I recently spoke with a customer service representative from AirBnB about their cancellation policy. I obviously pointed out that AirBnB is using the hosts to mitigate its own losses.
The agent reassured me that Airbnb isn't cancelling reservations willy-nilly. And that they are requiring "documentation" that clearly demonstrates the person actually falls in the cancellation policy.
The problem is that I am pretty certain that is not true. I had individuals tell me that they were cancelling BECAUSE THEIR COMPANY CANCELLED THEIR CONFERENCE. This was before the WHO declarations, and before any State or National declarations had happened (with the exception, maybe, of Seattle area).
The fact that a business cancelled their conference is much different than saying that some other travel ban, or even the virus itself caused the cancellation. Why am I bearing the loss of a company's decision to cancel their conference. These individuals should go back to their companies and tell them that they booked accommodations that will not allow for a last minute refund, and have THEIR COMPANY pay for it.
But mainly, I'm not sure what "documentation" anyone would have provided to AirBnB for their work trip being canceled. I smell something fishy and I think this may be yet another example of AirBnB hanging hosts out to dry.
