May 15 date came up pretty fast. Bookings in Aug-Oct, reserved before Mar 15, guests can “wait and see” (moderate cancel penalty). Meanwhile my calendar blocked from long term rental. Any ideas if airbnb might extend this deadline? Any other ideas how to deal with it? Do they make any exceptions case by case? I’d contact airbnb directly to ask, but it’s near impossible at the moment. Thanks!
Airbnb did extend the deadline. I think that includes hosts. It’s only for booking before 3/15.
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I’m asking about their policy to allow hosts to cancel ANY 2020 reservation, but only if cancelled by May 15. Any idea if they’ll extend it?
i cancelled several bookings for 2020 before the may 15 deadline and was penalized for all of them. 50$ each cancellation and lost super host. airbnb support doesn’t seem to have any record of the host cancellation policy. does anyone have a copy or a link to the original offer?
Did you actually read the updated policy @Lynick4442 kindly provided you a link for and read what it said about host cancellations @host3333?
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Here’s the link and screenshot: (arrow points to the April 30 announcement)
https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/t/coronavirus-updates-34
APR 30, 2020
Hosts now have until May 15 to cancel 2020 bookings without charges or impact to Superhost status. Reservations must be booked before March 15.
I assume the reservations you cancelled had been made before March 15? If so, airbnb needs to honor their commitment. I hope you can get it resolved!
Also, airbnb gave hosts only 2 weeks to decide to cancel their 2020 bookings and free up the calendar for long term rentals. This is not enough time given the fluid situation we are all dealing with. I’ve tried to contact airbnb directly to see if they will give more time, but it is actually “impossible” to contact them. So I am asking the host community, to see if anybody knows more. Thank you!
Yes I am very familiar with that link, but I am actually asking about something completely different.
Here is the link and screenshot:
https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/t/coronavirus-updates-34
See the Note on the right (arrow points to it)
APR 30, 2020
Hosts now have until May 15 to cancel 2020 bookings without charges or impact to Superhost status. Reservations must be booked before March 15.
My point is, airbnb gave hosts only 2 weeks to decide to cancel their 2020 bookings and free up the calendar for long term rentals. This is not enough time given the fluid situation we are all dealing with. I’ve tried to contact airbnb directly to see if they will give more time, but it is actually “impossible” to contact them. So I am asking the host community, to see if anybody knows more. Thank you!
thank you so much for the link. i forwarded it to airbnb and the seem to be on it now. will see how it goes.
they made that message disappear pretty quickly, couldn’t find any reference to it anywhere. thanks again
I think this is extremely remote. They basically did it to give hosts the opportunity to convert from short-term to long-term without penalty. Unfortunately, the window was small and I don’t think all hosts really understood what it meant.
I assume you’re just worried about the $50 penalty per cancellation. Then you just have to weigh the penalties against the reward (steady income) of moving to long-term. If you can get a tenant lined up quickly, this seems like a no-brainer. The only reason I can think of to not cancel your Airbnb short-term reservations is because you want to use Airbnb for the long-term rentals, but that’s probably not in your best interest.
I’m not really worried about the $50 cancellation penalty. This is minor. There are 2 major issues. If you cancel, your calendar remains blocked for the dates anyway, so you cannot accept LTR. And if you do 3 cancellations in a year they may remove your listing.
The window was way too small.
I finally got through to Airbnb after an hour wait, the frontline rep understood the issue, and forwarded my concern to a “specialist who will contact me within an hour”. I have yet to hear back from anybody after a day.
The note is still on their website, but clicking on it just takes you to your reservations page. It was always this way.
The only reason that would matter is if you want to rent long-term through Airbnb. Are you aware of the risks of using Airbnb for long-term rentals E.g. no security deposit, no credit check, no background check, no eviction support, etc.?
I agree with your points and yes I am aware of the risks. I am also looking at their website link “How do penalty-free cancellations work for Instant Book hosts?” In over 4 years as Airbnb host, I never needed to look at this but “everything changed” on March 15. I’d appreciate if you know anything more about cancelling Instant Book reservations. Thank you for your feedback!
I also was penalised when I asked the guest to cancel then gave them a full refund. My calendar was blocked.
Hi, did you cancel the reservation before May 15? Do you have Instant Book turned on?