My policy is moderate. One of the reasons is because I myself won't book a place with strict. I do travel frequently, and my schedule changes. I don't want to be on the hook for losing 100%. And usually I know before the 5-day deadline if I have to change. For me as a host, it works well. A lot of my bookings are last minute anyway, a week or less in advance. The few cancellations I have had have been way in advance -- so no harm, no foul. I have only had one cancellation that was less than 5 days out, and I got 50%. And then I was still able to rebook the room, so I actually made 150% on that room for that weekend.
I've decided to use strict thanks to this video. There's also something that crossed my mind, which is if a guest, for personal reason (typical examples: flight cancelled, plan changed, family member passed away) have to cancel their booking, and we don't allow free cancellation because of the strict policy, and in the end they managed to stay somehow, we might risk of getting not-so-great reviews because "we don't have sympathy ".
Airbnb just did something very upsetting. Dispite my Strict policy, a customer has cancel just 2 days prior checking and they give half of the refund wthiout even telling me anything. So, customers can cancel for COViD and get full refund, they can also cancel after March 14th,2020 non-COVID related and still get half of the refund???? I have issued a full refund to a guest that had an unauthorized party via paypal so that she can leave the property and Yet, airbnb did not reimbursed me eventho I had pictures showing all the information necessary... I have cancel a guest reservation in order for that guest to get a full refund because the cleaners got confused due to multiple cancelation and booking at the same time yet, airbnb "blocked the dates" and will add a negative review for cancelation... So, at what point does the hosts get a break? We are your platform and yet airbnb is treating us this... Very upseting!!
I haven't had this happen to me, but I have wondered-- If I have a strict cancellation policy and someone cancels the day before check-in I don't have to give them a refund. What happens when they ask me to give them a refund anyway, I refuse, and they get mad and leave a bad review? It seems that guests always have control since they can always retaliate by leaving a bad review.
We had a guest cancel immediately after check in, because the mother and aunt didn't like it, and I did tell the guest that everything was exactly like in my photos. He was very pushy because he wanted me to do a full refund outside of airbnb, he said he does it all the time for guests when he is hosting. Well, I called airbnb and they were very helpful. they said no, don't cancel for him, he has to do it, and face the loss. He had booked for 3 nights and when he found out that if he clicked on cancel button, he'd lose first two nights of his 3 day reservatio. he called and called repeatedly and a barrage of text messages that he wanted to alter the reservation to 1 night only so he would only have to pay the 1 night. since it was my first cancellation I allowed myself to be strong armed, in the end, and airbnb informed me that I could go ahead and alter the listing, but we worked hard to get the place prepared and now lost out on two nights booking.
Happens to everyone very rarely. What I've found is typically the guest incorrectly booked the place thinking it had more beds or more whatever and then they make a scene as a way to get their money back. You did the right thing and yes is sucks that you lost a few nights revenue but in the long term you'll be just fine. Positive mindset.
I changed from moderate to strict. I hate being canceled. So actually you make one list per property namely the whole house/apartment. Why did you not list all rooms within a house separately to jack up the price? Did you find it too hard to manage that way? I co-leased an apartment with 2 other guys and subleased the apartment for AirBnB business only, well, with a little bit of Craigslist short-term rental. There are 3 bedrooms in the property, and I made each of them a list.
I totally understand the strict policy, I told my host I may run into trouble with my booking because we were closing on our home. Our closing date changed 3 days prior to our vacation, I tried to reschedule and the host would not allow me to do so. Kept my money and I did not get to reschedule, this host has no sympathy at all.
I had flexible at the beginning, but then changed to moderate, because i clean every single detail of the house before guests arrive, and if they for any reason cancel one day before... then i'll have cleaned all the house for no reason, so it's better for me the moderate one!
Yes!,actually a few days ago switched to strict, lets see how it works, at the end, i'm pretty positive of what i can offer.. so it should be no problem!, let's see how the market goes!!, great videos !
Thank you! Today, I had a checked in and 5 hours later cancel. Claiming it wasn't suitable for family. However, my listing clearly stated not suitable for babies and claiming notice a spider. After speaking to her it was a spider situation, after speaking to her husband he claims not suitable Bc area/ both and spider. She cancel I was only able to collect for the one day she checked in.. and lost out on 2 days booking . I should had consider "strict" as you stated, Bc this is my only property listed. It was a total inconvenience for me going back there.
You're welcome and sorry to hear that Julie. Unfortunately this stuff just happens (spider) and is part of the business. I'm sure there's not much you could do and it's a rare occurrence. First impressions are every thing and I guess it just spooked them. Yes, I would consider turning your cancellation policy to "Strict" asap and testing to see how it affects your bookings. Cancellations are rare for me but at least when they happen I recover some of the funds.
I can understand that maybe someone wants to cancel before Check in cs something happened but its very desapointed after all cleaning and all preparations guest wants to cancel and as the house looks exactly like the pictures its not cool to cancel. I had a reservation for 2 week and also I did a discount and then she canceled in 4 days because she said wanted to go to a hotel as at first said she wanted to book an Airbnb house anyway so she get the rest money she didn't stay.i didn't said that I offer something I couldn't, its one bedroom with all the basic, anyway Airbnb gives you an option how many money you can give back for refund. Anyway in all policies they can have about half of their money as the hotels too... Anyway I am just wondering what else you can offer to guest
Its upto guest if they want to cancel as me as s guest I can understand them.. actually airbnb is helfull and explains lot of things as your video, Thank you
I have a firm cancellation policy, and someone had a change of plans after checking in. They were mad that we wouldn’t give a refund, so left all 1 star reviews. Airbnb refused to take the review down even though in our messages with the guest, it was obvious that they left so bad review over us not giving a refund.
Hi, thank you for the useful information. In my case just yesterday I have booked a place on Airbnb by mistake was “accidentally “ and did cancel the request immediately but the refund was not applicable! I got no refund! It is my first experience with Airbnb..also note I still interested to book the same place! What should I do in this case to get the money back? Just I need first to ask some questions about the place before the reservation.. Thank you in advance!
If a host does not refund a reservation it is not legal for one key reason, the reservation is a payment for serviced to be used by the reserved on the property , but if have the property released for more customers by cancellation, that means you are trying to get double income from the same resource. It in effect is a prepaid debit card, and when not used you have no right for any of the money. AirBnB should never have allowed this kind of practice because if you only have one room or 1000, it doesn't matter in the eye of the customer. You are in effect stealing money for services not rendered and allowed to earn more on the same location. The only way around this is to have no other person able to use the space after cancellation until the reservation end date. But I know you don't do that.
@STR university. I am looking to cancel a reservation that i made last night (well within the 48 hours for free refund advertised by AirBnbB). It was my first time booking and apparently because the rate is discounted the hosts say it is non-refundable. Upon receiving the address my party looked it up and it is further from the water and closer to neighbors than we believed based off the pictures and this group needs more space especially with covid restrictions. We realized this just minutes after we looked it up and politely reached out. Airbnb said they can not do anything because this does not qualify as an extenuating circumstance. The reservation is still 3 weeks away and I don’t want this to be messy and turn into a lose-lose situation. Do you have any advice?
Me as a Traveller I prefer Flexible, Moderate and Firm, but not Strict If I was a Host I would go for Moderate and Firm cause Flexible it can be risky in terms of cancellation capacities and Strict sounds a bit unfair to many people including myself.
I'm concerned that if people know they can't cancel, but for whatever reason they changed their mind, they will check in and then say it isn't suitable and try to get their money back. Does anyone using flexible cancellation have feedback about how often people cancel after checking in, vs strict?
Reviews and desirability. Once you have those last minute bookings fill the cancellation spots. Reviews take time so your policies and fees may change as your business changes.
Hi. I would love to know for this year 2020, would strict cancellation policy still be a good choice? Considering that I only have two listings for the moment and I am in Nice and this is not the peak season.
BS! In order to receive 100% money back guest must cancel within 48h after booking. After 48 h guest will receive money without service fees and this is very high. If host will cancel at any time but a guest won't receive any money.
In paying airbnb is there a option to check the default credit card information on the app? Is there an option to change the credit card information on the app?
Mary Joy Villaceran no unfortunately you can’t make payment changes through the app you’ll have to use a browser to change that... either a laptop or computer
i have a question. I have a trip to japan at the end of january....i booked an airbnb and it is termed "strict - free cancellation for 48 hrs" but below it it states " Full refund if check-in is at least 14 days away" so which is it? 48 hours or 14 days....do i still get my refund if i cancel this week, which is several weeks away from the check-in date?
Thatt happens to me. I cancelled my booking 20 days prior my schedule because of the protest in hk lately but the host and airbnb is not considerate enough and reason out about the stupid strict policy and i don't know what's there meaning of 14 days cancellation and gets a full refund.. i won't recommend AIRBNB at all.
Very helpful! I too use the strict model Bc frankly I’m not the Marriott and it’s all about 💰in my pocket. That said, if someone cancels with a three night stay or longer I offer a comp extra night on their return trip to incentivize them booking with me again in the future. I come from a luxury sales background and my experience has taught me that there is a positive side to every negative situation and that positive side should be set up to the golden rule of “always be closing”. Happy Hosting!
Good idea for the next video is cleaning fee and how we can use it as a pricing strategy. Honestly I am not sure if guests pay attention to it or not !
Short Term Rental Secrets .Hi Richard , I'm a newbie to your channel and thank you for your information . Can you please do a video with a breakdown of what the bottom line is on a rental for the host? I get that there is an Airbnb percentage on the initial booking but what other charges are there by the time you receive your payment and reimburse the damage deposit ?
I get you Airbnb host are trying to make money but forcing a customer to stay in your unit if the customer does not want to it’s almost like extortion, also the strict policy should be more visible on the site so customers can see which host to stay away from. It’s all a matter a time until Airbnb customers get wiser with this new cancelation policy scheme.
if you book a flight and then try to cancel a week before the flight, will the airline refund you? if you book a hotel room and then try to cancel a week before your stay, will the hotel refund you? NO. why should Air Bnb be any different than similar travel businesses? hosts have fixed costs and if a guest holds a reservation for a month and then cancels a few days before their scheduled stay, the host is now out revenue for those nights (revenue that pays for fixed costs like property taxes, utilities, mortgage, furniture capitalized costs, etc.),
i AM SO PISSED RIGHT NOW. i BOOKED A PLACE AND LEARNED IT WAS A DUMP RIGHT AWAY AND TRIED TO CANCEL, BUT BECAUSE OF THEIR POLICY THEY KEEP $500+. hOW THE HELL IS THIS FAIR? SCAM! Airbnb: Buyer beware sucks!!!!!!!!!
That's bad news that they're going to start trying to discourage strict cancellation but not surprising. They've had a lot of success with getting hosts to adopt Instant Book in a short time frame by pushing your listing down in the search results if you don't. I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same thing with flexible cancellation and were surprisingly successful, even if hosts hate it and make less money.
Yes, I agree. It's just one more thing, though. All these little incremental things push host profits down. I'm already closing one of my places because the income has gotten too marginal in comparison to the extra time and expense. But in my area they have a surplus of hosts, so I suppose, from their perspective, they can afford to lose some.
Competition will only continue to grow. That's why I'm trying to encourage more people to get started sooner rather than later. In the long run regulation and competition will be a good thing. Stings at first to see profits go down though.
My policy is moderate. One of the reasons is because I myself won't book a place with strict. I do travel frequently, and my schedule changes. I don't want to be on the hook for losing 100%. And usually I know before the 5-day deadline if I have to change.
For me as a host, it works well. A lot of my bookings are last minute anyway, a week or less in advance. The few cancellations I have had have been way in advance -- so no harm, no foul. I have only had one cancellation that was less than 5 days out, and I got 50%. And then I was still able to rebook the room, so I actually made 150% on that room for that weekend.
Thank you for this information. I was reading the info on my phone. But I didn't want my face glued to my screen reading. This was easier.
I've decided to use strict thanks to this video. There's also something that crossed my mind, which is if a guest, for personal reason (typical examples: flight cancelled, plan changed, family member passed away) have to cancel their booking, and we don't allow free cancellation because of the strict policy, and in the end they managed to stay somehow, we might risk of getting not-so-great reviews because "we don't have sympathy ".
Airbnb just did something very upsetting. Dispite my Strict policy, a customer has cancel just 2 days prior checking and they give half of the refund wthiout even telling me anything. So, customers can cancel for COViD and get full refund, they can also cancel after March 14th,2020 non-COVID related and still get half of the refund???? I have issued a full refund to a guest that had an unauthorized party via paypal so that she can leave the property and Yet, airbnb did not reimbursed me eventho I had pictures showing all the information necessary... I have cancel a guest reservation in order for that guest to get a full refund because the cleaners got confused due to multiple cancelation and booking at the same time yet, airbnb "blocked the dates" and will add a negative review for cancelation... So, at what point does the hosts get a break? We are your platform and yet airbnb is treating us this... Very upseting!!
I haven't had this happen to me, but I have wondered-- If I have a strict cancellation policy and someone cancels the day before check-in I don't have to give them a refund. What happens when they ask me to give them a refund anyway, I refuse, and they get mad and leave a bad review? It seems that guests always have control since they can always retaliate by leaving a bad review.
We had a guest cancel immediately after check in, because the mother and aunt didn't like it, and I did tell the guest that everything was exactly like in my photos. He was very pushy because he wanted me to do a full refund outside of airbnb, he said he does it all the time for guests when he is hosting. Well, I called airbnb and they were very helpful. they said no, don't cancel for him, he has to do it, and face the loss. He had booked for 3 nights and when he found out that if he clicked on cancel button, he'd lose first two nights of his 3 day reservatio. he called and called repeatedly and a barrage of text messages that he wanted to alter the reservation to 1 night only so he would only have to pay the 1 night. since it was my first cancellation I allowed myself to be strong armed, in the end, and airbnb informed me that I could go ahead and alter the listing, but we worked hard to get the place prepared and now lost out on two nights booking.
Happens to everyone very rarely. What I've found is typically the guest incorrectly booked the place thinking it had more beds or more whatever and then they make a scene as a way to get their money back. You did the right thing and yes is sucks that you lost a few nights revenue but in the long term you'll be just fine. Positive mindset.
What happens if the host cancels my reservation? Can I get 100% refund?
it probably depends on the reason of cancelling. If you are in that situation you can contact airbnb and they will help you.
I changed from moderate to strict. I hate being canceled.
So actually you make one list per property namely the whole house/apartment. Why did you not list all rooms within a house separately to jack up the price? Did you find it too hard to manage that way?
I co-leased an apartment with 2 other guys and subleased the apartment for AirBnB business only, well, with a little bit of Craigslist short-term rental. There are 3 bedrooms in the property, and I made each of them a list.
I totally understand the strict policy, I told my host I may run into trouble with my booking because we were closing on our home. Our closing date changed 3 days prior to our vacation, I tried to reschedule and the host would not allow me to do so. Kept my money and I did not get to reschedule, this host has no sympathy at all.
I had flexible at the beginning, but then changed to moderate, because i clean every single detail of the house before guests arrive, and if they for any reason cancel one day before... then i'll have cleaned all the house for no reason, so it's better for me the moderate one!
Yep makes sense. Have you tested using a strict pricing policy? Thanks for watching!
Yes!,actually a few days ago switched to strict, lets see how it works, at the end, i'm pretty positive of what i can offer.. so it should be no problem!, let's see how the market goes!!, great videos !
Let me know how it goes! I have success with Strict Cancellation across all my homes (Alabama, Colorado, NYC, etc). Thanks for watching!
Hi very helpful video I am using flexible but I hope I will not have so many cancels as you said this is an income of one property
Airbnb should have you click on a confirmation button when you book with someone "Strict" #airbnbstrict
Thank you!
Today, I had a checked in and 5 hours later cancel. Claiming it wasn't suitable for family. However, my listing clearly stated not suitable for babies and claiming notice a spider. After speaking to her it was a spider situation, after speaking to her husband he claims not suitable Bc area/ both and spider.
She cancel I was only able to collect for the one day she checked in.. and lost out on 2 days booking . I should had consider "strict" as you stated, Bc this is my only property listed. It was a total inconvenience for me going back there.
You're welcome and sorry to hear that Julie. Unfortunately this stuff just happens (spider) and is part of the business. I'm sure there's not much you could do and it's a rare occurrence. First impressions are every thing and I guess it just spooked them. Yes, I would consider turning your cancellation policy to "Strict" asap and testing to see how it affects your bookings. Cancellations are rare for me but at least when they happen I recover some of the funds.
I can understand that maybe someone wants to cancel before Check in cs something happened but its very desapointed after all cleaning and all preparations guest wants to cancel and as the house looks exactly like the pictures its not cool to cancel. I had a reservation for 2 week and also I did a discount and then she canceled in 4 days because she said wanted to go to a hotel as at first said she wanted to book an Airbnb house anyway so she get the rest money she didn't stay.i didn't said that I offer something I couldn't, its one bedroom with all the basic, anyway Airbnb gives you an option how many money you can give back for refund. Anyway in all policies they can have about half of their money as the hotels too... Anyway I am just wondering what else you can offer to guest
Its upto guest if they want to cancel as me as s guest I can understand them.. actually airbnb is helfull and explains lot of things as your video, Thank you
I have a firm cancellation policy, and someone had a change of plans after checking in. They were mad that we wouldn’t give a refund, so left all 1 star reviews. Airbnb refused to take the review down even though in our messages with the guest, it was obvious that they left so bad review over us not giving a refund.
Hi, thank you for the useful information. In my case just yesterday I have booked a place on Airbnb by mistake was “accidentally “ and did cancel the request immediately but the refund was not applicable! I got no refund! It is my first experience with Airbnb..also note I still interested to book the same place! What should I do in this case to get the money back? Just I need first to ask some questions about the place before the reservation..
Thank you in advance!
Contact the Host first and try to rebook the same listing and ask for a refund for the cancelled one
What are your thoughts on str management services like Guesty? I have a timeshare and I would like to rent it out on AirBnB
?
If a host does not refund a reservation it is not legal for one key reason, the reservation is a payment for serviced to be used by the reserved on the property , but if have the property released for more customers by cancellation, that means you are trying to get double income from the same resource. It in effect is a prepaid debit card, and when not used you have no right for any of the money. AirBnB should never have allowed this kind of practice because if you only have one room or 1000, it doesn't matter in the eye of the customer. You are in effect stealing money for services not rendered and allowed to earn more on the same location. The only way around this is to have no other person able to use the space after cancellation until the reservation end date. But I know you don't do that.
@STR university. I am looking to cancel a reservation that i made last night (well within the 48 hours for free refund advertised by AirBnbB). It was my first time booking and apparently because the rate is discounted the hosts say it is non-refundable. Upon receiving the address my party looked it up and it is further from the water and closer to neighbors than we believed based off the pictures and this group needs more space especially with covid restrictions. We realized this just minutes after we looked it up and politely reached out. Airbnb said they can not do anything because this does not qualify as an extenuating circumstance. The reservation is still 3 weeks away and I don’t want this to be messy and turn into a lose-lose situation. Do you have any advice?
Me as a Traveller I prefer Flexible, Moderate and Firm, but not Strict
If I was a Host I would go for Moderate and Firm cause Flexible it can be risky in terms of cancellation capacities and Strict sounds a bit unfair to many people including myself.
Great video!
Could you share with us from where you get informed of all of these important updates?
Just paying attention to their app but subscribe because we'll tell you the updates here!
I'm concerned that if people know they can't cancel, but for whatever reason they changed their mind, they will check in and then say it isn't suitable and try to get their money back. Does anyone using flexible cancellation have feedback about how often people cancel after checking in, vs strict?
Would you allow cancellation if your area was under a state of emergency? Would you consider it an extenuating circumstance?
www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/28/national/hokkaido-emergency-coronavirus/#.XlwSBZNKjUI
Hi. Hru where on my my airbnb do I write my cancelation
Reviews and desirability. Once you have those last minute bookings fill the cancellation spots. Reviews take time so your policies and fees may change as your business changes.
Hi. I would love to know for this year 2020, would strict cancellation policy still be a good choice? Considering that I only have two listings for the moment and I am in Nice and this is not the peak season.
BS! In order to receive 100% money back guest must cancel within 48h after booking. After 48 h guest will receive money without service fees and this is very high. If host will cancel at any time but a guest won't receive any money.
Great videos! Thank you!
Thanks! Stay tuned we're posting 3 times a week going forward. I'm about to upload right now.
I prefer strict it has work for us! Thanks for the video.
You're welcome Barbara! Glad you found it helpful
In paying airbnb is there a option to check the default credit card information on the app? Is there an option to change the credit card information on the app?
Mary Joy Villaceran no unfortunately you can’t make payment changes through the app you’ll have to use a browser to change that... either a laptop or computer
Or payout!
Thanks for the help
Makes me want to get an #airbnb only the night I need it.
i have a question. I have a trip to japan at the end of january....i booked an airbnb and it is termed "strict - free cancellation for 48 hrs"
but below it it states " Full refund if check-in is at least 14 days away"
so which is it? 48 hours or 14 days....do i still get my refund if i cancel this week, which is several weeks away from the check-in date?
ando1135 there are not going to answer you don’t waste your time
Thatt happens to me. I cancelled my booking 20 days prior my schedule because of the protest in hk lately but the host and airbnb is not considerate enough and reason out about the stupid strict policy and i don't know what's there meaning of 14 days cancellation and gets a full refund.. i won't recommend AIRBNB at all.
Very helpful! I too use the strict model Bc frankly I’m not the Marriott and it’s all about 💰in my pocket. That said, if someone cancels with a three night stay or longer I offer a comp extra night on their return trip to incentivize them booking with me again in the future. I come from a luxury sales background and my experience has taught me that there is a positive side to every negative situation and that positive side should be set up to the golden rule of “always be closing”. Happy Hosting!
Thank you very much , your videos are very helpful !
You're welcome Judith! Stay tuned I'm posting 3 times a week going forward.
Great video, again! You teach me a lot, my intention was to start hosting as much guest friendly as possible. Now I see there are more ways Thank you
:(
I listened to you bro. And I was wrong. Strict is the worst.
Good idea for the next video is cleaning fee and how we can use it as a pricing strategy. Honestly I am not sure if guests pay attention to it or not !
Great idea. I'll film it today!! Should be posted either Friday or early next week.
Thank you Sir! Keep up with the good work. Good channel
Really appreciate it. We're upping our game to 3 uploads per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) so be on the lookout!
Cleaning fees video drops tomorrow fyi
Short Term Rental Secrets .Hi Richard , I'm a newbie to your channel and thank you for your information . Can you please do a video with a breakdown of what the bottom line is on a rental for the host? I get that there is an Airbnb percentage on the initial booking but what other charges are there by the time you receive your payment and reimburse the damage deposit ?
I get you Airbnb host are trying to make money but forcing a customer to stay in your unit if the customer does not want to it’s almost like extortion, also the strict policy should be more visible on the site so customers can see which host to stay away from. It’s all a matter a time until Airbnb customers get wiser with this new cancelation policy scheme.
if you book a flight and then try to cancel a week before the flight, will the airline refund you? if you book a hotel room and then try to cancel a week before your stay, will the hotel refund you? NO. why should Air Bnb be any different than similar travel businesses? hosts have fixed costs and if a guest holds a reservation for a month and then cancels a few days before their scheduled stay, the host is now out revenue for those nights (revenue that pays for fixed costs like property taxes, utilities, mortgage, furniture capitalized costs, etc.),
i AM SO PISSED RIGHT NOW. i BOOKED A PLACE AND LEARNED IT WAS A DUMP RIGHT AWAY AND TRIED TO CANCEL, BUT BECAUSE OF THEIR POLICY THEY KEEP $500+. hOW THE HELL IS THIS FAIR? SCAM! Airbnb: Buyer beware sucks!!!!!!!!!
That's bad news that they're going to start trying to discourage strict cancellation but not surprising. They've had a lot of success with getting hosts to adopt Instant Book in a short time frame by pushing your listing down in the search results if you don't. I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same thing with flexible cancellation and were surprisingly successful, even if hosts hate it and make less money.
Agreed, not surprising and I get it from their standpoint. The good hosts will be able to adapt.
Yes, I agree. It's just one more thing, though. All these little incremental things push host profits down. I'm already closing one of my places because the income has gotten too marginal in comparison to the extra time and expense. But in my area they have a surplus of hosts, so I suppose, from their perspective, they can afford to lose some.
Competition will only continue to grow. That's why I'm trying to encourage more people to get started sooner rather than later. In the long run regulation and competition will be a good thing. Stings at first to see profits go down though.
This is just a guide on how to trick guest to get their money...
???
Most are cheats