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Hosts are generally livid with Airbnb right now over their rolling disclosure on cancellation policies. I believe that it will only get worse and April 14th is a false deadline. Hosts are going to be screwed generally going forward. Good luck with some of us paying our staff and mortgages…
I had a thought on how to move business slowly from Airbnb to competitor sites that look after their hosts better.
I am planning on raising my rates on Airbnb slightly over time and offering more discounted rates on other sites. I think it’s an effective way to move my business away from Airbnb and to places that actually honor the agreements I have set in place and make efforts to protect my business.
Airbnb has taken too much control over my business and it’s literally not as safe a place to do business. If travel insurance doesn’t have to pay for a force majeur event - why should HOSTS be forced too. I had agreements with guests set in place that were fair to both of us - but Airbnb has totally undercut any of those agreements by giving the power directly and totally to the customer.
John your post has no relevance to what I am saying. Airbnb took over our cancellation policy… that’s out of any of our control and against the understanding we had of our contracts. I am on all the other platforms. I will be moving my business to theirs. I am doing great with my rental. I don’t like Airbnb practices and know many do not either.
ssack, disregard JohnF’s vitriolic drivel. If you had your guests sign a separate short term rental agreement, you can enforce it. You may wish to reach out to them and remind them that they signed a contract with you directly, and you’re willing to allow them to reschedule for another date or some other compromise. Much depends, of course, on the language of your agreement.
If a host is relying on Airbnb to get their leads then it doesn’t seem like a very a sound business plan, can’t you see that? If a host thinks that Airbnb has too much control over their business then why use them in the first place?
I book on other sites as well jaquo. Your post make no sense to my original point. The point of this is to move business away from Airbnb not continue to rely on them for business. Thank God for VRBO at this point.
Hi @ssack I have been in the process of “shifting” my business from Airbnb to HomeAway/VRBO for about 18 months now.
It’s slow going, but it’s gradually happening. If you don’t mind, here’s a couple of “tips”
Reviews are pretty much everything, so to help nudge the reviews along on HA/V, (which are notoriously hard to get on that platform,) I offer the guests who have checked out a $25 gift card as a “thank you” for taking time to leave a review. That’ has helped a great deal.
I don’t put Airbnb or their logo on any of my advertising.
I offer discounts on HA/V (sounds like you’re already doing that.)
I flatly let guest know who make inquiries for dates far off in the future on Airbnb that I require guests to reserve them on “another” platform. I have a “Super Strict” cancellation policy on Airbnb, which means I get paid 60 days in advance and there can be no cancellations after before 60 days or arrival. But on HA/V I have a 100% “NO CANCELLATIONS” rule and make sure guests sign off on that. So this month I’m covered, as all my reservations are on HA/V, but next month I have one for a 4 days for $6000 ( that I’ve already been paid on,) so I’m sweating it out. I’m kicking myself for not insisting that they book on HA/V ! But it was just a few days before the 60 days No cancellation, and thought I was safe… but then Corona and Airbnb came along and kicked Airbnb Hosts in the teeth. That’s a REALLY expensive lesson to learn. NEVER AGAIN!
Good luck to you!
Airbnb’s cancellation policy for EC is clearly outlined in their T&Cs and on Airbnb Help when you signed up you knew (or should have known as an experienced property manager the implications of signing up to this policy).
Glad to hear you are bucking the trend experienced by the vast majority of hosts globally and finding the current crisis has passed you by and your rental is ‘doing great’.
A simple clause in your agreement stating that the terms of the agreement shall control over any conflicting terms or conditions of the booking website and another that states that the agreement supercedes all prior or contemporaneous agreements (called a merger clause).
Airbnb has a clause in their agreement that hosts everywhere now are arguing should have no effect. Ironic.
9.5 In certain circumstances, Airbnb may decide, in its sole discretion, that it is necessary to cancel a pending or confirmed booking and initiate corresponding refunds and payouts. This may be for reasons set forth in Airbnb’s Extenuating Circumstances Policy or (i) where Airbnb believes in good faith, while taking the legitimate interests of both parties into account, this is necessary to avoid significant harm to Airbnb, other Members, third parties or property, or (ii) for any of the reasons set out in these Terms.
I thought of this too. I also thought of charging an extra fee to Guests on Airbnb. What would I call it the “High Risk” fee. I’ll make it very high (haven’t thought of the dollar amount.) And if someone asks what it is, I will say. “This fee is because Airbnb is a high risk platform to Hosts. To avoid this fee please look for my property on other platforms which are lower risk. The booking prices are lower too.”
As an entity the Hosts that Airbnb screwed over during this time are way more important than we think, and Airbnb will regret it if they lose us. You might think Airbnb is gigantic and powerful, but really without us they are just go back to their initial business model (sleeping bags on the floor). I wrote this same thing elsewhere, so I’m sorry if I’m repeating. Look at it this way. Airbnb has 650,000 Hosts, but only 7% are Superhosts. I am willing to bet it is actually a very small percent of the hosts who are actively booking on a regular basis. This is a huge chunk of their earnings. And these are the very Hosts Airbnb are screwing over right now. We are a relatively small number of their Hosts, but are very significant to their business.
Forcing guests to pay for stays they didn’t complete seems like a policy that would cause guests to leave in droves. So although Airbnb needs hosts, they also need guests. Time will tell if Airbnb or VRBO followed the most viable strategy.
