Hi community
There’s been a lot of discussion on changes impacting hosts this year by Airbnb, has anyone looked into the impact to hosts on liability for chargebacks? We’re thinking of amending our rental agreement to add some level of protection but would appreciate any guidance from hospitable or other hosts. If it’s not already started, it would be good to kick off the discussion.
thanks
claire
+3This is interesting, and I wasn’t aware of these changes until now. I’m sort of surprised that the previous terms didn’t cover this. I assumed Airbnb would have some way of clawing back funds in the event that the listing ended up not being available or wasn’t as described. I assume the main cause for concern is what would happen if there are fraudulent chargebacks.
+1Funnily enough - just got off an PMS competitor’s webinar which did cover addressing chargebacks through fraud detection, as well as mitigation through reconciliation of evidence (comms, logs, etc.) against reservations on their platform. They didn’t discuss legal protection in rental agreements though.
Interesting change here for sure!
Thinking tactically, how would adding a provision to your rental agreement help in the case of chargebacks IF the issue with chargebacks is that the money is not there? In the biggest chargeback issue I’ve had to date the guest reported about $9,000 as “unauthorized charges” with her bank and we’ve racked up a pretty penny in legal fees trying to have even a vague chance at reclaiming a portion of this. So, $4,000 in legal fees to MAYBE get about $4,500 back with about 20 hours of time invested in it . . Have you all been having more success with chargebacks?
+1Hi Will
Very sorry to hear about your case.
I'll try to bring up the topic of chargebacks during tomorrow's townhall to at least try to raise awareness of these kinds of liabilities, if not to arrive at some kind of consensus.
Thanks
Dan
+3As PC just mentioned on the Town Hall, the detailed rules in Section 3.11.2 regarding Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs) apply specifically to Hosts who receive payouts via VCC through Airbnb Payments US (which is not all hosts). There is also a mention of chargebacks in Section 5.2, but I am not sure if those are new terms or changes. I think what happened here is that someone noticed this and reported this as a major change and then more outlets just reposted the story, without really understanding what was written.
+1Hi Eli
Would it be possible to share this document, the agreement template we have doesn’t appear to have the section 5.2?
+1Regarding the question as to whether Airbnb has made any recent changes to chargeback policy impacting hosts - The following is Ai generated so apologies if it’s inaccurate, is it something we should all should be concerned about, or at least aware of?
The key difference between the previous and new Airbnb policy concerning chargebacks is a shift of financial liability from Airbnb to the host for disputed transactions.
The updated policy took effect for existing US hosts on September 8, 2025.
How the Policies Differ: Focus on Chargeback Liability
| Aspect | Previous Policy (Before Sept. 8, 2025) | New Policy (Effective Sept. 8, 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant of Record Status | Airbnb was the merchant of record and typically absorbed the financial loss of a successful guest chargeback. | Airbnb remains the merchant of record, but the financial risk is transferred to the host. |
| Host Liability after Stay | Hosts were generally protected from bank disputes after a guest completed their stay without raising a valid travel issue through Airbnb's system. | Hosts may be required to repay the full amount of the booking via deductions from future payouts, even if the guest stayed at the property and left a positive review. |
| Preamble/General Terms | Payouts were considered more secure once the 24-hour post-check-in window passed without a guest complaint. | The Payments Terms of Service now contain language (primarily in the Host Financial Terms section and clauses related to Payout Adjustments) that clarifies payouts are conditional on final receipt of funds from the guest's bank. |
| Visibility & Control | While the process was centralized, hosts had some expectation of platform support to manage disputes. | Hosts report having very limited visibility or control over the evidence Airbnb provides to the bank during a chargeback dispute. |
In summary, the new terms make it clear that a host's payout is contingent on the final approval of payment by the guest's bank, which means hosts are now exposed to "friendly fraud" where a guest uses the service and then falsely claims an unauthorized charge to their bank.
+3Hi Eli
Would it be possible to share this document, the agreement template we have doesn’t appear to have the section 5.2?
5.2 is just from Airbnb’s Payment Terms of Services: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2909
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.
