@Corona Virus and Super host credit

[Michele1248]

Hi All- just wanted your thoughts. I host in Australia and my Host voucher (1 night credit) expires in June 2020. I recently asked Airbnb if it could be extended just until the Corona virus is sorted out as travelling is becoming more difficult here both domestic and internationally and this was the response from Airbnb support   :David wrote         "I was able to check it out Michele and my apologies we're not able to extend a travel credit. You still have some time before it expires and you don't need to travel in a far and distant land. The travel credit is there for you to enjoy and relax"

My thoughts are I don't think anyone could" enjoy and relax "until the Corona Virus is contained and I was a bit disappointed with Air BNB's response .Would like to hear if anyone else had a similar experience `Stay safe everyone Cheers  Michele

[Roberta2]

Hi @Michele1248 

I used mine for a trip to Finland over easter.

I am in the UK, so we are still waiting to see if and how trips between Uk and North Europe will be affected.

But I tried to check, and looks like, if I cancel the booking at this point in time, I would loose my credit. I will see if , closer to the time, I would be able to amend the booking..

God Knows!

[John2654]

@Roberta2 

Interested to know if you did lose your credit?

[Roberta2]

Hi @John2654 

No, ion the end, I got my credit back

[John2654]

@Roberta2  That's good. Hope you can use it once all this ends. As I've discovered, if it expires then no amount of pleading with Airbnb will result in the expiry date being extended to allow for Corona Virus issues.

[Sarah977]

@Michele1248  I've already had 2 Superhost vouchers expire because I didn't have time or opportunity to use them. A friend who hosts has used hers to book a caravan on the beach a 20 minute drive from her house. It's a nice break for her, she can forget about all the things on her to-do list for a couple of days, and doesn't involve travelling in crowds of people. You might consider using it for something like that.

[Gordon0]

You could always use it to pay for a friend's Airbnb in your locale, @Michele1248, then somebody benefits and it doesn't go to waste. Who knows, they could buy a couple of bottles in and you could both benefit. 

[Roberta2]

Hi @Michele1248 

I think you need to book by June 2020, but you can travel later in the year.. Or am I wrong? @Gordon0 , @Sarah977 , do you know?

[Linda108]

@Roberta2  You are correct.  That is what I would do.

[Sally221]

The credit isn't transferable, I found that out when I tried to use one of mine for my daughter-it's a 3rd party booking so, no dice. You also have to use it up in one booking and can't carry over any surplus. I think you only need to book by June 2020, though. I'm 1 for 3 in being able to use mine so hardly expert, Sally

[John2654]

@Michele1248 

Airbnb customer service reaches a new low. I have been unable to use my  superhost voucher,  having planned to travel last month or later this year. However as we all know travel plans are on hold for everyone so I asked airbnb if the voucher could be extended. The reply I received, and I quote verbatim was, "we've given you enough time to use it." Wow, to me that is rude and definitely not expected.  Having hosted 160+ guests and having stayed in 120+ Airbnbs around the world, it really does feel like airbnb cares not a jot about the people who have made them rich. Not even sure why there is a need to have an expiry date and also surprised that no emails are ever sent warning you hosts the voucher is due to expire. 

[Paulette23]

@John2654 You make two good points: why should there be an expiry date and why doesn't Airbnb alert the SH of an impending expiry?

Unfortunately, I only realized there was an expiry date last week when I got the bonus for the previous year, and saw reference to the expiry in fine print. Even had I been aware of the expiry, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to use the credit in the past year.

I contacted Airbnb requesting an extension, citing my circumstances. Nope.

I asked if an exception could be made. Silence.

[Sarah977]

@Paulette23  Many vouchers and credits have to be used within a certain amount of time. Stores, airlines, etc often have credit expiry dates. It's not something unique to Airbnb. I would imagine part of various businesses' financial model expects that a certain percentage of these will not be used. 

As for alerting hosts of an impending expiry date, I don't think it's that reasonable to expect that others should be responsible for our own inattention to things like this. It's easy enough to make a note of the expiry date of a voucher when it's issued. Airbnb isn't our private secretary.

[John2654]

@Paulette23 

Getting a positive response out of Airbnb has been nigh on impossible lately. Very disappointed and disillusioned in them and once this pandemic is over I will be looking at alternative ways of renting out my accommodation. Having had over 30 cancellations for April and May this year without any compensation because I offer flexible cancellation terms, not yet getting my own money back for a cancellation I have had to make for travel in May, and now not being able to use my own hard-earned  4-days-out-of-date travel voucher leaves quite a sour taste. I did contact customer support and this is the response I got:

Thank you for your response, John. If there's really a way for us to extend the travel coupon, we will do it for you, as your are one of the best business part we have in Airbnb. We truly appreciate you hard work to achieve the Superhost status, it takes a lot of work to be a Superhost with us and we definitely appreciate the time and dedication that you put in to make our community better. As of now, we do not have the feature in our system to extend a coupon as much as we want to. We know that this may not be the outcome you had desired, but we have deemed it the fairest decision in light of the details available to us.

They sure know how to lose customer faith.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

It came up in a different post..... but I'd be interested in doing a booking 'swap' with a fellow host to use the credit and get something from it rather than let it expire. 

As long as the total amount due from the guest's side including fees is under the amount of credit, no out-of-pocket additional charges would be needed..... and excluding fees we'd be able to get payouts for about 80% of the value of the voucher..... if my understanding of the situation is correct. 

I'd hate to see the voucher go to waste....