That’s interesting. How do you steer inquiries to your own site?
My first thought on this whole thing was the whole “Pre existing” clause that most insurance policies seem to have. The “terminal” being the pre existing.
I have read this entire thread. Very informative. And agree with previous comments on how thorough your OP is.
Good to see that your persistence has paid off and they refunded you the $700 after realizing the bogus claim factor. Ridiculous that it took so much of your time though.
Also, thank you for bringing this issue up. I signed in today to ask a question about a potential guest and her questions and inquiry about Cancellation Policy. Will do that on another thread.
Hi Jenneeden. I called 415-800-5959. But as I said above, I don’t think I ended up getting the payout because they agree with me that the guest is a con artist. They said they were paying because they listened to the tape of my phone call, and the rep clearly gave me the incorrect information. (This is my interpretation obviously not a direct quote.)
This might just be a coincidence but since this incident, however, I notice that our placement is now awful. As a superhost, I would normally see our ad in the first few pages for a search in our city, but now you have to click through 8-9 pages worth of ads to see mine. I thought superhosts were supposed to get better placement but there are a lot of non-superhost listings before us. We also don’t have instant book turned on, which I know hurts our placement, but some of the adds before ours don’t have instant book, aren’t super hosts and have weaker reviews than we do. I don’t get it.
Maybe they are now also giving better placement if you have a flexible cancellation policy? (Mine is strict.) Another topic I guess.
Airbnb does not place Superhosts higher in searches. However, guests can search with a filter for Superhosts.
Here is the Airbnb page detailing the advantages of Superhost status.
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/830/what-benefits-do-superhosts-receive
Here is the Airbnb page explaining search ranking.
Thanks, Ellen. That’s interesting because an Airbnb rep once told me that Superhosts should generally get better ranking/placement than non-superhosts. In our case, I can’t think of any reason why our ranking/placement has suffered. We haven’t cancelled on anyone, have nothing but 5star reviews, we have not changed our photos or ad and we respond to inquiries immediately.
I’m also not sure if Airbnb is going to be 100% transparent in detailing how their rankings work. If they admitted that they give people who have instant book and a flexible cancellation policy better placement they would piss a lot of us off and they’d probably be fielding more calls and complaints than they care to handle.
I just started a new thread on search ranking inspired by your query
Day before yesterday, in a moment of irritation about a pending IB reservation that had no photo (actually it did–was a pic of a cat), I turned off IB. I was immediately taken through a set of questions and warnings before the change went through. I was told my ranking/exposure would suffer and that I had 24 hours to change my mind before I got penalized.
Later in the day I mulled my decision over and turned on the darned IB again. The pending reservation never came through anyway.
So my point is, they don’t hide the fact that you will be demoted if you turn IB off. However, among my listing, which is always the first or second or third one to appear, I see a few others that are not IB nor Super Ho 
And some don’t have 5 solid stars. Maybe because there just aren’t that many around my area?
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That’s interesting! I do have a feeling IB helps your placement but who knows. If you don’t have much competition, it’s a moot point. Where I live, there are hundreds of choices so the difference between being on page 1 or 2 or page 9 or 10 is massive.
I really don’t want to turn on IB for that same reason-- this is my house and I’d like some control.
I’m guessing I don’t have that much competition because I offer a bed in my living room for just one guest. Although it says at the bottom 300+ listings available.
My big fear with IB being on is that I might not be able to intercept someone trying to bring a baby, a dog or their girlfriend. Or a third party sending someone. All of the above could happen anyway I suppose.
I ask people a bunch of questions before I accept their reservations. I used to be more relaxed about this, but after a couple of bad experiences I do it all the time. I’ve had a couple of people who cancelled a booking request in the middle, so I guess not everyone likes it. Or it could be a coincidence, I suppose. Anyway, I couldn’t do that if I had IB turned on.
This includes asking them to confirm that they have read the listing carefully and accept the house rules. Which in theory should be redundant.
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Just had this happen due to a flight cancellation - the guest cancelled their stay for tonight. That is definitely a drag for the guest, but I still think it is completely unfair to hosts to overwrite your cancellation policy. If it says 5 days minimum notice, it means 5 day notice, period. I always am willing to refund people if I am able to get another booking, but why should we have to be the ones to take the hit if not? Sigh.
@cabinhost is right - we as hosts should not have to act as guest’s insurance policy, and hosts should make informed decisions about choosing a place with a cancellation policy that matches the level of risk they want to choose (or get travel insurance of their own).
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What was the extenuating circumstance? And what proof did the guest provide? Just curious.
And of course, sorry to hear about the cancellation. Yes, that policy blows, but I’ve said so elsewhere.
Her flight was cancelled. Which is legitimate! I feel for her! But Airbnb should provide her with travel insurance that does not come out of the host’s pocket and void the host’s cancellation policy if they want to offer “extenuating circumstances” exemptions.
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I often get replacement bookings. Here’s hoping for the best.
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Oh dear. That’s an extenuating circumstance too?
Well, yes. In any case, overriding the cancellation policy whenever they feel like it just makes a mockery of the cancellation policy. I mean, seriously. A flight cancellation?
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So now they consider flight cancellation as an “extenuating circumstance?”
It seems like Airbnb is hell bent on turning the Airbnb experience into something similar to booking a hotel room, even though it really is nothing like that. A large hotel will often let someone cancel past the cancellation deadline because they have a lot of rooms and, who knows, someone may walk in off the street to stay last minute.
I don’t know about you guys but I’m located sort of in the middle of nowhere and I have never gotten a last minute booking. I think the most last minute I’ve ever gotten is 3-4 days before check in, so for me, a last minute cancellation literally takes money out of my pocket. I’m dismayed to see Airbnb trying to build relationships with the guest at the expense of us hosts. S
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Not for bookings cancelled at short notice. In this case, there was literally no notice, if I understand correctly.
@barefootNM This was a cancellation on the same day as the booking? How many days was the booking for?
I recently had a guest not turn up, because she missed her flight. And she cancelled the reservation. She had a “horrible” experience with an Uber (she didn’t specify). I’m fortunate that she didn’t contact Airbnb about it. Who knows, they might have considered the horrible experience an “extenuating circumstance” too, and then I wouldn’t have got anything.
She cancelled the booking a few hours before check-in time due to a cancelled flight. I’m sure it was legitimate and I think it is lovely that Airbnb doesn’t want her to be stuck paying for a booking that she can’t keep due to forces outside her control. I just don’t understand why they want ME to pay for it since I had nothing to do with it and my cancellation policy is 5 days. It’s true, it makes the cancellation policy a total joke with zero actual protection built in for hosts.
It was just for one night so not the end of the world, and I do sometimes get last minute bookings. But this is the first time I’ve been hit with the “extenuating circumstances” line from Airbnb and I am pretty frustrated that there seem to be more and more ways to get screwed as a host.
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Those hosts who cater primarily to tourists probably don’t get replacement bookings. Those of us who get one nighters on a drive through town do, or at least I do. Just last week a fellow cancelled on Saturday afternoon around 3 pm literally within minutes I had a replacement booking. One that quick is unusual but not impossible. Barefoot is just up the road from me about 4 hours away and we get similar guests and at least once that I know of the same guest. LOL.
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Hi @KKC,
Ok, I see. Yes, I’ve had last minute bookings too, but only very occasionally. I explicitly disallow same day bookings, so last minute here means next day. I wonder if I should relax that policy - since I don’t have IB it isn’t a big deal - I can just say no.
I got a fast (partial) replacement booking once. The guests cancelled their (I think) 5 day booking. It was within the 5 day window, so I got some money. And they didn’t try to get the money back. I think I got a booking request for 2 of those 5 days within half an hour of the cancellation, and that couple did end up staying.
Wow, looking at me swapping stories like an old sea salt…
But regardless, it’s disturbing to hear the increasingly wide range of reasons for which Airbnb will refund the guest all the host’s money.
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