Hosts Livelihood VS Guests Vacation! COVID 19 IMPACT ON HOSTS

Shey5
Level 4
Los Angeles, CA

Hosts Livelihood VS Guests Vacation! COVID 19 IMPACT ON HOSTS

I'm sure ALL hosts are feeling the impact of the recent cancellations due to the corona virus. I was extremely shocked to see Airbnb has taken the liberty to change cancelation policies and giving every guest a full refund! I've had 4 cancelations from guests coming from other U.S. states that were refunded fully today alone!! That's a bunch of BS!! Airbnb doesn't give a **bleep** about it's hosts who have rents and bills to pay!! They got backlash from guests and decided to **bleep** the hosts so they look better in the public eye!! Hey Airbnb you wouldn't exist without us!!!! How is it fair that we have to carry this heavy financial burden that you decided to suddenly throw on us?! As hosts we need to come together and hold Airbnb responsible for this!! They made a detrimental change to our cancelation policy that has the ability to bankrupt us, kill our credit and leave us in an insane amount of debt!!! All this without any sort of warning and to benefit their own company!! A company that would NOT EXIST WITHOUT US!!!! I say let's unlist everything and move it over to another platform!! Any responses, feedback and ideas is greatly appreciated. We as hosts have to come together to get through this mess and hold Airbnb responsible!!! Class action lawsuit is a good starting point. 

47 Replies 47
Micah70
Level 5
Atlanta, GA

It is WAY worse than this.  I have a guest who has booked for a monthly (34 nights) stay.  They have stayed for 13 days and now want to leave because their job was cut short.  The customer service representative I spoke with indicated that I would be forced to refund the rest of their stay regardless of the long term cancellation policy AND they would still be able to pay a nightly rate for nights stayed based on the monthly discount.  After I argued that she was clearly misreading the Covid EC policy, she threatened to refund the guest in FULL for the stay, as she was interpreting the policy to mean a guest at any point in the stay was entitled to a full refund.  This is pure madness.

I'm still waiting to hear back from a supervisor.  I pointed out to her that their extenuating circumstances policy clearly states: "It’s important to keep in mind that penalty-free cancellations are only available for extenuating circumstances that occur before the official check-in date for your reservation."  This clearly excludes stays in which a guest has already spent 2 weeks in our Airbnb.

What about their legal department.  There is no way this is legal.

Noel53
Level 3
D.C., DC

I support the notion of a lawsuit. This is patently unfair. 

I feel the same way, they made the decisions based on them and the guests. in. And they didn't even care about the hosts. I lost $ 5,000 from yesterday to today. My homes on Airbnb are all I have I can't sleep and I'm desperate I have no idea how I'm going to pay my bills. Airbnb is killing me. And they don't care about us. Something needs to be done. where I live, Osceola County has no case of Coronavirus. Airbnb made the decision to refund the guests for the full amount, and he didn't even send a message to the hosts telling them. I'm asking God not to have any more cancellations. I am super disappointed with Airbnb. They forget that without the host they wouldn't be **bleep**.

Wow 29 listings @Kingdom’s-Vacation0  I can imagine it is difficult to have bookings cancelled at the last minute, but hopefully you will have cash flow built up in your business to keep you going for a while.

 

It is frustrating, if understandable, that Airbnb has enacted its EC policy to cover the virus in this way. What other platforms is your property management business listed on? I think some have more favourable terms to hosts in terms of cancellations,  so worth you just listing there while this situation unfolds.

 

As a  large scale property management company do you not have specialist home insurance for your STR business?  Hopefully you have a 'loss of income' clause that you could speak to your insurance company about to see if you will be covered.

 

 

 

 

Hi Helen - I see you are a very experienced host and based in the UK. Would you mind giving me some advice? I am a newbie host. One of my early bookings was from a Taiwanese couple who arrived on 1st March - they are booked until 29th and got a double discount, for length of stay and then another 20% as one of my first three bookings. Because of covid 19 they are leaving tomorrow, 16th. They haven't asked for a refund but that may be because they are very polite and find it awkward. I have been trying to see what the airbnb policy is but I am finding it confusing. I see that either party  can cancel without penalty but I am not sure if that applies halfway through a booking? And should I be negotiating with them direct or is it something that should be done via the website? Will be most grateful for any guidance...

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hi @Jonathan1253 

 

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2701/extenuating-circumstances-policy-and-the-coronavirus-covi...

 

I am not sure what the policy is for guests who are already half way through their stay. I would perhaps ask Airbnb through their social media.

 

If you aren't completely reliant on your Airbnb income to cover essential household costs, I would probably look to refund.

 

Also can I suggest you add your location to your listing rather than just saying greater London. i.e. East Sheen, south-west London. And in the description say where you are near i.e. East Sheen 15 minutes by train into Waterloo/central London, great local bus service, close to Richmond Park and lovely local cafes, shops and restaurants. 

 

And yes many new hosts get caught out by the double discount. Personally I would never offer a new host discount as Airbnb give you an artificial boost in their rankings when you first join so you will get bookings anyway in most resorts and tourist cities.

 

Thanks Helen for kind and helpful response

April161
Level 3
Pittsburgh, PA

Thank you so much for posting this. I feel the same way I do not know how any host can get though a few months of cancelations. when the first made it to march 31st I thought ok it will be tough but thats reasonable. Now April 14th. thats not ok. Will airbnb pay for my mortgage when it's due. and now every time this happens they will bungle the policy on a daily basis? This is not fair. there needs to be a 50/50 split I get it airbnb is also losing a lot of money. But doing this to hosts is only strengthening why people should stay in a hotel because this is going to be an all out disaster. 

Jillian132
Level 5
Canterbury, United Kingdom

How do we start a class action. This is the only way forward.

I agree! I want to do a conference call with some of the hosts because we need to act now 

@April161and @Jillian132 I am also in!

 

Here is a twitter thread of people already starting to figure out the class action.

 

https://twitter.com/AirbnbHostClass

Jessika6
Level 2
Windsor, United Kingdom

If you do a class action, we're in !! We're based in the UK as well.