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I can’t believe Airbnb have changed their strict cancellation policy so that guests can cancel 30 days or more before a booking and get a full refund.
This means guests can book out peak period including for big events in your calendar and then cancel right up until 4 weeks before.
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/home/updated_cancellation_policies#strict
When did this happen?? I guess they just do this without notifying hosts?
It just doesn’t make sense to take reservations a long way in the future, does it?
Yay! NOT! Just like a hotel! We have to keep those guests happy and we need to be more like a hotel just so they will book with us and not a hotel!
I don’t know when they did it. IIt wasn’t like that a few weeks ago. I don’t remember being notified about such a large scale change or them consulting hosts.
Another blow for hosts 
I cannot remember what it was before. I think this is global, as it appeared to do say the same thing here in the US.
Most of the time when people come here they are planning a trip well in advance. Right now, the high season is completely booked out all over the island. I normally don’t get cancellations. The one I was complaining about at Christmas was an EC and they didn’t want to cancel but had no choice.
This could change though, now that canceling is a piece of cake. How terrible. Just terrible.
Hmmmm, just checked, mine is still the old policy and I am in Australia . Maybe they are testing markets?
Old policy still in place up here in north wales
@Joan you are based in England I think - could you check and see what it says when you check for the strict cancellation policy terms?
Guests have always been able to get a full refund through Extenuating Circumstances.
If this is a real issue for you then just open your calendar on ABB 30 days in advance and use other systems for your bookings well in advance.
Can not remember ever been notified of changes in advance, always been a surprise.
I just checked mine. I have strict, and it still says "50% refund up until one week prior to arrival"
I live in the US but our property is in the Caribbean.
Jeez it will end up like booking(cancelled).com
Next it will be messages like ‘lock in’ your great deal and you can still screw over hosts before T-30.
One size fits all policy doesn’t work effectively with all the possible scenarios.
Thanks @Como but only opening your calendar a month before if hardly a practical suggestion in areas like mine which has thousands of competitors.
And there is a huge difference between a guest having to provide evidence to cancel under extenuating circumstance and guests changing their mind on a whim because they know they can up to 30 days before. It makes a mockery of having a strict cancellation policy.
Obviously I do not know for certain what was said when I have have had EC’s, but my impression (I knew a fair bit about one) is that the bar is pretty low.
Most of my Guests are short notice, short term and newish otherwise it would be a much bigger issue.
Basically I put down the loss to a cost of doing business on the platform, annoying and hopefully I pick up another booking.
Forget where I saw it, but somebody posted using other means for taking advance booking and using ABB to fill in the gaps at shorter notice. I think they were in an area where people book usually a year in advance and each booking is a big ticket item.
Do guests have to prove ‘extenuating circumstances’ ? I run a holiday company and it’s amazing how many people come with sob stories to cancel their holiday, then suddenly do an about turn when we ask for proof. If a guest knows they can give a good excuse and get a full refund, they’re highly likely to do so unless it’s challenged.
I doubt there is a common answer, I am pretty sure of 2 cases where I know there could have been no evidence, the others I do not know.
My suspicion is that it varies, depends who they speak to, maybe how much it is for, what the Agent had for Breakfast, who knows.
The people making the call have no skin in the game so if you were them and had somebody giving you grief would it not be easier just to do it?
They can even cancel DURING the stay and receive half! No questions asked. Brutal. Absolutely brutal. They do not care about hosts.
Yes, they have to PROVE it, but the burden of proof seems to be relatively low. I had a guest cancel ten days before my lucrative Christmas season, claim deep vein thrombosis. Sounds real and she did prove it apparently. I think for a death in the family they can just submit an obit and be granted. So you could say this is my MIL and submit an obit with a different name than yours and get approved.
Just a cotton pickin minute, current strict is no refund 7 days prior or during the stay. That new policy gives guests 50% refund at any time
