I don't much like this either but I can live with it.  A 50% penalty would deter me, as a guest, from making reservations I don't fully intend to use. And I think the original strict policy did deter some guests. But it would be better to give hosts the choice!

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#strict-with-grace-period

(As an aside, I always refund cancellations up to the amount I am able to recoup with rebooking. I think that policy is fairer to both guests and hosts, and I wish Airbnb would officially offer it.)

[Ryan63]

It still doesn't work for me.  The rates I can charge 14 days out are a lot lower than what I can charge months out for the same nights. 

I disagree with your parenthetical comment.  The guest who knows you're forgiving with cancellations is more likely to book impulsively.  For a property like mine that's booked almost every night of the year, that reservation/cancellation takes money from my pocket, and prevents another guest who would have paid full price and actually followed through from staying where they wanted to stay.  

[Lisa723]

@Ryan63 if you only refunded up to the amount you got from rebooking, how would that be money out of your pocket? You would come out exactly even or better; the guest would pay the penalty if you couldn't get the original rate, but wouldn't be penalized if you could. If you couldn't rebook at all they would get nothing.

[Louise0]

@Ryan63  But Ryan, the point is that you would have got those lower rates anyway.   For a guest to cancel under this policy and leave you with only 14 days to fill the spot and no cancellation fee, then the guest must have booked 16 to 14 days before arrival.  Given that you must have already had these dates vacant (otherwise the guest wouldn't not have been able to book them, hold for 48 hours, then cancel without penalty) as you yourself stated, you would only have ever have received a lower 'last minute' rate for these dates in any case.

I'm getting the impression that you, like many who are commenting on this issue are misunderstanding how it works and think that it means a guest can book you place and then cancel 14 days before arrival and the host receives nothing.   This is correct in one limited instance, i.e. a booking made 16 or 15 days before arrival.