Cancellation policy extenuating circumstances

[Simone984]

How does everyone else feel about this... I spoke to an airbnb person a couple of weeks ago when I was concerned about some of my bookings, they informed me extenuating circumstances included things like a do not travel ban from the government or flights cancelled by airlines. We have a do not travel ban now in place here in Australia, we also have borders closed in each country we plan on visiting so I don’t understand why a full refund is only available till April 14. Obviously my last two bookings are after this date and I do not want to lose all this money which my hosts have had since July 2019. To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I do understand that we are all in the same boat but we had every intention to rebook with all the same hosts as soon as this pandemic is under control so losing 50% seems unfair. The hosts nice as they seem are obviously not willing to refund the full amount.

Not only have we lost money due to cancelling flights but potentially this as well.

Look forward to hearing from you if you have any ideas of how to handle this...

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[Anonymous]

@Simone984   Your hosts do not have your money. Airbnb does not pay out the hosts until after the date of scheduled check-in.

Have you contacted your travel insurance provider?

[Simone984]

Hi Andrew, 

It must be airbnb then that has had the money since July, my mistake. Our travel insurance company has gone awol, impossible to get them to respond. Also because it has been deemed a pandemic it will be null and void.

Thank you for your suggestions. 😊 Stay well.

[Judith611]

Dear Simone,

we have been lucky with four out of five bookings but the one we made in October last year for 6 nights in Paris falls on 26th April outside the allotted time for full refunds. We are not to leave Australia and non-essential travel has begun within Australia so impossible to travel to Europe. Our host denied a full refund even though I reached OUT to him. In future I will be very wary of who I book with and will be closely studying cancellation policies. We are receiving nothing for a huge fee! Travel Insurance does not cover pandemics.

[Simone984]

Hi Judith,

yes I’m hearing you, its very disappointing given that we always planned to rebook with the same hosts just at a later date, as Im sure you were planning too.

I am still waiting in hope before I cancel fully that airbnb may decide to open the time frames to April/May as this is completely beyond anyones control.

I guess if they don’t we probably will never use them again and will warn other people to choose a different company as well. Thee is an element of honor and decency here, we also run a business and have issued refunds to people so we are all in the same boat.

Hope you haven’t lost too much. Take care and thanks for your message 😊

[Sarah977]

@Simone984  You say you have every intention to rebook with your hosts when travel is again possible. Have you communicated this to your hosts? If not, you need to dialogue with them and make this clear. It sounds as if you have only spoken to Airbnb. If the hosts are reasonable people, they might very well be willing to apply the 50% to a future booking. 

[Sandra126]

@Simone984 , hosts might be happy to alter dates. Also I'm totally convinced that the 14 April date is going to move forward very soon. Sit tight. 

[Simone984]

Thanks Sandra 😊

[Simone984]

Hi Sarah, yes we did let the hosts know we would rebook, love the places so we definitely want to rebook, but never thought of asking them whether they would apply the other 50% to a future booking.

worth asking so thanks will give it a try.

[Simone984]

Well I just wanted to let everyone know that I managed to speak to an airbnb lady who really went out of her way to help me. My issue has been resolved and I feel really lucky and grateful that I was able to do that. I will rebook with all of our hosts once this settles down so hopefully they will not lose out too much. Thank you all for your help and advice.

Simone