Depending on which side of the fence you fall on, Airbnb and its new changes are either good news or bad. The rental company announced it was making major changes to its cancellation policies.
Starting in October, Airbnb is changing all of its Strict policy cancellations to Firm policy unless a host opts out and chooses to keep the Strict policy by Oct. 7. With the firm policy, guests can cancel their rental up to 30 days before the trip for a full refund. Under the current Strict policy, guests would be charged 50% if they cancelled 7 days or more out and would be charged the full amount if they canceled less than a week out.
Airbnb also introduced a new Limited cancellation policy. It would allow customers to cancel up to 14 days before their stay and get a full refund. Additionally, moving forward, Airbnb is getting rid of the Strict policy for any new listing.
This will be pleasing to customers, but hosts will likely be angry about the news. An Airbnb spokesperson told Newsweek that it is updating its cancellation policies because "over 40% of guests say free cancellation is one of their top needs when choosing to book a stay."
The rep added, "The vast majority of hosts have the option to opt out of the migration."
Taking to social media sites like Reddit, Airbnb hosts shared their displeasure.
Airbnb Changes
"I hate this. Airbnb and VRBO are always trying to get us to loosen our cancellation policies. I get it for small properties, but we have a couple 7-8 bedroom cabins and our guests almost always book 3+ months out. Big groups like that aren't booking 1-2 months out. I'd be fine with a policy that offers almost 100% 90 days out, but that's not available," one wrote.
"Just more proof that they are all about the guests and couldn't care less about the hosts," another commented.
"I stuck with strict. Guess I'm losing out on 10% of guests. Oh well," one wrote.
Amber Carpenter, vice president of product and growth strategy at enterprise revenue management platform Wheelhouse, told Skift she believes the benefits outweigh the negatives for hosts.
"Airbnb's latest policy updates reflect a broader industry shift toward guest-first experiences, starting at booking and rooted in trust and flexibility," she said. "Rather than resisting this trend, individual hosts and property managers have an opportunity to elevate the guest journey through diverse marketing efforts — including strong direct booking channels — and thoughtful revenue strategies. When trust leads, financial performance follows."
