Korean Regulations Override Airbnb Cancellation Policy

A lot of people who host on AirBnB are wary of the cancellation policies. Keeping a strict cancellation policy gives you the peace of mind that once a booking is made, some of the money is secure. A lot of hosts use this strict policy which is still arguably not strong enough as a guest can cancel 8 days before and get 50% off their money back. Usually people do not cancel but every now and again, it happens so you need to be prepared. You also need to be ready if AirBnB deem it to be mitigating circumstances and then your policy gets completely overridden. Today though, we talk about the legislation of South Korea which has pressured AirBnB to loosen their cancellation policy for South Korean tourists.

Strict cancellation policies do not count for South Korean tourists. The policy which will take effect is the following;

  • Up to 30 days before the trip, guests get a full refund if they cancel including all AirBnB fees.
  • Within 30 days of the trip up until 12PM on the day of the checkin will ensure guests get 50% refund and a refund of all AirBnB fees.
  • If a guest cancels during the trip before 12PM of that day, they will receive a 50% refund on the remaining booking value, excluding AirBnB fees. Cancel after 12PM and you get the refund, but you lose that night.

This is a mind blowing addition for hosts to think about. Korean guests now have terms which are far superior to any other nation on cancelling bookings. Recently we received such a booking from a Korean guest. We were notified about these new rules which you can read here. We were also alerted that we would not be penalized for declining the booking. We accepted it this time. I can see a bit of a hole being dug though by AirBnB. All it takes is for a host to have a bad experience with this policy and they will ban all Korean guests from their properties.

Cancellation policies are there so that a host can secure the income. Guests see these before booking and agree to them when booking. This South Korean regulation has recently been implemented. It is too early to see how it will affect Korean tourists who venture overseas and whether more of these will see their reservations declined. It is also too early to know whether AirBnB will roll out similar policy changes for other nations. Would you host a guest with such a lenient policy enforced on you? Let us know!

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