Airbnb completely threw their hosts under a bus regarding Covid-19

[James207]

Why exactly are we being told to bear 100% of the financial burden of this? Oh, right, because Airbnb doesn't actually care about the hosts or their financial well being.

And we aren't Marriott, or United or Airbnb that will probably get bail outs from the government.  We just get slammed with the fall out.

The costs for cancellation should be split 50/50. If the guest took out travel insurance then it won't be an issue for them. It always, always seems to fall on the hosts to eat the costs if there's adverse weather or events and guests want to cancel. It's incredibly frustrating.

[Sara-and-Ian0]

t's a start... a petition re Airbnb unfair decision to refund 100%

http://chng.it/T7YGPMbLVN

please consider signing and sharing.

[Amay-Elisabeth0]

https://www.change.org/p/airbnb-airbnb-s-unfair-treatment-of-hosts-amid-covid-19/share_for_starters?...

[Adriano78]

thank you!! signed

[Helen-And-Mario0]

signed.

[Sara-and-Ian0]

Thank you... signed and shared x

[Lisa-Myshall0]

I couldn’t agree more! This is how I make my living and all my listings are now ground zero! No help from Airbnb...when I complained I was told to ‘make a suggestion ‘ when. I asked if a fund has been set up for hosts...?!

[Bea1791]

I totally agree !!!!

i wrote this before I read your post : 

I don’t understand why my canceling guests last minute are getting full refund when I would have never gotten into this business if i couldn’t secure my reservations !

i think it would be fair that you would protect hosts and those who make your living by at least splitting charges between host and guest   ! Or better you should cover both parties with your own savings in order to protect us from losing our listing forever !

Cancelling guests tell me you make them think we’re not being impacted by their cancellation which is a complete lie !

We’re all in it together but you have the power to help us hosts and you don’t ! Why ?

[Alba160]

I am done with Airbnb. Who knows an attorney that can chat with us and sue Airbnb? This situation of stealing from us has been fabricated  during their sleep. Effective, indeed, evil, yes. I already let go one property due to no more bookings caused by their greetiness response to Coronavirus. At least vrbo didn't play that game on host. For the first time i trully felt vrbo was a million times  better then the ah of airbnb. 

[Alba160]

Some of you might already know this (i didn't)

Airbnb currently has a $1M giveaway: "The Unique Airbnb Fund: $1M for 10 groundbreaking ideas" with the entry deadline of 11:59pm EST on April 15, 2020. Isn't this a time for Airbnb to cancel this giveaway and use the fund to help their current customers, the hard-hit GUESTS and HOSTS? Airbnb has a right to cancel the contest without any legal consequences as stated in its Official Rules. 

1. Please sign the petition of a fellow host from couple postingd before this one.

2.I believe there is a FB page created  very recentely for more in-dept conversations.  Please look for it. Enough complaining. We need to take action. 

[Jenn24]

Instead of this kneejerk reaction, they should have just put things in a holding pattern and not cancel or release any funds to anyone until they had more time to think it through and make a truly balanced decision. Many of our Guests were travelling to the US from large corporations like Porsche, who have the vast resources to weather this storm, yet they received back their $15k and we are left with nothing. And that's just one of 10 similar cancellations we've been affected by and counting. I would recommend pleading with your Guests who have not yet cancelled to split the loss with you if you have not already. Some Guests are compassionate and will not take advantage of you during this awful time. This from one of our amazing Guest's below:

"Hey, just to keep you updated, my work have requested that I head back to the Uk, unfortunately. I think it will likely be Wednesday or Thursday this week although it won’t be confirmed until tomorrow. It’s a terrible situation and I completely sympathise with you. I would be happy to agree 50/50 with you as I don’t think one side should suffer the full loss. Let me know your thoughts and I’ll confirm my exact date once it’s confirmed tomorrow.
Thanks
Louisa

Yesterday at 11:36 AM · Louisa

[Ruhena0]

Completely agree! Airbnb have not thought about us as hosts as they supposedly mention. How have they thought about us? By 'letting us cancel' is not helping us whatsoever. We as hosts are having to bear the brunt of it all not them. We all have bills to pay, mortgages, what are we supposed to do now? I've already lost over £1000 in the space of a few days, and I am sure ill be getting a lot more cancellations. They shouldn't be letting guests cancel without us getting some sort of payout whatsoever. I totally understand from a guests point of view, to be fair, I would be happy if I was a guest getting my full refund. But my point is that Airbnb should at least cover some sort of costs for us hosts if guests aren't. 

[Jacqueline880]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/03/15/airbnb-coronavirus-cancellations-guests-cancel-...

At last some media coverage; an article on Forbes by John Koetsier:

Airbnb Coronavirus Cancellations: Guests Cancel For Free, Hosts Pay The Costs

[Eleanor134]

Hardly scathing though is it! Definitely need to take legal action!

[Nick539]

We are SHOCKED and DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED to see that airbnb failed to take care of its own main ASSET  - the HOSTS !   There are several ways to DESIGN A BETTER POLICY with 50%-50% refund split , asking guests to change dates instead of cancelling or OFFER GUESTS AIRBNB VOUCHER and not a refund  on the costs of the hosts.  

[Adriano78]

can anyone confirm that?

https://www.facebook.com/airbnbautomated/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARC6hcmwj8_QDzSlCE7c1LwXyUu-J-zX0n6-RgZ6ZC...

James R I received my first cancellation. I’m in a remote part of Arizona. Got this from a guest yesterday.

“Hi James,
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to stay at your place after all because of the incident affecting Pinetop-Lakeside.”

I asked him what incident he was talking about with the coronavirus because there is absolutely no cases in our county or the county next to us. He then replied that he never wrote that but it must’ve been an automated message from Airbnb signing his name as if it came from him personally. He just saw that there was a button on his page that he could push if he felt like canceling and using the coronavirus as an excuse.

Anyhow it canceled and took the complete just shy of $1200.

I just messaged him to see if they gave him a credit or give him his money back in full.

**Update
Here is his response just now.

“Hey y'all,

When I clicked the Covid button they put in, it said full refund. Essentially everything was placed back except for $100 that I'm not sure what it went to.”

Ugh and my cancellation policy is on strict and has always been.

Alfonso Pal I got 37 cancellations with the same messages. I was surprised and I call one of the guest because he stayed with me before. He said this is an automatic messages they didn't wrote anything.

Today someone asked me for two nights at one location and she said the app was not letting her to book and refer her to book a hotel. The conversation desapear from my inbox after she try to send me a screenshot.
This is ridiculous, we have 48 properties on Airbnb and they are treating to us like nothing.