Guests Wanting to Cancel But Stuck In the glitchy, confusing Covid 19 cancelation system= Airbnb's way out of giving 12.5% to hosts

[Mary419]

The Covid 19 Cancelation emails are still coming fast and furious, without any changes after the broadcast last night.

If you deny the refund you end up with an angry confused guest who lingers on your calendar for days after intending to cancel and intending to not pay. They say they cannot choose Covid 19 as their reason after getting denied for 100% voluntary host refund...

On the other hand, If you click GIVE A FULL REFUND you get the guest off your calendar and end all the confusing back and forth trying to help the guest but I am realizing hosts will NOT get the quarter of our cancelation fee from Airbnb if they do it that way. Voluntarily refunding the guest using these emails is framed to be saving you as the host from penalty etc but it is still voluntary, not Airbnb's fault or problem if you say yes to it and lose every dollar. And since guests are pushed to use this method instead of a normal cancelation it is obvious that Airbnb is hoping to escape the 12.5% compensation offered last night. Does anyone see it any other way? Accepting this is a voluntary 100% loss, But declining it sends the guest back into a circular argument and a "normal cancelation" is evidently not so easy

[Colin-and-Myra0]

I too am confused by this. I just had a guest tell me that AirBnb guided her to cancel this way as it's the only way currently to get a full refund. 

[Deirdre12]

Same thing happened to me today.  This is clearly Airbnb's sneaky way of getting out of paying us the 25%.  It's pretty shocking.  We need a good reporter to look into this and report on this. 

[Deirdre12]

@Mary419  I agree - there's no other way to see it.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

Personally...... I completely understand and accept extenuating circumstances for covid-19 related cancellations. As a host I support full refunds to guests IF the reason really is covid-19 related travel restrictions. As a guest or traveler if the reason I cannot travel is because of covid-19 travel restrictions then I believe a full refund is what I should get (including Airbnb service fees). If covid-19 isn't an extenuating circumstance.... then what is?!?!?!?!

The part I don't get is........ why people (hosts and guests alike) are not required to provide any PROOF to benefit from penalty free covid-19 EC cancellations and allow guests to get full refunds. 

Yes..... travel restrictions, stay-at-home orders are widespread. But providing evidence to prove "yes, I qualify" is something I'd consider mandatory. Just saying the magic words or clicking on...... "because of covid-19" should not be enough for anyone (host and guest alike) to get out of an agreement scot-free. 

Also, for people who made bookings AFTER covid-19 was officially announced a pandemic by WHO, I do not think EC should apply. They booked knowing about the risks of the pandemic and the implications that there would be travel restrictions. 

If I were to ever get the above "GUEST is asking for a full refund" email - I'd click "decline refund" and tell the guest to send appropriate proof to Airbnb to get it cancelled under the EC policy. And that would be it for me. I would never agree to *refund* money that I don't even have in the first place. 

This is exactly like the "GUEST requests that you cancel" cr*p that Airbnb has been pulling for years. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/BEWARE-of-quot-Guest-requests-that-you-cancel-quot/m-p/4...

[Huma0]

@Mary419 

Thanks for flagging this up. Seems like Airbnb really hasn't put their system in order to cope with the new policy changes.

From my part, I would not cancel any reservations from my end. If the guest is having trouble doing it and getting their full refund (most of my guests seemed to get automatically refunded without having to consult me at all), they should contact Airbnb and get them to sort it out. It is not fair for the host to lose their 12.5% when the guest is getting back everything.

I also don't believe in the whole 'you will not be penalised' as too many hosts have posted on here that they were penalised regardless. There are too many glitches on the sytem and a lot of human error happening at Airbnb CS.Sure, these mistakes might be put right in the future, but in my recent experience, once CS make a decision, right or wrong, it seems impossible to get them to reverse it. I have already wasted to much time and stress trying to get answers from them. I am now proceeding very carefully with ANY transactions on Airbnb. I do not trust them one iota. 

[Colin-and-Myra0]

This thread is showing as resolved however I don't think it is we are still looking for clarity on these two questions:

1) if a host receives a request for a full refund and accepts -are they still entitled to the 25% of the cancellation fee?

2) if a host declines, and the guest requests cancellation under EC - can they still get a full refund? I've seen some examples where they were only offered a refund if after 4/15

[Mary419]

@Colin-and-Myra0 thank you for pointing out my error, I had pegged something as the most helpful answer so far, not realizing it would mark this resolved. The two questions you itemize are indeed very much unanswered.

I have had some additional interaction with guests and agents further muddying the waters and adding one more alarming twist- when our payouts go to zero, this does not always mean the guest was fully refunded. They are bringing host payouts to zero and retaining the cash, pushing the guests to take a voucher. 

[Colin-and-Myra0]

Yeah I've seen some snippets of that too (from other hosts) although haven't experienced it first hand with a guest (although maybe about too as I just declined a full refund and guided them to cancel under the EC clause.).

I've seen some CS's say that if we give a full refund we are entitled to the 25% and some say they aren't sure... seems like they are interpreting the policy on the fly,  the same way we are and haven't received any clear direction.

AirBnb - you really need to step up here and provide some direction - it will cut down on your customer support inquiries dramatically!!!

[Mary419]

@Sharon480 this is the thread I told you about, looping in the topic of the guests getting vouchers as refunds when the host payout is showing zero. Check the 2nd screen shot on the first page. I was told by CSA that only host "mutual cancellation" 100% refunds (like my original screen shot) result in guest getting all of their real money back instead of vouchers. So EC refunding the 2nd half.... is resulting in a voucher offer not any cash back. Whether or not we do the mutual cancellation thing, hosts end up with zero. There is surely a reason that the path to that host's zero payout changes the outcome for the guest... the outcome for the host must be slightly altered too. Seems like the 12.5% is the variable for the host.  But right now it is all guess work and none of us are sure whether "mutual cancellation" voids the host's claim on the quarter of the cancelation fee.

[Sharon480]

To me Airbnb have been non-transparent since the beginning. They purposely want to be unclear on things, and  let interpretations go many different ways. It is common that their help line reps say different things according to their own understandings. But the core rule of thumb is to please the guests and ensure their pocket loss is minimal. 

[Jo56]

@Mary419 I'm stunned to hear you were given the opportunity of any involvement in the refund process at all. To date, through the numerous cancellations, the only communication we received regarding a cancellation is to advise us that reservations are cancelled, and to immediately inform us that the full amount was refunded to the guest - the amount shown on the reservation has then gone to $0. 

For our most recent cancellation (the day after the "revised" extended COVID policy) the guest cancelled and told me that she was only given the option for vouchers. Worse, the messaging from Airbnb stated that the reason for this was "due to the hosts' cancellation policy" - blaming US for not giving the guest a cash refund, despite the fact their revised policy says they can have either credit or a full cash refund. We think this is disgusting on the part of Airbnb and have been pushing Airbnb very hard to give the guest a cash refund.

The first CS rep I managed to reach argued with me for 5 minutes that the revised COVID policy only provides credit. I had to read out the entire policy from the Airbnb website, and she had the gall to ask me to screenshot it and send it to her to prove I wasn't a complete idiot.

No surprise, despite escalation, they are still saying they can't give the guest a cash refund. Outright, blatant breaches of their own COVID policy, doing anything they can to prevent any further cash payouts/ loss to either hosts or even guests, it now seems.

I'm not expecting to receive any emails informing me of a miniscule payout of any kind, despite a raft of cancellations under the "Strict" policy. I had 

[Saun0]

@Jo56I have been trying to help a guest who, as far as I can tell, qualifies for cancellation based on AirBnB's Extenuating circumstances policy and the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The guest received this message from AirBnB:  "Based on your host’s cancellation policy, you’ll get a $0.00 refund. If you’d like the full amount you paid, we’re offering an Airbnb travel credit to use on your next trip".

For days later, we are still making no progress.

[Jo56]

@Saun0  Yep, the same situation exactly. So it is a sneaky, dishonest widespread intention from Airbnb to steal back money for themselves wherever they can, even after saying guests would be refunded in full. I thought as much.

Disgusting. This is the story that should be out in the media. The story behind the false "help" Airbnb is spouting to offer guests (or hosts).

[Silas22]

I am a Superhost in Provincetown, Massachusetts. We currently have a travel ban and a stay-at-home order in place from our governor Charlie Baker.

Currently, if I cancel a reservation due to the stay-at-home/travel ban/forbidding short term rentals policy in place I will lost my SuperHost status.

This is not fair or rationale. With Airbnb's current COVID-19 policy you are asking my to either illegal host a guest or damage my Superhost status.

At this time unprecedented time Superhosts in should be able to cancel their reservations without any penally.

[Mary419]

@Saun0 

Yes there is a sreen shot circulating showing what your guest was shown. And yes tons of people who surely have the documentation of why Covid 19 is an extenuating circumstance are being advised by Airbnb to ask us directly to voluntarily give up the 100%. We are all totally guessing and waiting for clarity on the original question of whether they get out of giving us the quarter of our cancellation fee for every voluntary refund, but all signs point to that being the case. I hope your guest is being nice to you, and it is awfully nice of you to keep trying to help her for 4 days. I have been doing that with hundreds of people and some are abusing me badly out of frustration with the system. 

*screenshots removed for privacy reasons*