Alteration policy as a fair solution!

Alteration policy as a fair solution!

I just had an alteration that was quite significant. It went from 10 days to 3 days and its only 2 weeks until they arrive. In general I want to be acommodating but I also believe this should be a fair transaction for both guests and hosts. I accepted it but have now been thinking, was this a fair transaction for me as a host?

 

AirBnB have a cancellation policy which I think works great, but no alteration policy. Yet both cancellation and alteration are very similar and can have significant impact on your earnings.

 

It would be great if there was an alteration policy. There might be a lot of things to incorporate into a policy, but just a thought to spark the discussion. If a booking is altered, days that become "unbooked" will be considered cancelled and with a strict policy, that means only 50% of the amount for theese days are paid back. You can as host still choose to be fair and pay back the full amount in case you manage to get those days rebooked by other guests, just like with a cancellation.

 

Having the policy in the system makes it more fair I think, both for guests and hosts.

 

I would like to hear what other hosts think about this and maybe if there are any chance or hope that AirBnB will actually consider implementing an alteration policy.

 

Thanks.

14 Comments
Cormac0
Level 10

@Soren

 

Hi Soren

 

 

I agree with your post, there is an opportunity cost in this.

 

Did Airbnb recalculate the booking at the weekly discounted rate or remove the discount all together? I'm curious about this as it seems to be happening more often now.

 

 

Regards

Cormac

The Explorer's Club Krakow.

Lorena97
Level 1

Hi, I'm in similar situation. My guest booked for 10 days, he arrived on Tuesday and now he wants to leave tomorrow, that means he will stay for 3 days only. He've just sent me a 'change of dates' request which I have accepted but I would like to know if I can claim some sort of compensation as he altered the reservation after check in.

Can someone advise how to do it?

Much appreciated

 

Soren3
Level 2

@Cormac0  I often have difference prices for different days and now I am not sure how to see if the discount was removed or not. I think it was recalculated as 3 individual days without the weekly discount. But the point is still the 7 days that now most likely will not be rebooked as most people book longer ahead.

 

@Lorena97  I dont think you can claim any compensation once you have accepted. Even if it was before checkin, I think the clue here is wether you are able to have someone else book those dates. This is the whole point with this post, that guests can alter their booking at no cost. An alteration that reduces days are kind of a part cancellation, but this is "free" for the guest if the host accepts. Lost earning goes 100% to the host with the current system, which might not be fair.

Mirta5
Level 2

Totally agree. I have had the same situation. So I decided not accept the alteration, and offered a refund just in case I have the days rebooked. The guest didn't like at all my offer and went very argumentative, and started an unfair discussion. I think this is a way some guest find to avoid payment went you are on strict policy cancelation and they have changed their mind for some reason. So totally agree with your point.

Soren3
Level 2

@Mirta5 thx for your reply.

 

I have read a lot of threads where people are talking about this topic, so my question now is how to get this to the attention of AirBnB? Do we need at least 50 replies or maybe some responsible for this forum is already reading through all messages and getting a "feeling" for whats important? In that case, maybe this person could make a short comment if this is on a ToDo list or if it is not intended to be implemented and why?

 

It is my experience that it is not often that people alter their reservation, but also it is not often they cancel their reservation. Yet there is a cancellation policy and no alteration policy.

 

Should be an easy implement and a good one. I cant find the disadvantages of this.

 

Cheers, Soren

@Soren3

 

There are 2 ways to address an alteration that is a de facto cancellation in the existing AirBNB system.

 

1. is decline it--because you wouldn't refund under the cancellation policy.

2. is accept it--but change the price to the same price to be paid under your cancellation policy. You can see the price on the desktop version of the site, and can change it if necessary.

 

I think option 2 would be best, as you can still offer to refund any "days rebooked by another guest" after the fact if anyone books the cancelled days.

 

Most of our guests use that option to move a reservation a day or two, or to add days, and it works smoothly for that purpose.

Soren3
Level 2

@John-and-Heather0

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I still think declining an alteration is a direct act of unflexibility, which I dont want to be. Guests should always be able to alter their reservation, likewise cancel a reservation, but I still think there would be less potential conflicts if it was all wrapped in a policy.

 

Maybe I still dont understand why there has been put a lot of effort into making a cancellation policy but no alteration policy at all.

 

Next time I have someone alter a booking, I will look into the price changing thing. But if I change the price, do the guests then have to accept that or not and if they do not accept the new price, then their original booking remains?

 

Thx again for responding.

Soren

@Soren3They might have to accept on price if you alter it. I'm not sure, because so far our guests understand that shortening a stay is the same as a cancellation of those days. We also don't allow long stays (never more than 28 days, rarely more than 10 days) it seems hosts have more trouble when they allow guests to stay for weeks at a time (change their mind, find a permanent rental, change vacation plans).

I think the definition of an "alteration" to booking needs to be clearly defined. My personal opinion is, compared to the original check-in/check-out dates if either or both are adjusted by 1 day each then I would be willing to accept this as an alteration with no fee. Anything more, I think should be seen as needing a cancel-and-rebook (or alteration with fee - based on no. of nights being cancelled in the alteration process), with an option from the host to waive recieving payment coming from said cancellation. Also the number of times the guest can request alternations should be limited to once or twice, and no alterations, say, 3 days prior to check-in date. (Something aligned with the cancellation policy applied by the host).

 

A reservation that is check in: May 12 ~check out: May 22, then another one that is check in: May 20 ~ check out: May 23 are totally, totally different, even if it is the same person. No matter how you look at it, this is not an alteration.

 

 

Sabina11
Level 2

I agree with Jessica and Henry. Maybe it's as simple as the alteration policy should be the same as the cancelation policy. I just had a guest alter less then 24hour prior to their stay. I accepted it and then realized that negates the cancelation policy. Going to be smarter next time and if a guest wants an alteration less than 24hours they will have to cancel and rebook.