Airbnb Hosts Fighting Back: Unlist Your Account on April 1

blank

Calling all Airbnb hosts: Anyone who wishes to participate in the #HOSTSFIGHTBACK initiative please read onward.

On April 1st, 2020 at 9:00 AM we will delist all of our properties from the Airbnb platform in an effort to communicate to Airbnb Corporate that we are not in agreement with their cancellation and refund efforts made during the coronavirus outbreak.

To date, I have lost 65 reservations and almost $48,000 in revenue across my short-term portfolio from Airbnb for the months of March through May 2020. Some of which were guests who received a full refund without falling under the extenuating circumstances policy.

Reading some of your comments on this Facebook Page, it appears that hosts’ cancellation policies are not being upheld and instead of finding creative and fair ways to offer guests and hosts a fair solution during this pandemic, Airbnb has almost completely sided with guests offering full refunds during this difficult time, leaving hosts completely out to dry.

Other short-term rental platforms like VRBO are upholding cancellation policies entirely, and booking.com and corporate hotels are offering travel vouchers to use to be used at a later date. Why are we being treated differently by Airbnb?

Aside from the total disregard of our cancellation policies, I find it appalling that Airbnb is still collecting its host fee on these cancellations they are processing in-house. I have confirmed via the payout transactions page on my personal account that Airbnb collected $79.29 worth of host fees on cancellations from my end, which means they have collected $158.58 total, including the guests’ cancellation fees.

It might sound like a small number, but multiply it by 150 million users on the platform to find out how much Airbnb has taken from you. Go into your “transaction history” page and download a CSV of your transactions. You will see the “host fee” column once you download it.

It appears that the “host fee” is being still being charged or collected on Airbnb’s part and split with the account owner. As you will notice when you check individual reservation details, the service fee is clearly being taken out of your payout (see screenshot).

I believe as hosts and as property owners who are risking our most precious assets, we have a right to be heard. Without us, the platform would cease to exist. Let our voices be heard by delisting your property on April 1st starting at 9:00 AM to trigger an Airbnb meltdown, forcing Brian Chesky and the other decision-makers at Airbnb to hear our concerns and pay attention to our policies.

You do not have to deactivate your account. We are asking that you un-list. How do you unlist? Sign into your Airbnb account and click “listings”. Scroll down to “listing status”. Click “edit” and then “unlist”. This will temporarily unlist your Airbnb listing from the platform which will in turn trigger a response from Airbnb Corporate.

Posted in Airbnb Host Stories and tagged , , , , , .

16 Comments

  1. Hosts that are holding people to reservations during a global health emergency shouldn’t be hosts in the first place. Walk out, de-list, and stay gone.

  2. I agree and will unlist my properties on April 1st. Does anyone know if there is a way to Sue AIRBNB to overwrite our non-cancelation policy and refund 100% even after April 14th.100%

    Do you know any of the hudge Law forms to work on this ???

  3. Now that the screen captures are up, I can see what you are talking about. That shows the host what Airbnb removed from the host’s payout to refund the guest. It does not show the total amount that the guest was actually refunded.

    Why don’t you contact that specific guest and ask them what their refund was and then get back to us?

  4. Most of my income is in March and April. I pay my property taxes and living dvv CB lenses with it do that’s why I have a strict cancellation policy. Guests could have bought insurance to protect themselves from loss my strict cancellation policy is not greed but an attempt to protect myself from loss. The airlines aren’t refunding ticket prices and air B and B can afford and ought to cover the losses when they plan to override cancellation policies.

    • “Guests could have bought insurance to protect themselves from loss”

      No, they couldn’t. No travel insurance covers pandemics. None.

      “air B and B can afford and ought to cover the losses”

      No, they can’t. They’d literally run out of cash in a few weeks. It’s hard to say because they don’t publish statistics of how many listings have strict cancellation policy (and those are all that matters for this discussion). But if they refunded guests and allowed hosts to keep the 50%, I estimate they’d deplete their entire $3B cash reserves in 2 to 4 months. They’d file bankruptcy before that, though.

      • James, yes there is insurance that covers pandemics under cover all section of policies. Cover all means cover all including pandemics.

      • While Trip Cancellation covers traveler’s most common concerns, it doesn’t cover everything. If you are concerned the Trip Cancellation benefit doesn’t have enough coverage, the Cancel For Any Reason upgrade may be a good option for you. This benefit offers a partial refund of your expenses, typically 75%, if you cancel a trip for a reason not listed under Trip Cancellation. However it requires you to insure your full trip cost, and is only available for 14-30 days after you book your trip. The Cancel for Any Reason benefit will increase your premium by about 40%.

  5. This is NOT a time to be in-fighting. It’s a time to unify.

    ABB policies have been unfair towards hosts for a long time, and this is an opportunity to have our voices heard and set a precedent.

    Yes, some credit cards offer travel protection, but not all. Normal cancellation policies were not adhered to before and are not even practical in a pandemic situation.

    Reasonable accommodation during these times is needed to be safe, and to stay in business on all levels.

    This should be a well thought-out, interactive professionally approached community discussion on the platform, and social media as well if we are to be heard, and to use this as a foundation for additional fair and equitable change.

    Thank you.

  6. Directed toward Pissed off, why are u so Pissed off? Clearly this issue does not apply to you but I do respect your right to voice your opinion, despite it not pertaining to your original concern prompting you to post on this site.

    I am willing to participate in this walkout on April 1. Yes Diane it may fail, but it’s better to try then not try all. There were many other options AirBNB could have chosen to address the cancellation/refund issue, options that’d provide a fair resolution for the parties involved.
    At no time did anyone wish to put travelers in danger by insisting they travel. What a ignorant comment for someone to imply. The issue is the loss of revenue hosts are suffering as a result of the cancellations. I feel AirBNB should’ve directed travelers to seek reimbursements from their credit card companies who automatically provide travelers insurance in purchase protection agreement.

    I wouldn’t attack someone for making a suggestion to organize a call to action. And I definitely wouldn’t be so petty as to challenge their ability to do math on a public forum. That’s toxic.

    Lets use this site to vent our frustrations share our thoughts and opinions and collaborate together to invoke change with AirBNB.

    • Airbnb don’t give a toss about you Share y.chavis …. and more likely they will come at you for placing this er .. protest/complaint? on Airbnb from Hell of all places….. do you honestly think this large company will “change” just because you are protesting/complaining? – no it won’t – not until you and your members get together worldwide and walk off their website (and in exceptionally large numbers I mighty add)…. for good….. not just temporarily because you are losing money.

      If you want more evidence then look no further than this site which was designed literally because Airbnb don’t listen to anyone – and why should they when it works on human greed. Your protest, is totally hollow and to many on this site, futile. Would love to see your protest prove this website and myself wrong…. but don’t hold your breath.

    • “And I definitely wouldn’t be so petty as to challenge their ability to do math on a public forum. That’s toxic.”

      Sorry, but the original poster made a conjecture about what was actually refunded to the guest, and then extrapolated to that to every Airbnb user, not just the ones with reservations during this time, not just the ones with reservations at listings with strict cancellation policies, and not just the ones that actually cancelled. Such misinformation is what is truly toxic.

  7. You are willing to complain about Airbnb now Airbnb isn’t suiting you and losing business – or not servicing your requirements – yet you will start up again after this virus crisis is over ….. now isn’t that ironic? or is it just wanting your cake and eat it?

  8. Your math makes absolutely no sense. Host service fees are 3% of the nightly rate. You said you lost almost $48,000. That would be over $1400, not $79.29. Guest service fees are actually 12% minimum, so your $158.58 number is completely bogus. 150M users has nothing to do with how much Airbnb has taken from you. All that matters is the value of reservations that were cancelled, and even then, it would apply only to reservations at listings with strict cancellation policies. It’s hard to believe that you are an Airbnb host and don’t know these things, and it’s harder to believe that you run a business and are so bad with numbers.

    It’s really too bad that there are so many greedy hosts that would rather get a payout and put lives at risk than do the right thing to slow the pandemic. Your businesses are likely tanked for 6 months and you’re worried about 5 weeks worth of cancellations? Start thinking about the big picture, like doing the right things to help the travel industry rebound as soon as possible by slowing the pandemic, and figuring out how your business can survive 6 months or more without revenue. In the long run, the 5 weeks of cancellations are not important.

  9. Unfortunately I don’t think this will work. Air B and B had $38 billion. A few of even slog of hosts delisting will not make a difference

  10. Vrbo is threatening that if hosts don’t give a 50% refund or reschedule Vrbo will lower their ranking preventing us from being high in search hurting our business.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *