How to defend your cancellation policy and buy some time

[Magic3]

If you are getting cancellation requests outside of Air BNB's EC clause and people are asking for refunds, I suggest you take time to consider what policy you will now use to refund guests (if at all) equally and fairly. Here's what we are saying to buy time. I hope the community finds this information useful. Regardless of whether or not you issue any refund or credit, you deserve time to figure out the best strategy. Even though guests and platforms like this may pressure you to voluntarily give refunds, this does not mean you must immediately do so.

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Dear Guest: Just as travelers had the option to either book properties with flexible cancellation policies or purchase trip insurance, hosts like use had the option of implementing a Strict cancellation policy to protect our business from catastrophic situations like this. We understand that folks who chose to book under a Strict cancellation policy without trip insurance did not expect COVID-19 would disrupt travel plans. Similarly, we did not expect that all of our guests would cancel and that our only protection would then be either stripped completely away or otherwise put into question.

Regardless, we are formulating a travel credit and/or refund policy that we plan to apply equally and fairly to all guests who cancel.  We will offer something by way of credit or refund to our guests; we simply don’t have enough information at this time to know how generous we can afford to be. We ask all guests to please be patient while we assess the situation.

We are a family business and compassionate people by nature, so we are planning to go above and beyond our contractual obligations and help our guests to the extent we can.  Within one week we have lost all of our original March and April bookings across our 4 properties and most of those guests are asking for us to voluntarily issue refunds or credits. We are simply asking all guests to understand our situation and give us time to consider what we can afford to do.

Thank you for choosing to book our home. We hope to still have the opportunity to host you and your fellow guests.

[Devon-Marie0]

Thanks for posting - I will use that as a template and apply it to my situation which is much the same - it’s difficult to be compassionate and professional in response to cancellation requests that take obvious advantage of the extenuating circumstances clause. Even more so when Airbnb chooses to forfeit our money with little regard or consideration to the other side.  I’d rather save my energy and not recreate the wheel regarding how I manage guest communications and cancellations. So again, thank you for sharing!!! I also certainly will be looking elsewhere to post my property in the face of this breach of faith in Airbnb policy management. 

[Huma0]

Thank you @Magic3 . A very sensible and considered approach. I hope you are successful with this.

I host long-term guests, so apart from the guests who left months before their stay was due to finish (not entitled to full refunds and not asking for them, but given them by Airbnb anyway), I have four long-term guests currently booked in the coming months. None of these fall under the extenuating circumstances. I already contacted the next two guests to ask about their plans well before the new policy and they were unsure at that time but have since decided to cancel.

Yet, no cancellations have been made. One guest is being lovely about it and keeps saying she is going to cancel, but doesn't. Although she has told me she thinks it fair that she takes a partial refund (with the promise of the rest should I be able to rebook the room), Airbnb keeps prompting her to request a full refund. The other is refusing to cancel unless she gets a full refund and is sitting it out waiting for Airbnb to extend the dates of the EC policy, because this is what they told her to do. Bear in mind these bookings block my rooms for months, not days, at a time.

In light of all these issues and Airbnb's tactics to get guests not covered by EC to demand full refunds, I decided not to contact the next two guests who are due to arrive in the Summer. I would like to employ your strategy, but don't want to open up another can of worms. I don't trust Airbnb at all to handle these cancellations in a fair and ethical manner. Even when the guests tell them they WANT to pay me something, Airbnb convinces them not to.

Of course, Airbnb will probably extend the EC dates and those guests will then be covered. So, trying to buy time might not be the best solution.

I have decided to advertise the rooms elsewhere and see how it goes. I was waiting for the cancellations, but I can't wait anymore. If I manage to rent the rooms elsewhere, I will refund the guests anyway for whatever part of their stay is covered.