Welcome to another Ask Me Anything (Ask Us Anything?) episode! Each week we’ll answer your questions on STR, real estate, OTAs, and everything in between.

Courtney asks:

We recently had a situation with Airbnb in which a guest had not signed a rental agreement within 48 hours of booking, which is specified in our listing’s rules. Airbnb refused to uphold our rule, and stated that the guests had until the moment of check-in to meet our requirement of signing the rental agreement.

Airbnb has very much sided with guests, claiming that they would not cancel the reservation on their end until that moment of check-in, and even going so far as to threaten me about canceling the reservation as a host because of their new policy (which just took effect in August).

How do you go about ensuring that guests sign a rental agreement when Airbnb won't uphold your rules?

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[00:00:05] You're listening to the Thanks for Visiting podcast. We believe hosting with heart is at the core of every short-term rental. With Annette's background in business operation--

[00:00:14] And Sarah's extensive hospitality management and interior design experience, we have welcomed thousands of guests from over 30 countries, earning us over a million dollars and garnering us thousands of five-star reviews. We love sharing creative ways for your listing to stand out, serve your guests and be profitable. Each episode, we will have knowledgeable guests who bring value to the short-term rental industry or--

[00:00:40] We will share our stories of our own experiences so you can implement actual improvements to your rentals. Whether you're experienced, new, or nervous to start your own short-term rental, we promise you'll feel right at home. Before we dive into the content, let's hear a word from our sponsor. Hello, listeners. Welcome back for another great week. My name is Sarah Karakaian.

[00:01:06] I am Annette Grant, and together we are--

[00:01:07] Thanks for Visiting.

[00:01:08] And we are coming at you with an AMA episode, Ask Me Anything, of course, it's Ask Us Anything. If you got a question related to the short-term rental industry, the business itself, how-tos, tips and tricks, whatever you got for us, we're here for you. You head to thanksforvisiting.me, in the upper right-hand corner is a red button it says Ask TFV. We will ask you to record your voice. And if selected, we will give you our thoughts and opinions right here on the show. Check player. Our question, Annette.

[00:01:33] Let's do it.

[00:01:34] Hi, ladies. Thank you for this new podcast segment. It's been really valuable.

[00:01:34] You're very welcome.

[00:01:34] My husband and I have two rental cottages in Western Michigan. We recently had a situation with Airbnb in which a guest had not signed a rental agreement within 48 hours of booking. We do specify in our listing rules that the rental agreement must be signed within 48 hours of booking, or else the reservation will be canceled. I called Airbnb, and they refuse to uphold our rule and stated that the guest had until the moment of check-in to meet our requirement of signing the rental agreement and that they would not cancel the reservation on their end until that time.

Clearly, this is not conducive for hosting. And I should not be surprised the Airbnb has very much sided with guests. They also threatened me about canceling the reservation as a host, especially with their new policy, which just took effect in August. How do you go about ensuring that guests sign a rental agreement when Airbnb won't uphold your rules? Thank you.

[00:02:29] Courtney sounds mad.

[00:02:32] No, we get you, Courtney.

[00:02:33] We get you, Courtney. And I also love how Courtney was like 48 hours or it's canceled. She's my kind of girl. We have so many thoughts for you, Courtney.

[00:02:40] So I will let you know Sarah and I went to the VRMA, which is the Vacation Rental Management Association international conference last year. I actually sat in on a session that was specifically about this, because I will let you know, historically, obviously, vacation rentals have been around for a very long time pre-Airbnb. And this was a hot topic of, hey, if they didn't have the rental agreement signed within a certain date of the reservation, the reservation was void, and they actually kept the deposit for it.

So I want to let you know, Courtney, that this is something on the vacation rental side and you're a vacation rental also. But when it was a direct booking, they upheld that and it was like, hey, they were keeping the deposit and not honoring the reservation. But that's for-

[00:03:20] But that's where the lead comes with direct booking.

[00:03:25] So the reason I'm bringing that up is we all need to take a deep breath because the lead was generated from Airbnb, the revenue is going to be generated from Airbnb. They are like you said, going to most likely side on the side of the guest. What we're thinking is that, hey, they really hadn't-- even though you said 48 hours and that was a rule, whoever you're talking to at Airbnb will probably, "Hey, they haven't checked in yet." Technically, they hadn't broken the rule quite yet maybe.

[00:03:55] That's the thing of this AMA is like Annette and I have so many questions we want to ask them additional information. So one question I have for you is did you reach out to the guest and remind them they hadn't signed yet and did they refuse? That is my question because if they refuse to sign in 48 hours, that's a red flag to me.

And then my next question for you is did they book via Instant Book feature? Because I just looked it up on the Airbnb website and it still says, "What if I feel uncomfortable with a reservation or a guest breaks one of my house rules and they book via Instant Book? Airbnb still has it on their site. In both of these situations, you'll be able to cancel penalty-free before or during the reservation. The cancellation penalties will be automatically waived and Airbnb will help the guest find another place to stay."

So my question is, did they book via Instant Book, and if they did is Airbnb still saying they have until check-in to sign the rental agreement? So one of our rules here in our metro markets is that we will not allow guests who live in Colombia to stay unless we have like a long drawn-out conversation and our gut is telling us different. But it does in our rules, we have the right to cancel if you are a local guest.

And so a gentleman did book, my team saw it, they flagged it, I got involved. And we told the guests, I didn't feel good about it as I didn't like the reason why he told me he was staying. And I erred on the side of my house rule that I have listed. And the reason I have listed my house rules is for not only instances like this, but we never want the guests to feel singled out, like oh, you don't want to book with me because of X, Y, and Z. And it's like, I don't want to book with you because you're a local guest and, unfortunately, other local guests have made it difficult to rent in the past.

So anyway, we brought up with Airbnb because they booked instantly and because it was in my house rules, they actually canceled the reservation before the guests even arrived. So I would love for you to let us know if they booked Instant Book or not because I think that would be a huge piece of information to help us understand what Airbnb is up to these days.

[00:05:49] Sure. Courtney, also, the instance that Sarah was just talking about that was pre the most recent. If a host cancels on a guest, there are some new parameters there. So I will say that was before that. And honestly, I'm just wondering too, I wish I could take a poll to all the listeners out there also probably depends on the actual rep that you're chatting with, what's going on, and the way that they're reading those specifics.

And also just looking bigger picture again, we wish we knew what the follow-up there was with the person checking in. And again, we don't know how close you are to the home, but is there a potentially like, "Hey, well, I'll just meet you there. Make sure you sign the agreement before you check in." Again, that's why we also recommend having boots on the ground. If you aren't there, then is there someone that you can send over say no worries, maybe the door code, you don't give them the door code and like, hey, you'll uphold the reservation, but you'll just meet them there, give them the door code when they sign the waiver.

So I also want to say if that's the way that Airbnb is going to go, let's have a backup plan, which that backup plan can be, you will just meet them there even though it's remote lock, you can give them the code in person when they sign the waiver. So I'm just trying to think of a backup plan for this that you could participate in.

[00:07:03] Well, let's say Courtney doesn't live there just for everyone listening in on what they would do. If Courtney doesn't live there, I do hope she a--

[00:07:06] Yeah, some boots on the ground that can go--

[00:07:11] Not even that. Just the SmartLock where she could send it over via like a Hello Sign.

[00:07:13] Oh, yes, he wants us to sign here.

[00:07:15] Once they sign and I get notification sign, you will then receive the lock information. And I would want to let listeners know too that I love the rule, the 48 hours within booking, sign this. We have that quote-unquote "rule" for a property of ours where we have an in-ground, hot tub and a beautiful fire pit. And so we ask guests to sign within 48 hours, or we reserve the right to cancel a reservation prior to check-in. That way, if when we send out the check-in instructions, they still haven't signed the waiver, we remind them, "Hey, you haven't signed the waiver yet. Remember, we will not give you your door code until this is signed."

Usually, if they forget to do it within 48 hours and we forget to follow up, then they do it at that point in time. So also, Courtney, I can tell it in your voice, you've got rules, and you've got a lot of love and respect for your property. And we get that. But we have to remember that we are playing by Airbnb's rules if we want the leads that they're going to generate for us. And so how can we play nice? If we have a guest who's not going to follow the 48-hour rule, maybe they're just got their hands full right now and it's not a crazy red flag, it's like them refusing to that would be also interesting to know.

But if we were to just okay, what is the worst-case scenario here? They sign and we don't give them the blocking code, now you have been writing from Airbnb that they will cancel a reservation on you because at the end of the day, your goal is to get your rental agreement signed before they check-in. That is your goal. And I know it stinks for you-- I don't know what Airbnb is going to do with that revenue if you do end up canceling, because they didn't follow your house rule.

According to their instant book policy, you would still get a portion of that whatever your cancellation policy is. But listen, everyone, this is the game we have to play if we want these leads from Airbnb. And that's another reason why Annette and I and so many other people in our space are really trying to educate everyone on how to generate our own leads, how to get direct booking to be cool again.

[00:09:01] And here's the thing, I'm going to side with all of the guests out there that things like this, please remember that even though they booked your property, they might have a million other things going on in their life. And it might just be something that seriously slipped their mind. Don't be afraid to remind them. And also, sometimes people if they aren't using the app a lot, they don't have their alerts turned on. This email might get lost in a slew of a million other emails. I know myself I have seven email accounts. I have alerts on for everything, so just also put yourself in the guest's shoes of like they're not a host a lot of times so they might not know how important this is. And sometimes you just need to remind them.

And so I'm going to let a lot of people know some of my personality out there that yeah, you got to just keep reminding me, I'll get it done. But it might not be on the top of their to-do list. It doesn't mean they have any malicious intent. They're not meaning to sign it or they're like, I'll just sign up when I get there or maybe someone made the reservation for the rest of the group, and they thought they were done. So just offering that up of just remind them that, hey, pick up the phone.

[00:10:09] Pick up the phone, text them the link to sign. Another thing, Annette, too, we could give to everyone else out there who wants to do an additional rental agreement, which I encourage you to do, not only have it in your house rules, not only have it in your-- Airbnb will allow you to have that one message that they see before they book. Remind them there they do have to sign an additional agreement directly with the host, the booking confirmation, you can remind them there, just offer up those reminders through the communication process.

[00:10:39] Yes. So it's noted, it's recorded there. But, Courtney, kudos to you because you've got your stuff dialed in. And we love that. And also, thanks for reaching out. Probably when this question airs, that guest is already logged in. But hopefully, us letting you know there's the secondary what Sarah was offering up and I was offering up about having the lock not be given over until the waiver is signed, that's a way to back that up if it gets closer in the 48 hours.

[00:11:07] Courtney, let us know what happens. On that note, we are going to sign off here soon. But just another friendly reminder, we are having our first live and in-person event in Vegas.

[00:11:14] Please come hang out with us. It is going to be so much-- and not just hang out with us, there are going to be hosts from all over this country. And I cannot wait to meet all of you and get photos and talk and all the things. So yes, come hang out with Sarah and I. But I'm telling you live events are game changers. I have yet to get one in my adult life that has not brought me an amazing relationship, an amazing business idea. And just change the game--

[00:11:44] Even an amazing business partner.

[00:11:46] Exactly. So--

[00:11:47]  That's how Annette and I met.

[00:11:48] It was a live event and I sat right down next to you. So if I hadn't done that night, we probably wouldn't know each other.

[00:11:54] We gave some love to some other presenters on our last AMA episode. So this one, I want to give some love to Arthur Kotler of StayFi. He is the CEO and founder of StayFi. He is going to be doing an educational session on email marketing. And he's not just going to talk at you, you are going to be able to bring out your laptops, pen, and paper. Let's get your email marketing sequence started.

[00:12:14] Let's just stop with Arthur on this one, Sarah, and we'll get more is that what we're talking about direct booking sites, this is what Arthur is going to teach you. When people are checking into your property and not just the person that made the reservation, every single person that logs on your Wi-Fi, Arthur has an amazing product StayFi that can just like when you go to a coffee shop, and you have to put your email and you'll get every guest. And he's going to teach you a, about that product and then b, what to do after you have those emails. So we are excited to have Arthur as a speaker and not only he's one of our sponsors, so we want to give him a huge shout-out for sponsoring the event.

[00:12:49] Huge shout-out. Thank you so much for believing in us and our event, Arthur. So if you have questions about Vegas, thanksforvisiting.me/vegas, there should be a video up there where we're going to give you a little behind-the-scenes info on exactly what's going to go on there. And we'd love to have you there. If you're in the Vegas area or you can fly in, we're going to have a lot of fun. And then directly after that is the VRMA International Conference. If you come to our event, we've got some discount codes for you for that event as well. So many things happening this fall.

[00:13:17] Let's hang out.

[00:13:19] Let's learn. Let's hang out. On that note, I am Sarah Karakaian.

[00:13:21] I am Annette Grant, and together we are--

[00:13:23] Thanks for Visiting.