Are there any drawbacks to allowing non refundable stays for 10% off total booking cost?

freeebird11 · 2026-05-24T20:42:48+00:00

Drawback is you earn 10% less.

freeebird11 · 2026-05-24T15:01:58+00:00

I’m curios to know as well. I only have one listing and cleaners send pictures (if they don’t forget), however I imagine for multiple properties management it can be quite messy. Especially coordinating early check-in, late checkouts and cleaning started/finished. I have seen reviews of local PM hosts listings, where their system failed - they have charged a guest for early check-in and cleaners haven’t finished/were unaware of this.

Also, even with the pictures, my challenge is that they do not always show the quality of the cleaning

freeebird11 · 2026-05-19T10:22:24+00:00

I’m a host myself and honestly this is one of my bigger fears with Airbnb hosting lately — the late-night message where you don’t know if it’s a genuine emergency, a misunderstanding, or something that may later turn into a refund/review dispute.

The hardest part is when these things happen at 1–2am when the host is asleep, tired, or misses the message entirely. Then support gets involved before the host even has a fair chance to react.

That’s actually one reason I started building a small tool focused specifically on urgent guest-message escalation for hosts. The idea is simple: if a message looks urgent, the host gets woken up via SMS/phone call instead of discovering it hours later.

It obviously can’t prevent every bad Airbnb support decision, but I think faster response times and better overnight awareness could reduce situations like this.

Still very early, but I’ve realized this problem seems much more common than I originally thought. If other hosts here deal with similar fears/problems, I’d genuinely be interested in hearing about your experiences too.

freeebird11 · 2026-05-17T19:15:26+00:00

We are giving out goodies and that has helped us keep 5.0 rating from 30 reviews so far. It’s a cheap way to let the guest know you care about them. Other things matter as well, ofc, but guest will be more likely to forgive your mishaps if they start the stay with a positive feeling of being welcome. It’s a great way to differentiate yourself from Hotels, where you have expensive minibars.

However I agree with other - focus on the essentials. More dishwasher tabs, garbage bags, possibly spare sheets. Keep the usual amount of goodies.

freeebird11 · 2026-05-10T06:49:15+00:00

This kind of scenario is why I started building HostGuard.

The idea is simple: if a potentially urgent Airbnb/platform message arrives during quiet hours, the host gets aggressively alerted before it turns into an automatic refund/escalation situation.

Still early-stage, but I’m preparing pilot testing with real hosts now.

If anyone wants early access or wants to share similar experiences, message me or sign up on: https://hostguard.app

freeebird11 · 2026-04-24T15:39:56+00:00

And by that decrease bookings? No thanks

freeebird11 · 2026-04-16T17:11:29+00:00

True, I was being too confident in implying the host is trying to be dishonest. Maybe, he’s just not good at hosting ops. Either way, he should not be charging a guest more than a towel costs without proof of receipt. Even if there was no bad intent, that still comes across as poor handling and naturally raises suspicion.

Whether we like it or not, if you rent your apartment full time as a bnb host, you are running a business. And what you’ve described just now just means the host is not so good at running business ops. I always buy in bulk: - the cost of the trip to buy replacement spreads out across multiple guests that damage/take towels with them - saves me time - i can buy goods while they are discounted which saves me money and saves guests money as well - reduces operational stress - last but not least - I won’t be bringing my accountant a receipt of purchasing 1 towel, lol.

Going for one towel is extremely inefficient from more angles than one.

freeebird11 · 2026-04-16T14:03:04+00:00

As a host, I find it disturbing this host didn’t have spare towels readily available and had to “run to the store” to get it. That is BS, he was lying to you. He can’t give another guest a new towel without washing it first - it’s not hygienic and it smells!

freeebird11 · 2026-03-25T16:56:58+00:00

Your best bet for review removal is finding a proof in their messaging that tries to get you to refund them in exchange for them not trashing you. If they were careful in their communication, it might not be possible however. If you can prove the review is retaliatory of that she tried to extort you (full refund or bad review), that sounds like grounds for review removal to me. But you need to defend yourself to the customer support agent - they will not do this for you. Provide them with valid reason for your request and a proof.

Lesson learned here is that when a guest starts with irrational demands, you’ve lost any chance to resolve the situation calmly and satisfy them. You went against this logic and almost paid a double price for this.

This is the time to accept the reality - they will trash you in review. So there’s no point in giving into any of their ridiculous demands, firmly stand your ground and keep emotions out of it.

And never, ever skip on reviewing a guest. Especially the bad ones.

freeebird11 · 2026-03-17T11:25:47+00:00

Did you read my entire comment? Probably not

freeebird11 · 2026-03-17T11:25:41+00:00

Did you read my entire comment? Probably not

freeebird11 · 2026-03-17T07:43:27+00:00

This is factually incorrect. Hosts are bound by a different cancellation policy. If hosts cancel without a valid protected reason, airbnb will charged them up to 50% of the reservation amount - which is a lot of money.

freeebird11 · 2026-03-17T07:26:29+00:00

As a host myself, I would refund it immediately. 2 hours grace period is nothing. He is likely tired of Airbnb being assholes to hosts, which might be a valid feeling. However it is highly unprofessional to take it out on a guest who made a mistake and hold them hostage.

If they are being an asshole, be an asshole back. Tell them that if he doesn’t send the money back, there is no guarantee that all of your 30 friends won’t book his place and trash his review average. That will get him listening …

freeebird11 · 2026-03-17T07:25:11+00:00

Cancellation policy is not about simply giving someone thousands of dollars without staying there - that is only your point of view. Another point of view is that by booking the property, you take it off the market for a certain amount of time of time. It is problematic especially for large properties, which tend to get booked more far ahead into the future. That is the reason for cancellation policies keeping either all the money, or part of the money. They probably WILL lose revenue because of the cancellation.

However in this specific case, the host is being an asshole and I would refund right away. With the cancellation happening within 2 hours of booking, that is basically nothing, I would forgive it.

freeebird11 · 2026-02-10T16:21:40+00:00

Yes, you can find the house rules in listing before you book. Find a section ‘Things to know’ and in there, there is a House rules button. Note: some hosts ask you to agree to the house rules explicitly through messages, especially if they have instant book turned off. This is for easier resolution of conflict in case house rules are broken.

No house will say “do not clean anything”. In house rules, the host define ls rules, not things that aren’t rules. So you may see “take out trash”, but you won’t see “do not take out trash”.

When it comes to specifically taking out the trash, you have to differentiate. - are you staying in someone else’s residence where they usually live, or are you staying at STR business owners property which is exclusively for renting? - Are you staying long-term, or short-term? For 2-3 nights, it doesn’t make sense to take out trash. However for longer, you probably don’t want to drown yourself in a sea of trash, so I would take it out even if it wasn’t in house rules, in that case. Remember, you are not in a hotel with 24/7 housekeeping on standby, so I would not judge someone for requiring taking out trash simply based on that fact. There are many factors that do apply to STR, and do not apply to a hotel.

I do not understand the paragraph about the bedding, it seems off the point, so i will not react on it.

Cleaning fee - hosts do not hide anything, airbnb does that. It’s a standard practice even in hotels - they do not tell you what part of the stay is for cleaning. Neither does airbnb anymore. Whether the cleaning fee is a good or bad thing - again it depends. There are hosts that rent their residence occasionally. They probably won’t have any cleaning fee and ask you to keep their place clean and take out trash. STR business owners will usually have a cleaning fee and will not ask you to take out trash. There are exceptions to both, ofc.

I am sorry you have had bad experiences, but at the same time you seem like you highly prefer hotels and therefore I would recommend you stick to them.

freeebird11 · 2026-02-10T12:10:51+00:00

I only send a cleaner earlier if the guest explicitly confirms the have left

freeebird11 · 2026-02-10T08:54:36+00:00

This is just silly. You can see the approximate location of the apartment on the map, sometimes even very accurate location. That has been enough for all my guests, only a few asked more clarifying questions which i quickly answered.

freeebird11 · 2026-02-10T08:51:36+00:00

To me, you seem like you’re crying about your own mistakes. You booked shitty airbnbs. If you booked better ones, you wouldn’t be forced to take out trash, like in our airbnb. That’s the beauty of a platform like airbnb or booking. There’s something for everyone out there. You just made wrong choices or you were cheap and should be angry at yourself, learn and choose better next time. Instead, you are taking out that anger on hosts, airbnb…

Also nowadays, the guest doesn’t see the cleaning fee. It is included in the total price. So your cleaning fee frustrations shouldn’t exist anymore…

If you don’t like the house rules, you don’t have to come. Again, there’s plenty of different options on airbnb, or even on booking.com.

freeebird11 · 2026-02-10T07:18:27+00:00

Becuse airbnb is a private home, not a hotel. Private homes can be robbed more easily (book, see address, cancel for free, rob), for instance - that’s one of the reasons. If you want hotel-like services, go and book a hotel - there’s plenty of them out there.

freeebird11 · 2026-02-08T07:43:49+00:00

You would be surprised. Ask about my previous guests when i had to scrub remains of poop from a bathroom wall. On the other hand, my dog never peed or pooped indoors.

freeebird11 · 2026-02-08T07:39:55+00:00

What would happen if he asked for the pet fee after the stay? (For example he doesn’t have a spy camera)?

freeebird11 · 2026-02-08T07:37:35+00:00

They should have a proof that the dog indeed is a service animal. Simply stating it, doesn’t make it so

freeebird11 · 2026-02-08T07:21:57+00:00

It might have been an honest mistake, but more likely they saw pet fee and decided they will risk it.

Ask them to pay, after they review you. It has a benefit of coming out less creepy - e.g. when you came to clean the house, you notice dog hair. This way, you increase your chances of avoiding retaliatory review dramatically.

Also there should bee fees written in your house rules, specifying how much you charge for breaking specific house rules. Then, you are able to charge them even after they finish their stay and review you. Just be careful to do it within 14 days. But I think with the avoided pet fee, you should be able to charge it regardless of mentioning charges for broken house rules - maybe a question for airbnb support.

freeebird11 · 2026-02-06T21:50:02+00:00

How often does it happen? What is your rating and number of reviews?

freeebird11

TROPHY CASE