AirBnB new cancellation terms

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
wozzaturner
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AirBnB new cancellation terms

Post by wozzaturner »

I’ve had an email from AirBnB saying that from the beginning of April they are changing their guest cancellation terms. The new ‘strict’ cancellation terms will give all guests an automatic right to cancel within the first 48 hours of booking (in case they change their minds). This ‘grace period’ applies to everyone booking as long as it is at least 14 days before check in date.

AirBnB claim this policy proved popular with guests during a trial, and has the potential to increase bookings.

I’ve already had to compromise on my cancellation terms with AirBnB in respect of a 50% refund for cancellations made within 30 days of check in (our normal cancellation term is for full refund if cancelled at least 60 days before check in unless we can re-let the dates. We’ve not found our terms to be a deterrent, and on the one occasion we did have a cancellation with short notice, we were able to re-let some of the dates and refund the guest most of their fee.

Anyone else bothered by this AirBnB change? I might de-list with them as not many bookings coming through their platform for our property.
Igor
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Post by Igor »

My first thought was that it was sensible to give people the ability to change their minds within 48 hours after making a booking. In most cases, it would do no harm.

Then I saw other people's comments about this on a facebook group and see that the fear is that some will manipulate this:
We book several places, then meet with our friends to choose which one we stay at, then cancel the others.
If that became common, it would become a real mess.

For us, it's ABB's "extenuating circumstances" cancellations that really bite. They can happen on the day of arrival, and suddenly you have no booking and no payment. For this reason, we only leave a 3-month booking window for ABB and we block out dates that are likely to get booked in other ways.
Igor lives in Fort StaySavr, a secret location high in the mountains
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

Read this re cancellation but not especially concerned .. as 48 hours isn't too long.

If people contact through my website and say they want to book I will normally reserve my cottage for 48 or even 72 hours for them .. so this is similar..

The extenuating circumstances cancellation is of more potential concern. (I too, only make my cottage available for up to 3 months.)

My main gripe with AirBnb is that they appear to have contributed to a downward spiral re local pricing.

If I was relying on them for most of my bookings I would probably have given up by now.
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

I still need to follow up, but I had a recent 3 week booking with airbnb, but the guest was the type who complained about everything, and she decided to cancel a few days into the stay. Airbnb refunded her for the remaining days, and I was left short of over £1000.
COYS
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Post by COYS »

Igor wrote:My first thought was that it was sensible to give people the ability to change their minds within 48 hours after making a booking. In most cases, it would do no harm.

Then I saw other people's comments about this on a facebook group and see that the fear is that some will manipulate this:
We book several places, then meet with our friends to choose which one we stay at, then cancel the others.
If that became common, it would become a real mess.

For us, it's ABB's "extenuating circumstances" cancellations that really bite. They can happen on the day of arrival, and suddenly you have no booking and no payment. For this reason, we only leave a 3-month booking window for ABB and we block out dates that are likely to get booked in other ways.
It pains me to say it but this is exactly what my daughter & both my nieces ‘friendship groups' do, & they have absolutely no qualms about the places that don't make the cut & lose out. I'm certain I've mentioned it before but for the twentytothirtysomethings (per my aforementioned family members) it is entirely acceptable. If the option is there they will & do use it despite my protestations from the other side of the fence.
For the many reasons I detest the OTA takeover of our industry, this kind of penalty free cancellation lucky dip is right near the top of my hate list.
This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires.
kg1
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Post by kg1 »

I suspect it was thought a good idea to allow 48hrs so guests could get flights organised but for us holiday let owners it's another paid in the proverbial. If you are letting out your backroom on a nightly basis then a 1 or 2 night cancellation is not going to bother you but if it's a week mid summer it will have a significant impact. I bet they would give us a 48hr grace period to cancel a booking if a better one came along.
waterwitch
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Post by waterwitch »

My first thought is, guests will book, they then find out as they always do they could save a packet booking through my website, then mess me around by cancelling and booking direct.
KAB-Dennis
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Post by KAB-Dennis »

I find them not to be all that host friendly. They are more guest friendly and when it serves Airbnb too. But we do get a significant amount of rentals from them a huge shift here from TA. We were involved early on when TA/Fliokey went from Realtors only here to owners as well. Now that TA is charging fees it is six of one half dozen of the other.

BUT
They are touting rental taxes here in my state as they feel that their fees arent enough for guests to pay here as they are fearing stricter guidelines in urban areas and so being pro-tax they look good in the eyes of the gov't officials. More BS!!!
Kate
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KAB-Dennis
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Post by KAB-Dennis »

Kyreniagirl
Very interesting Kyreniagirl never thought to send them a link with pricing after they booked .... I guess Airbnb is not all that smart

Igor
What would ABB's "extenuating circumstances" be.

Nigel - what basis did ABB refund the guest. I find this disturbing especially for a three week booking. I spell everything out on my listing so a guest would be hard pressed to cancel for an unfufilled expectation but I would venture to say there could be many other reasons.
Kate
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barbersdrove
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Post by barbersdrove »

ive had loads of bookings from them but what winds me up is I offer really good value for money for a high quality product and they are continually telling me I should reduce my prices to get more bookings.
A cream cake a day keeps the wrinkles at bay:)
wozzaturner
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Update

Post by wozzaturner »

After much back and forth with ABB, I requested a shift onto their super strict 60 day cancellation scheme - which mirrors my own Ts and Cs and those we apply with other sites inc HomeWay, TA and Booking.com. They declined to move us onto these saying we did not qualify for those terms. I have therefore delisted our cottage from ABB and deleted our profile. Since then ABB have been pestering me by email and phone to discuss alternatives with them, which I have refused.
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GRL
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Post by GRL »

If people are looking to book loads of places then cancel them they will have to pay for them all up front so that may reduce this practice a bit. For genuine bookers it is no bad thing - when we went to Ireland we were split between booking accommodation first then risking not getting a ferry or vice versa - this would have helped (although we booked direct in the end).

However getting money refunded due to extenuating circumstances is more of a worry.
Joanna
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Post by Joanna »

I don't think paying up front will deter people - if they pay by credit card and then cancel 48 hrs later it won't make it onto their next bill.
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
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