Am I the only one, or has others experienced a drop in views and bookings since Airbnb rolled out the new cancellation options? To me, they seem "disguised" as ways to help our business, but in reality, I think they just make @Airbnb more like a booking site for independent hotels.
For those of you that do not do long-term stays, we have two options: 1. No refund or 2. Full refund if cancelled more than 30 days prior to arrival. For the average host, in an area without minimum stay requirements, 30 days' notice is plenty of time to book at least a few weekends and recoup some of the revenue lost. Depending on the discount you offer, you may even make more money renting for a few weekends instead of an entire month. For those of us that are in areas that require a minimum 30 day stay, a cancellation only 30 days out equals a month without revenue. Which can be catastrophic, as the majority of travelers looking to book a monthlong stay books 3-12 months in advance. Every time I have had a cancellation less than 90 days out, I have had at least a month without revenue.
At one point, VRBO had a 60-day cancellation option and I decided to give it a try. I had two different people reserve one of my apartments, one 12 months in advance, one 10 months in advance, both in peak season. During that time, I turned away other prospective guests including requests for 6-12 month stays, only to have them cancel exactly 60-days before check-in. To say this is unfair would be an understatement. This left me no choice but to use a "No refund" option, although in my listing it does state that I will return any amount I am able to recoup through rebooking. Unfortunately, this does not impact the fact that Airbnb has penalized my listing for not having a flexible policy.
Is there anyway we can get Airbnb's attention to discuss the possibility of having other cancellation options? Maybe something like this:
- 100% refund if cancelled 6-months before check-in
- 50% refund if cancelled 3-months before check-in
- 25% refund if cancelled 1-month before check-in.
Or an option to purchase travel insurance for the guest. It is not very expensive, and I would be happy to purchase it so the guest would not be at a complete loss if they had to cancel.
As much as I would love to offer last minute cancellation options, it really is not fair to hosts who hold month(s) off the market, only to have the guest cancel at the last minute, and 30-days out is "last-minute" for a 30+ day stay. But please stop penalizing my listings for not being able to offer a hotel cancellation policy for long-term stays.
Thanks for your thoughts and feedback. And if @Elisa or anyone at Airbnb is reading this, thanks for giving the idea some consideration.
