@Stephanie
Thank you for clarifying. So, that means hosts will no longer be at risk of being charged for the guests' alternative accommodation and that is very good to hear. Although I understand that was not a new policy, I think a lot of us were unaware of it before and will be relieved to hear it is gone.
RE
@Stephanie wrote:
Hi @Huma0
In the updated policy it mentions: “Before submitting a claim, whenever feasible, the guest must notify the Host and try to resolve the travel issue directly with their Host.”
If guests contact Community Support first, we remind them to reach out to the Host directly, so that you have an opportunity to resolve the issue. Of course, there are some rare, urgent situations that arise that require a guest to contact Airbnb so that we can provide the support the guest needs in that moment. But even in these situations, Airbnb will still try to contact the Host as well.
Of course, that makes total sense. If a situation is urgent and the host cannot be reached, it makes sense for CS to go ahead and try to find a solution for the guest. However, I think a lot of the concern here is that we are hearing more and more reports here on the CC about CS NOT contacting the host when a guest makes a complaint or requests and refund, when it was easily possible to do so. Many of these hosts are being suspended. The hosts are often chasing CS for some kind of information on what the issue was. Even when the host is able to provide some evidence of the guests' claims being false, they are ignored by CS. They are either told that the decision has already been made or they just get radio silence.
For this policy to work fairly, CS needs to be much better trained and more objective, i.e. not automatically believing the guest (especially for things like undisclosed/hidden cameras which seems to have become a popular guest scam) and making a decision without consulting the host. CS also needs to take responsibility for its mistakes, not just say the decision can't be reversed.
From my own experience, I know how difficult it is to get fair treatment in some of these circumstances. I had CS wrongly refund two long term guests due to COVID-19. Not only were these refunds against the COVID-19 extenuating policy because the guests had already checked in, but the guests were refunded for nights they already stayed, a whole two week stay for one guest, and the guests had neither complained about anything nor requested refunds.
It took me a month of non-stop calls and emails to CS and a huge amount of stress to get my money back. I was repeatedly told that the actions were according to policy (NO, they were not) and also that, once the guest had been refunded, nothing could be done and that it was up to me to collect the money the guests owed me. What???!!!
I don't think anyone who has posted here or on other related threads believes that CS, in its current state, is capable of making these kinds of decisions. If you look at the very frustrating conversation that I posted with the rep who could not/would not even tell me what we were supposed to be talking about, you will see what a nightmare it can be dealing with CS, and that is just one example of many similar frustrating experiences I have had with CS over the past couple of years or more. Something is going very badly wrong.