Hometime standard offboarding process
Please note that it is standard procedure that the listing that was created under Hometime is not given back to the homeowner. This is the intellectual property of Hometime. This includes any future bookings (if they are not honoured by the homeowner) that were secured under the listing.
Example email response for a HO requesting their listing or future reservations:
I'm sorry to inform you that we cannot transfer the Airbnb listing or any of the future bookings secured under this listing.
The primary reason for this is that Airbnb does not allow the transfer of reservations to different Airbnb accounts. In addition, Hometime manages many other properties in your area and all of these listings are managed from the same Airbnb account. So your property is one of many properties that are all consolidated in one account for ease of management internally. Due to this, we cannot give you access to your listing without giving you access to every other listing we manage in the surrounding area.
Unfortunately, you will have to create a new Airbnb listing for your property after you have terminated with Hometime and we will deactivate your listing within our account. We must also proceed with moving the future bookings to other properties to avoid you being charged Airbnb cancellation fees.
Hometime Standard process:
- Homeowner provides written notice of their intent to terminate their contract with Hometime (either communicated to Hometime or their Hosting Partner)
- All currently secured bookings within the XX-day notice period of the contract are honoured by the homeowner and completed.
- Homeowner decides whether they would like to stay with Hometime until all future bookings are fulfilled (and the calendar is blocked thereafter), or whether they want to terminate as soon as the notice period is finished
- The calendar for the property is then blocked for all dates past the contract termination date (if terminating asap), or the calendar is blocked for all dates past the notice period and between existing bookings (if honouring bookings).
- This ensures that guests can book the property up until the end of the notice period date, but no new bookings come in after the termination date.
- If the Homeowner wishes to terminate as soon as the notice period is finished, then any current bookings out past the XX-day notice period will be moved by your Hosting Partner to a different comparable property nearby. However, this is at the discretion of the guest.
- If the guest does not want to be moved or there are no suitable properties in the nearby area to move the guests to, the booking must be cancelled (and guests are refunded)
- Cancellation of bookings can come with Airbnb penalty fees, called 'Host Cancellation Fees'. This is an initiative by Airbnb to discourage homeowners from cancelling bookings on guests
- Further information on these fees can be found here.
- In some cases (mentioned in the linked article) these cancellation fees can be waived, but only in specific circumstances and at Airbnb's discretion
- Once all future bookings have either been honoured/fulfilled or moved to different properties:
- There is then an internal process to finalise your last statement with Hometime and ensure you are paid for your final bookings.
- Once the contract termination date is reached:
- The dynamic pricing algorithm for your property is disabled
- Your listing is disabled on Airbnb.
Hosting Partner process:
- Each Hosting Partner with Hometime has their unique and preferred process for offboarding properties under their management
- Please liaise with your Hosting Partner for further direction on their process and what needs done for your property to be handed back to you
- It is generally a very simple process of retrieving any hired linen, taking back any other items that belong to the HP, completing the final clean and handing back the property’s keys.