COVID-19 Support Payments

[Cynthia301]

What a joke.....COVID-19 support payments from Airbnb; absurd!  Anyone else view this the same way?

I felt pressure from Airbnb the entire time to refund 100% of guest reservations with the promise of "shared financial burden" rhetoric from Airbnb.

I should have know better......

The 25% support payment amount is not calculated on the total amount of monies lost on "extenuating circumstance" cancelations. 25% is paid out on the amount which would have been refunded under normal "host set" refund policy. For us personally it works out to be 10% at best- as we operate with a "strick" refund policy for our guest reservations. 

I have suspended my (2) host accounts and will probably not be advertising with Airbnb again. 

[Sah182]

This Company for all the billions of dollars worth is rotten at the core when it comes to standing by their Hosts and paying anything out. Their Host Guarantee is complete falsehood and just an illusion created to give a false sense of security to the Hosts. I do most of my Business on other Portals and it is a bit more work in terms of handling Payments & Security Deposit but I'm more in control and don't work with a illusion of the kind created by AirBnB. 

[Fred13]

@Cynthia301  & @Sah182 If not Airbnb, which other platforms do you plan working with? 

[Sah182]

I tried replying to your message with the names of the other Portals but AirBnB wouldn't allow the reply to get posted. That's AirBnB. We do very little business on AirBnB and bulk of our business is from other Portals. Granted there is more work with managing payments and security deposit but there is also better rates with business travelers in our experience. AirBnB is overrated and the peace of mind with the Host Guarantee Program is just falsehood when it comes actually delivering on it. 

[Thomas983]

Looking for alternatives as well. Airbnb is a horrible "partner".

[Robbie54]

You're new here, I can tell. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Robbie54 

I think that @Cynthia301 might represent the majority of hosts worldwide. Not long in the CC, but with the same outrage. 

[Graeme95]

@Cynthia301 

same in Australia

its just a BIG publicity scam .

would love to see the list of people that did get anything

@Graeme95 

[Rudy-And-Bea0]

I agree.  Such a joke and publicity scam!  They promise a 25% (in reality, 12.5% for a Strict Cancellation Policy) Host Refund.  I had 5 bookings in April for which I received written confirmation from Airbnb that it was covered by their Extenuating Circumstances COVID-19 Policy and therefore recieve a full refund.  When I rightfully try to claim the Host Refund, I am told that these bookings were cancelled under their regular Extenuating Circumstances Policy and I do not qualify for the Host Refund.  Even with written proof from them!  Crazy!

[Alexandra168]

Brian Chesky has a personal wealth of over $4 billion as a result of hosts generosity for opening our doors to strangers. A company that has any integrity, the CEO and Board of Directors would put their hands in their own pockets to support the business, employees and associates if they want longevity. Hosts are associates and guests are customers. They helped all their customers but not all their associates. Therefore Airbnb should award free shares to all their associates when they float the company on the stock exchange to compensate for hosts losses. Why weren't we covered by there insurance? You can bet that Airbnb have put in a claim from their own insurance!

I remember reading an interview for Chesky, whereby they asked him who he sought advice from for the idea...he stated is Mother and Grandfather - the latter being an advocate. His Grandfather wouldn't be so proud now!

Don't forget Brian - the world is watching and that means not only the investors but your hosts too. If you continue to screw us over we'll vote by closing our accounts!

[Calum16]

Airbnb will not allow me to contribute here, blocking my post.I operate a pod buisness and have seen a loss of 140 guest nights booked thro Airbnb , during the period they stated 25 percent compensation would apply, to date nothing no contact and no way to contact them for an explanation. Has anyone else experienced this 

[Rob-And-Debbie1]

Airbnb have hid behind host's refund policies. A Covid cancellation is a Covid cancellation that should be the criteria for relief, your refund/cancellation policy should be irrelevant. What appeared to be a thoughtful response has been an empty gesture in many cases.

Rob 

[Kendra101]

I had 2 cancellations. None qualified for any type of support payment from Airbnb.

Food for Thought to Airbnb - Lets be fair! With this being a company focused on traveling worldwide, they should adjust the dates accordingly as every country and state had a different lockdown date. 

[Rich-and-Yan0]

We had the same experience. A guest who booked in January 2020 for May of this year cancelled on March 22 and stated very clearly: "Due to the Covid 19 we feel it is prudent to stay put." Since this guest met all of the criteria stated by Airbnb, then we thought that we would be eligible--but under the Covid-19 payment category for hosts, it stated "Not applicable."

We didn't understand this, and so last month--yes, nearly one month ago--we wrote to Airbnb to ask why. Not long ago, I was actually boasting about Airbnb's great responses to our previous inquiries. Not so in this case. The second we asked about getting some money out of them, we were put on the loooong waiting list for a response.

Well, this morning, their agent finally got back to us. First, he said that we were not eligible because (he thought) the guest had a check-in date of March 12 and that "the only dates which are covered by our Covid-19 Extenuating Circumstance Policy are bookings with check-in dates between March 14 - August 15, 2020."

Note those dates here: March 14 - August 15, 2020, as they will become relevant in a minute.

I then pointed to him that no, the guest's check-in date was not in March but was rather in May. That should have done it, but nope, he wasn't done with his mistakes. He then came back with:

"A reservation must be placed before March 14, and have the check-in date between March 14 - August 15 in order for it to be eligible," and claimed that this made us ineligible. 

I then had to point out to him that the reservation had been in January, and I asked him why he was responding when he clearly hadn't even read the information.

So now, we have a booking made in January, for a reservation during Airbnb's supposed period of reimbursement, that was cancelled by a guest who clearly stated that she was cancelling because of Covid-19. 

That should do it, right?

Think again. This time the agent came back with a completely new story--and it's a doozy:

"During the time that the guest cancelled, the only dates which are covered by our policy are reservations with check-in dates of March until April 15, 2020. If the guest had cancelled on March 30th, then you would be eligible for a 25% support payout."

So fellow hosts, you see what happened here? After Airbnb announcing that the eligibility period would be from March 14 to August 15, and after this agent stating the exact same thing in his original response to us, he completely changed his story. 

Now, according to him, it is no longer a five-month window during which you can claim support. Now it is only two weeks--and oops, sorry host, you just missed that two-week window by a few days....

Anyway, we all know now that this whole "pay hosts some support" scheme was not sincere. I guess it was just a propaganda scheme designed to fool the media after word got out that Airbnb was giving guests the right to cancel at any time, regardless of how hosts felt about this.

The funny thing, the amount we were asking for really wasn't much. But I'm amazed at the lengths that Airbnb went to make sure that we did NOT get paid. It's really disappointing, and has left a sour taste in our mouths.

[Claire338]

Does anybody know if we are actually going to receive our host payments?