Airbnb has been busy this Summer introducing or reintroducing new services such as “Airbnb Experiences”. But one potential change to policy has raised eyebrows among many hosts. Long-time Superhost and the founder of HostWell Keith Freedman is apposed to the idea and recently shared his thoughts on the matter with us.
“While we expect to live in a “buyer beware” world, many buyers are holding sellers accountable for protecting them against their own decision not to buy insurance but want refunds if they have an interruption in their travel plans,” said Freedman.
“California already has a very generous mandatory 24-hour cancellation policy”, he added.
He went on to say “as a guest I understand the benefit, but I’ve always honored the hosts cancellation policy and booked accordingly. If I’m unsure, I don’t book a strict cancellation policy listing”.
Freedman asserted that “Airbnb could solve some of this problem. Airbnb could automate this. Most hosts aren’t looking to double their revenue; they just want to get paid for nights that were kept off the market on someone else behalf”.
“Airbnb could implement a “refund on rebooking” policy and automate the money handling,” Freedman concluded.