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I require specific info when a guests books and give them up to 48 hour to provide. I had always assumed that if the guest objects to providing this info (although it’s clearly stated in my listing) that they can cancel penalty free and get a full refund.
I had a recent booking where the guest was just getting more and more demanding about how clean my place should be. (My cleaning reviews are nearly all 5 stars). She accused a previous airbnb stay of giving her Pneumonia because they didn’t wipe down door knobs, etc. and said that she better not find hairs or dirt anywhere. She also wanted to send me her info via text instead of airbnb. I realized that this was not going to go well and told her so and she requested to cancel. I figured no problem, it had only been a couple of hours. The booking was formore than a week in the future.
Well, Airbnb wanted me to specifically state that I would give a full refund. I told them that they didn’t’ need my permission because it was within the 48 cancellation but they insisted so I looked it up and was surprised to learn that Airbnb only gives the full refund automatically to guests or book 28 days or more in advance.
Has this always been the case or did they change the rules at some point? Seems a bit shady to me.
It has been the case for awhile, although I don’t know about “always”.
“Strict: To receive a full refund, guests must cancel within 48 hours of booking, and the cancellation must occur at least 28 days before check-in.”
But heads-up for everyone- in looking this up just now, I see that they are changing current cancellation policies starting Jan.20, 2025. Taking the 48 hrs down to 24 hrs, among other things. Eliminating Strict policy (this seems to be for certain countries, but bears more investigation).
“are effective for reservations booked on or after January 20, 2025 for listings in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Morocco, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, and Turkey.”
Not just new listings. If you click through on the links for those countries, it says " Hosts who have a Strict policy on any current listings will be converted to Firm, unless they opt out and choose to keep Strict by January 20, 2025.
So this affects all Canadian and other countries mentioned, hosts who currently use Strict on existing listings.
I thought so too but when I looked up the rules, I found this:
Strict
To receive a full refund, guests must cancel within 48 hours of booking, and the cancellation must occur at least 14 days before check-in
If they cancel 14 or more days before check-in but not within 48 hours of booking, you’ll be paid 50% for all nights
If they cancel between 7 and 14 days before check-in, you’ll be paid 50% for all nights
If they cancel after that, you’ll be paid 100% for all nights
You are correct but it still wouldn’t have applied because she booked 8 days from reservation but it’s good to know that info. Thanks.
The info the CS rep gave me covered strict but for long term stays:
Long-term cancellation policies for monthly stays
Your long-term cancellation policy applies to monthly stays, which are reservations of 28 or more consecutive nights. You can choose one of the following long-term cancellation policies:
Firm
To receive a full refund, guests must cancel at least 30 days before check-in
If a guest cancels after that, you’ll be paid 100% for all nights spent, plus 30 additional nights
If fewer than 30 nights remain on the reservation when the guest cancels, you’ll be paid 100% for all of those remaining nights
Strict
To receive a full refund, guests must cancel within 48 hours of booking, and the cancellation must occur at least 28 days before check-in
If a guest cancels after that, you’ll be paid 100% for the nights already spent, plus the next 30 nights from the reservation
If fewer than 30 nights remain on the reservation when the guest cancels, you’ll be paid 100% for all of those remaining nights
I used to have a moderate policy - which I assumed meant there would be no refund for cancellation later than 5 days prior to check in. Not so. A guest checked in, stayed one night and then left, demanding a refund. I didn’t think anything much of that until I received the cancellation notice which informed me that Airbnb had refunded them 50% of all the remaining nights on the booking…
That’s not how I understood ‘no refund’. We now have a strict policy in the hope that will make potential guests more committed.
I’m not sure why you assumed the moderate policy gave no refund if cancelled less than 5 days before check-in. I’ve been hosting since 2016 and it has always said that the full refund is given if they cancel up to 5 days before check-in, and after that, they pay for the first night in full and 50% of the remaining nights.
That always seemed quite clear, not at all ambiguous.
No. Nothing has really changed, aside from the full refund if cancelled within 24 hrs of booking, and hosts with established listings having to opt out if they want to retain their strict policy, and those things only apply in certain countries.
There has always been a long term cancellation policy for bookings longer than 28 nights, so different policy depending in length of stay is nothing new.
And there have always been several different cancellation options, and it’s always been up to the guest to familiarize themselves with the terms of the cancellation policy for the listings they book, so I can’t see how guests will now suddenly be “overwhelmed with a plethora of cancellation policies.”
You’re right Muddy, it isn’t ambiguous at all when you go in and read the full policy - as a newbie airbnb host at the time I merely took the headline policy that was given to select between believing it would match up with the standard policies I was used to via the old fashioned travel agency listings we used for years previously. Where cancellation for refund was x weeks before the date, after which nothing, unless I chose to offer a goodwill gesture. I have learned now never to assume anything with Airbnb. I was pretty cross with myself for not realising there would be more detail in the fine print.
It is also interesting to me that Airbnb seems to encourage guests to book by making so easy and impersonal for them to cancel. In all my years holiday letting, direct bookings have postponed and transferred bookings but never cancelled outright, and only once a cancellation from the travel agency when the guests’ car broke down and they couldn’t travel! Airbnb guests on the other hand…
Indeed there are a multitude of things Airbnb does to make it easy for guests to book and also cancel. From pushing Instant Book and having that weigh heavily in search ranking, to threatening hosts with fines if they cancel an IB because they saw the guest had bad reviews or has expressed an intention to break house rules or is ignoring the host’s questions. And the most egregious is instantly suspending a host’s listing if a scammer guest reports some supposed violation of Airbnb policy and issuing the guest a full refund without asking the host about the allegation, or requiring the guest to provide any proof.
Which policy works best for each host really depends on the nature of the listing and the demographic of guests one attracts. And also whether a host is dependent on the income and likes steady occupancy, or it’s a side gig and they don’t really care about a cancellation now and then.
Moderate has always been okay for me, because the vast majority of my guests fly in, so they already have airline tickets booked and aren’t likely to cancel. The few times it’s happened, I haven’t really cared- it isn’t my primary source of income and it just meant I could attend to other things than cleaning and dealing with guests. And as a homeshare host, while the extra income is certainly appreciated, sometimes it’s nice to have a breather and my home to myself for a few days or a week if I’ve had a steady stream of guests.
Flexible doesn’t work for most hosts, but can work for hosts with listings close to an airport or major highway who often get last minute bookings to fill in for a cancelled booking.
The number of stays you’ve had isn’t relevant- the number of times you’ve requested that Airbnb do a penalty-free cancellation due to an IB guest having bad reviews is. How many times has that happened? And how long ago?
Your experiences don’t necessarily mirror other hosts’ experiences. I’ve never had a bad guest, but that doesn’t mean I think other hosts are lying or overreacting or that it’s their fault when they talk about their bad guests.
I have read several posts by hosts lately who say Airbnb told them they’d be fined if they cancelled an IB booking due to the guest having bad reviews. I didn’t just pull that out of my hat.
