Airbnb wants to get hosts away from Strict cancellation

Had a little message in my email this a.m. from Airbnb. Updates to your long-term stay cancellation policy Last year, we introduced a new long-term stay cancellation policy called Firm . Hosts who adopted this policy saw great results, on average listings with this new policy saw a 9 increase in the number of nights booked across stays of 28 nights or more. Because of the success of this new policy, if you currently have the Strict policy selected were updating it to the new Firm policy on Wednesday, March 8. The change will apply to reservations made on Wednesday, March 8 or later, and it wont affect any pending or confirmed reservations. They give you the chance to bail out and be able to keep your strict policy, but I think this is odd for them to be deciding whats best for hosts. Why do you think its odd. zillacop - Airbnb has a long history of deciding whats best when it comes to marketing your STR business through their platform and why wouldnt they - the success of their business model depends on it. Obviously for them their goal is to get guests to book using their platform. More flexible longer term booking cancellation policies will encourage more guests to book longer stays through them. And Airbnb have made it clear as bookings for STRs fall in many areas as tourism falls and we have the impact of Covid that LTR rentals are a market they want to focus on. I agree its disingenuous in terms of how they presented the information. I have already opted out. This is just for long-term bookings 28 days. From what I can tell, most people here dont allow those anyway. I welcome longer stays, and I always thought that Airbnbs automatic strict policy on them was a bit harsh. For me, 30 days out is just fine. I actually just went in and changed mine to firm ahead of the deadline. I have someone who is on the fence about booking a month in June, and this might help her decide. My shorter stays are set at moderate and I plan to leave them that way. Personally, when Im looking for a place to stay, I dont consider booking strict listing until Im pretty much on my trip already. mica555 When I initially got the message from Air, I thought it was for all bookings. I dont do long term bookings. Wonder how Air will keep it all straight, short term you can keep your strict, long term it goes to firm. Ive had the firm policy since I started in this location. No problems with it so far. zillacop Wonder how Air will keep it all straight, short term you can keep your strict, long term it goes to firm. They are listed separately in your booking settings. If you dont allow long term bookings, perhaps it doesnt show up for you. image 11702532 200 KB In my area, long term bookings of a month or more are not uncommon, in the high season they are mandatory. However, other than the high season, a month long booking cancelled 31 days before the stay is to start will likely lose you the month. Most longer stays are booked 6 months to a year out. Shorter stays tend to be booked closer to the stay. If someone cancels 5 or 6 months out, I have a good chance of rebooking, and I dont mind refunding everything. If someone cancels a month or two out Im might be able to get some of the month booked, but not likely all of it. There is where we refund anything that gets booked, so they get some of their money back, and occasionally all of it.