Refund discussion - no venting

[Brandon-And-Robert0]

Hello community!

Many of us are feeling the burden of Airbnbs extenuating circumstances policy and at this time, there is not much more any of us can add to the conversation. So let's use this community to help us come together and share ideas. Let's keep the anger and disdain on the other conversation feeds, please.

I am starting to receive requests for full refunds for stays outside of the COVID window, and I am wrestling with how to handle these requests. I want to give everything back to everyone knowing that we can help lessen the spread but that is not possible. I have mortgages and bills to pay as well.

I would love to hear what others have been doing/saying to help maintain their business, help stop the spread AND be empathetic to the guest's situation.

Here are my thoughts and I would love to hear your constructive feedback:

1. Ask the guest if they purchased travel insurance;

2. Ask them to review my calendar and find dates further in the future they would like to change to (I worry they will realize if they move dates far enough, that they can cancel with a much lower penalty);

3. Maybe offer a 50/50 refund if they don't want to find other dates?

My understanding is that the airlines are NOT giving full refunds, but allowing guests to change their dates at no cost. I feel that as the travel industry, we should all be following a similar process for consistency. 

In reality, the Airlines and AIRBNB are the ones that will receive a bailout NOT us, so I feel like this would be a fair option to us little guys.

Lets please keep this constructive and helpful so we can get through this. 

Thank you all!

[Rodney11]

Thats a good question @Enrico325 and I do not have an answer. I am assuming that I will be getting the 25%, but I guess I'll see as the months go on. I was prepared to cancel the reservations with no compensation. 

I really did this because:

a) I wanted to clear my calendar for local guests who are not subject to travel restrictions, so their reservations will be firm.

b) To give my guests the peace of mind to cancel knowing I would accept the cancellation, no questions asked. 

c) To start planning my shift in business model to more long-term rentals, not necessarily using the AirBnB platform.

d) I thought it was the ethical thing to do. 

I realize not all hosts are in my position: located in a populous, wealthy urban center with very low vacancy rate and not very restrictive local travel restrictions, so I can only speak for myself in this case. 

I'll keep you posted as to what happens with the payouts. I have yet to see the email AirBnB promised in early April to all hosts receiving a payout, so perhaps I did not qualify for any. 

To be continued....

[Karen2552]

We contacted AirBnB support and were told that the 30 March refund for coronavirus cancellations was only for hosts in the United States. Please somebody tell me that this is not true?

[Sarah977]

@Karen2552 Where did you get that March 30 date, and for what cancellation refunds ? I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere. And of course the policies aren't just for US hosts. It sounds like the CS rep you talked to had no idea what he/she was talking about.

[Jordan496]

Hello fellow hosts! Your idea to share our struggle in Covid disaster time is wonderful!

My wife and me, we have both empty units, like so many people. As we are respectively a Medical Doctor and a Health Research Agent, we spent enormous time in the battle with the Coronavirus.  One of us clinically, the other one scientifically. 

Finally we think we found the solution! How to save the Airbnb units of our community as well as peoples lives.

You can read our full article about the solution and the overall Covid situation in our new blog.

Indeed we created a funny character Doc Dog to present our serious health information. But the article is  serious and well thought. 

Please take the time to read it fully for a few minutes. You'll understand better the overall Covid situation. Most importantly you'll find our balanced  solution helping our airbnb units and peoples lives.

https://docdog.org/2020/04/05/confine-only-the-groups-of-risk-how-the-empty-aibnb-hotels-may-help-so...

What do you think? Do you have questions or suggestions? Maybe we should post this to the Airbnb leaders? They have the power to make the government leaders think.

[Ellen99]

Friends, help me to understand. I am a superhost that have guests booked for May and ONE in June. I have a strict cancellation policy. IF guests cancel last minute due to Covid, (Which I am fine with), who refunds them? ME?? I will cancel right now if that's the case, and ask them to re schedule for a later date. I was under the impression it would be Airbnb issuing refunds. I also read in the chicago tribune about guests incurring all kinds of hassle to even get refund approved; needing to show shelter in place orders, etc. Which is ridiculous, IMO.  Please help...

[Enrico325]

Interestingly, airbnb changed its extenuating circumstance policy last month changing the word endemic to epidemic.  There is an article on this change here. It appears that the policy did not cover epidemics, only endemics, until last month.   https://www.vrmintel.com/airbnb-changes-extenuating-circumstances-cancellation-policy-to-override-ma...

[Anne-And-Cameron0]

Has anyone been paid yet? Had a ton of March and April bookings cancelled and haven't been paid yet. 

[Sara862]

Thank you! These are trying times for so many people and it is not Airbnb's fault for the COVID closures and government mandates. 

[Panagiotis52]

Hello All,

Hope you are all doing well and keep yourselves safe. 

A quick question. My trip was 21-24 March which was cancelled because of COVD-19. I have got the 50% back but not a full refund. Do you know how I can a get a full refund or at least credit that money for a future trip?

Many thanks,

Panos

[Lawrence177]

this is what Airbnb told me today abut the 25% refund policy:  

To be transparent with you Lawrence, we do not have the full details on how Airbnb will calculate the 25% payout(still in progress). If you are eligible for it, it will be retroactively processed by the system within a few weeks of cancellation. Your patience for this is really appreciated.

[Bobbi27]

Only 3% of Superhosts are getting the 25% payout. Only 3% are getting the $5000 grants. BY INVITATION. 

ONLY the Superhosts that have been on Airbnb the LONGEST are eligible. That means, all that money goes to the Super RICH. Becoming SuperHost is HARD, and honestly, to date, has not been a proven value, yet Ive put my LIFE SAVINGS into renting out my home while I myself am homeless. 

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[Bobbi27]

Only 3% of Superhosts are getting the 25% payout. Only 3% are getting the $5000 grants. BY INVITATION. 

ONLY the Superhosts that have been on Airbnb the LONGEST are eligible. That means, all that money goes to the Super RICH. Becoming SuperHost is HARD, and honestly, to date, has not been a proven value, yet Ive put my LIFE SAVINGS into renting out my home while I myself am homeless. 

[Christine615]

I gave refunds. It was only fair. Most of my visitors are families or retirees. My travel has been cancelled and so far all the hotels gave me refunds and the airlines allowed me to bank my travel funds. 

Travel insurance doesn’t cover pandemics so I built up good Will. Hopefully they’ll come back when it’s safe to travel.

[Bryan93]

The moral of the story is to never buy travel insurance. You will always lose in the long term. Medical insurance ...yes.

[Chrissy75]

That was nice of you. Maybe next time i should look at staying at one of your location. Someone with morals 

[Rodney11]

I'm with you @Christine615 , I also offered full refunds to all my guests, even those with a check in date beyond May 31. I could not bring myself ethically to make people worry about money when they were already worrying about their health and that of their loved ones during a global pandemic. Kudos to you for doing this!