We have three properties on Airbnb and have been going for about 2 years. In that time we have had one cancellation the entire time. Now within the space of 10 hours, we have received three cancellations (2 for the same property). We have a flexible cancellation policy. Is this just coincidence or something about this time of the year? They do all have valid reasons so even if we had a stricter policy i’d probably still refund them all.
Probably a coincidence. When I first started out hosting , I had 2 cancellations in a month. Ive had 4 cancellations so far in 4 months of hosting.
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More and more guests are “window shopping” these days since Air now has the “no fault 24 hour cancellation policy”.
“Oh, that’s cute, Book It.”
“Oh wait, this one’s cuter – book that one too.”
“Here’s an even better one, let’s stay there!”
“Pick one, Honey. OK, we’ll go to this one I just found – cancel the others…”
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I would be skeptical of the guests “valid” reasons. From deaths, to illnesses I always ask for documentation and it’s funny how their excuses disappear. I have strict cancellation because I need to protect my business.
While I appreciate that many Airbnb policies are worthy of cynicism, the 48-hr penalty-free cancellation doesn’t work as you’re describing.
Guests can only use it up to 3x per year. Their service fee isn’t refunded if the reservation overlaps another. I imagine that curbs the sort of abuse you’re suggesting.
I’ve actually found the grace period helpful. Since most of my guests IB, it allows me to send my confirmation/welcome e-mail with house rules and offer them an easy cancellation if they find a mismatch.
@jodes It sounds like you had some correspondence with each guest, so I’d just chalk it up to serendipitous timing. If they’d just cancelled w/o a message I might get in touch with Airbnb to ensure it wasn’t a screw-up with their reservation system.
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I agree 202020202020
I had three cancellations a few years ago - all for the same period of time (I think a five day stay?).
- Someone booked it - several weeks in advance. They cancelled
- Someone else then booked that exact same period. Then cancelled.
- Amazingly we got another booking for that exact same period again.
I can’t remember exactly but I think that it all happened within about half a day - certainly no longer that 24 hours. Because the bookings were all in advance, they were given refunds, no problem.
Then, almost immediately after the last cancellation, someone booked not for just the five days but for the two days on either side so it was a better deal than the previous three.
Weird but it never happened again so despite my inclination to invent some pretty clever conspiracy theories, it must have been coincidence.
I also agree. This makes the “oh I clicked on the wrong thing/new to Airbnb/I don’t know what I’m doing” blather mostly moot.
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