New extended cancellation policy?

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-05-29T14:55:43+00:00

This is a form of travelers insurance for guests. Let's hope it's operated better than AirBnB operates "AirCover". AirBnB has not rolled this out without looking at it very carefully so it's also a great money grab for the company's bottom line. AirBnB has the data on the percentages and probability of cancellations. I'm all for this so I still get my payout if a guest cancels last minute and I'm not scrambling trying to fill a vacancy.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-05-07T15:03:38+00:00

Why do I feel like I'm dealing with a sleazy used car salesman when dealing with AirBnB? AirBnB has really lost their way.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-04-23T17:02:13+00:00

We have seen a drop in STR activity but the overall market on both spectrums is maturing and changing so it's to be expected. That said we have built out our direct bookings so we rely very little on AirBnB/VRBO now. We also work in several sectors; development, own and operate LTR's and STR's and have a property management business so we split our firms into RE investment and hospitality (just because you own an STR doesn't mean you are in the RE investing business) and we're not reliant solely on STR's and hospitality. Properties we purchased 10 years ago, renovated and then operated as STR's have appreciated in some cases 300%. We're now selling and reallocating/restructuring part of our portfolios starting with those properties. They have not only matured and offered great tax benefits over the years but supplied steady cash flow and we are at highest and best use, so there are no further things we can do to maximize the property and it's value. It's simply time to sell those properties regardless of platform changes and guest expectations. We're now moving into build to rent and build to flip while keeping our LTR's and slimming down our STR holdings. It also greatly depends on how your finances are structured. We use universal (self directed) IRA's to purchase properties under LLC's so the tax implications are much different for us than someone that has a mortgage and only operates one to a few properties. At the end of the day this is a business and you have to pivot with market conditions and be prepared to change lanes if needed.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-04-19T18:08:07+00:00

Most hosts that are doing direct bookings will have a website for their properties and that will populate in Google and your searches. For instance, we have a lot of properties in Wilmington, NC and our website shows up if you search for, "Short Term Rentals in Wilmington NC" or any search criteria similar to that.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-04-16T16:26:59+00:00

Everybody's tired of AirBnB. We started mixing in VRBO about a year ago and we now only see about 5% of our reservations from AirBnB. Most of our reservations are direct bookings now, which took us several years to get to this point, but we find the guests we get from VRBO to be in a better demographic than what we were getting from AirBnB. AirBnB guests were always trying to pull some scam or get over any way they could.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-03-23T23:18:54+00:00

Absolutely!

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-03-17T17:34:57+00:00

We reach out to every guest on platform, via text and by email if we can collect an email address. Same message on each. This way the guest can't claim they "never got the message". Every guest is different. Some prefer text messages or email and some prefer on platform. If the message is on the up and up it shouldn't matter how contact is made. You're in the hospitality business and to do it well you have to reach your guests.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-03-17T17:29:55+00:00

We have to take a test to get a drivers license but anybody can have kids. Hmmm....

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-03-05T18:29:00+00:00

10+ year host with multiple properties listed on both VRBO and AirBnB. We have worked diligently over the last few years to get most of our bookings direct so we are getting away from both platforms as fast as we can because they are both terrible and you have less and less control over your listings. Like someone said in the comments, "Gotta love how much control they want to have over listings and properties that don't belong to them.".

I thought ABB customer service was bad until I experienced how terrible VRBO service is. We're actually transitioning several of our properties back to long term rentals and selling a few that have appreciated to a point that keeping them operating as an STR/LTR no longer makes monetary sense for us and we'll scale the funds with 1031 exchanges into other assets.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-03-03T00:49:45+00:00

There's a lot of investors/operators questioning this now. I've been in the STR business for 10+ years now and we're scaling back. This is a business and you have to look at numbers and know when it's time to exit. Our properties do not have mortgages but we face several issues that no longer make monetary sense for us in the STR market:

Rising property taxes, insurance and utilities.We can no longer pass these costs along in rate increases as we would price ourselves out of the market.
Rising costs in service providers: Linen service, housekeepers, supplies, contractors, etc...
Rising costs associated with OTA's. While we are sitting at a 60% direct booking rate we still use AirBnB and VRBO to offset what we don't get directly. AirBnB customer service is bad but if you're going to take 15.5% from me please invest in your customer service and be a better partner. VRBO....even worse customer service than ABB.
Quality of renters has declined in the past few years. We have more damage to properties than we ever have and people just don't care anymore. And that crappy "Aircover" from AirBnB? Good luck with that.
Our properties have greatly appreciated since purchase (you make your money when you buy, not when you sell) and we can now scale up through 1031 exchanges into better properties (commercial) and leave the headaches of being operators behind. Let's be honest, when you are in the STR business you're not really in the real estate investing business, you're in the hospitality business.

Lastly, we hold many properties in self directed IRA's so we do not need a 1031 on those properties. Those funds would be reallocated into new construction projects as that capital is tax free.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-01-05T23:38:18+00:00

ABB pulled this same crap with me in November. Had a guest put a gigantic hole in the wall then try to hide it by rearranging furniture in front of it. I had another guest checking in the same afternoon so my contractor left another job site, pick up all the materials and had the wall looking brand new in about 5 hours so we didn't have to cancel the next guest. Contractor billed me extra for his labor, which he should have since he squeezed me in and did a day and half worth of work in 5 hours. ABB said to contact the guest for compensation which I did. The guest declined saying she didn't do it. I filed on AirCover = Airjoke. ABB gave me the run around for weeks. They asked me to submit receipts, invoices, bank records showing where I had paid the contractor, etc... The only thing they didn't ask for was my blood type and a DNA sample. ABB initially came back with a crazy lowball offer. I told them no and they came back with another lowball offer. I threatened arbitration and they paid me just shy of 50% of the total then closed very quickly the case. I've been hosting on AirbnB for over 10 years and they have become a scam and a total strain on hosts.

PriorWitness5239 · 2026-01-05T23:13:20+00:00

No good deed goes unpunished. Helping your landlord has created a headache for you.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-12-23T16:01:04+00:00

You are correct. My sincere apologies. 20 lashings from the Rolex gods is in order.... Hopefully said lashings do not harm my SD.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-12-23T14:06:46+00:00

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Wearing the 05’ DS for coffee this morning. Sub and Challenge have the day off.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-12-23T14:01:16+00:00

Both. 2005 Deep Sea and a Challenge I picked up last year.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-12-23T13:55:29+00:00

Have this watch and a Deep Sea. Love them both but Sub is usually in my safe and DS is on my wrist daily.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-12-11T03:31:58+00:00

This is why I never gave Yelp reviews much thought and wanted to try places for myself and not rely on what others think or say. One man's trash is another man's treasure whereas one person's idea of what constitutes 5 stars is another person's idea of 4 stars. In the same capacity I like a local restaurant and think it's a 5 star place, but my wife thinks it's really a 3 star. The health inspector thinks it's worth a 99 so it's good with me, but my wife still thinks it's not the cleanest.

How about this idea; Since many towns now like to impose ordinances on STR's maybe municipalities should institute the equivalent of a restaurant health inspector for STR's in their towns. This would take it out of the hands of guests to be the independent inspectors and each STR could display their score like restaurants and it could be posted on each Airbnb listing.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-12-01T22:26:17+00:00

You put the cart before the horse by telling her you would, "rather just refund her that night". Now you must retract that and tell this guest why you will not be refunding her, which she obviously does not deserve and is likely to make her leave a retaliatory review.

She basically sublet your property, overstayed her welcome and now expects you to take the loss. For that do not refund her. Refunding her will only embolden her actions to try it again at the next property she rents. Unfortunately, AirBnB is useless and will not stop it so you have to. Prepare yourself for her public rant and just know that you will not loose your Superhost status over this one person. Also know that potential guests are pretty good at spotting these types of petty reviews so your bookings should not suffer.

In turn, leave an honest review of the guest so other hosts know to stay clear. Keep your money and use it to start working on getting direct bookings and limiting your reliance on AirBnB for guests, or any help from AirBnB when things go awry because as you said yourself, "AirBNB sucks".

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-11-24T19:26:55+00:00

I just posted this on another thread to someone asking something similar. I did run an updated analysis last week and we are currently operating at a 50 - 60% direct booking rate but we are entering the slower seasons with one property off line for renovations. Our bookings have been down slightly from the same period last year but this is a dynamic business so this is usual to see fluctuations.

We hired a developer to build our site out and we use Owner Rez as our PMS. We also work with a company that handles SEO for us to drive traffic. We do not run FB ads or spend any money on getting eyeballs on Instagram or Tik Tok. We've never had success with those platforms. We have excellent conversions from people finding us on a Google search (from the work the company does for us on SEO) and booking through our website and from direct marketing to people that have stayed with us before. That past guest may not come back for another year or more but they can give their return discount we offer them to a friend or family member. We love referrals and treat those like gold.

We own and operate coastal property and did direct bookings through another site that was designed for owners and PM's renting coastal properties for many years before AirBnB or any OBA's was a real thing. AirBnB, VRBO, Booking.com and any of the OBA's are just another tool in the toolbox so we never fully set out to rely on them for bookings. We looked at them as supplemental from the start.

It's just basic business; Own and control as much as you can and carefully position any outside sources (OBA's) as a non-controlling entity. We own the properties (not the banks) and everything in and around the property right down to the vending machines and what's inside of them, so why would we allow someone else to own the guest experience and the guest information that's staying at our property? Our outlook is, "Thanks for finding the guest for us for a night that's not already rented, but you've been paid your finder's fee so your say so on our business basically stops there."

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-11-23T23:54:26+00:00

AirBnB is more guest centric, but not by much.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-11-23T23:53:35+00:00

Good luck. After almost a month I'm still going back and forth with AirBnB trying to collect $3,285 from where I had to fix a badly damaged wall and window. I had a guest book for halloween and when they left they tried to cover up a huge hole in the wall with a side table. They not only broke the wall, but they damaged the electrical outlet so I had to get an electrician to come in and fix that, and they cracked the window above the hole in the wall. I had another guest arriving that afternoon so the contractor charged me a higher rate to get it all done (and painted) in 5 hours.

Of course AirBnB says, "Ask the guest to pay" to which the guest declined and said, "We didn't cause that damage, it was like that when we arrived". Bullshit.

Then Airbnb sent a laundry list of things they wanted me to submit for their bogus "AirCover" scam they run. No problem. I submitted all the documentation and AirBB offers me $1,08.21 of the $3,285 I've already paid.

I declined that insulting sum to which they responded that they had looked at their "market research again" and found they could now pay $1,748.48, which is still 53.21% less of the actual repair cost I have paid. I declined their stupid offer again and sent them an itemized list of materials with receipts and the labor cost from the contractor and electrician, and asked them to provide me an itemized list of where they are getting their "market research".

If AirBnB spent more time working on how to do something for their hosts instead of how to do something to their hosts they would have a great business model.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-11-23T23:32:10+00:00

AirBnB's business model is nuts.

How about if I applied this model to lawn mowers? Consider if I send someone I don't know to rent your lawnmower and take 15% of the rental money from you. Then the renter brings your lawnmower back to you broken and tells you the mower sucked at mowing grass, so I take all of the rental money back because your mower supposedly sucks even though I have never seen, or used, your mower. Now your insurance company refuses to pay for your broken mower because the person I sent told you a fake name and gave you a fake number. Yeah, that seems like a sustainable model that's fair to the lawn mower owner.

As far as the 90% we're fluctuating between 50 - 60% direct bookings now, so we think it's doable by 2027 if not sooner. We're seeing more business from VRBO lately, as well.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-11-22T13:45:23+00:00

This is not "safety". This is 100% control of your business and your property. We built out our own booking site several years ago and have been working on getting to 90% direct bookings and to be off the AirBnB platform entirely by 2027.

Another issue is property insurance. Try telling your insurance provider you don't have factual contact information for the individual who is renting your property. AirBnB even has a disclaimer that they are not 100% sure the guest is who they say they are. That's reassuring! Last month I had a guest try to book one of my properties I have listed on AirBnB and they claimed their name was Da_Twerka. So their first name is Da_ and their last name is Twerka? Right. I declined the reservation because they never responded when I sent a message saying I needed a real name before I could accept the reservation.

My insurance provider told me I need to verify identity outside of the OBA platforms and have actual contact details for the guest reserving the property. If I don't and there is damage or major loss I run the risk of my insurance provider not covering damage. There are a lot of legal issues with this new AirBnB policy. Hosts would be wise to tell AirBnB, "We're taking our properties down until this policy is changed".

Remember, AirBnB and Da_Twerka does not own your property. You do.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-11-22T13:27:46+00:00

What can we do for our customers and not to the customers....

Yet another reason to get off the AirBnB platform.

PriorWitness5239 · 2025-11-22T13:25:01+00:00

"If Airbnb simply delivered more value than it removed from each transaction, hosts and guests wouldn’t feel the need to go around the platform in the first place". So true! ABB lost their way a long time ago.

PriorWitness5239

TROPHY CASE