cancelling May bookings

[Vicki88]

Hi.

I am a superhost with strict cancellation.

I have two bookings in May that are asking to cancel. The others I want to cancel anyway. I've already cancelled all our March & April bookings.

How do I do this please withour effecting my hosts status and without financial loss to the guests? I am happy to waive my strict cancellation in this case.

Thanks. Vicki.

[Linda108]

The Air BNB EC cancellation policy is a bit fluid so it is difficult for hosts to count on this EC policy of no penalty to be applied.  I think the safest way is to call Air BNB and ask Air BNB to cancel.

[Jay181]

This week (March 23) I had a guest want to cancel his May 2 - Jul 24 reservation. 
I had him request this in the Airbnb message. Then I replied that I would agree to mutually cancel the reservation, waive my strict cancellation policy, refund his money with no penalty to either of us or to my Superhost status.

I then phoned Airbnb at 855-424-7262 (said it would be a 45 min hold time) but was only 20 min.
A great support person said, since we both agreed to cancel & he could see that in the messages, he canceled the reservation, waived the strict cancellation policy & refunded guest money & no penalty.

Jay

[Jay181]

I  also found this, but did not try it.

What options do I have for canceling a reservation for a place to stay due to coronavirus (COVID-19)?
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2728/what-options-do-i-have-for-canceling-a-reservation-for-a-pl...

Depending on when you booked your reservation, your cancellation may be fully covered by our extenuating circumstances policy. If your reservation isn’t automatically covered, we have additional options.

For guests

If your reservation isn’t eligible under our offering flexible cancellation policies, you can check your reservation to find out if it has flexible cancellation options. If it does, you can use the standard change or cancel options available.

Requesting a cancellation from your host

If your reservation was booked before March 10, 2020, with a check-in date before June 1, 2020, or booked between March 10 and June 1, 2020, you may be able to request a cancellation directly from your host and get a full refund.

You’ll need to log in to your account on a web browser (not using the Airbnb app) to do this. A banner on the Change or cancel page will provide info on how to request a refund from your host.

1. Go to Trips and find the trip you want to cancel
2. Click or tap Show trip details
3. From the overview, click or tap Show details
4. Click or tap Change or cancel
5. Under Cancel reservation, click or tap Next
6. Select the COVID-19 (coronavirus) reason for why you’re canceling
7. Click or tap Ask for a full refund

The host will be given up to 48 hours to respond, or 24 hours if the reservation begins within a week. If they agree to the cancellation, we’ll send the refund to your original payment method, including the service fee amount. Find out more about how refunds work.

If the host doesn’t agree, you can still cancel and your refund will be determined by the host’s standard cancellation policy.

Other options

If your reservation doesn’t qualify for either the extenuating circumstances policy or your host doesn’t agree to cancel, you can always message your host to find out if they’re willing to give you a larger refund through the Resolution Center.

For hosts

If a guest requests a cancellation, you’ll receive an email asking if you agree to a full refund. If the check-in time is within 7 days, you’ll have 24 hours to respond, otherwise you’ll have 48 hours to respond. To reply to a request:

1. From the email, click or tap Respond to guest and you’ll be taken to Airbnb
2. Click either Give a full refund or Decline refund

If you agree to give a full refund, there will be no impact to your Superhost status.

Other options 

If you want to cancel a reservation because of COVID-19 that isn’t eligible under our extenuating circumstances policy, message your guest and ask them to cancel the reservation. Host penalties don’t apply to guest-initiated cancellations.

If the guest doesn’t agree to cancel, you can still cancel the reservation, however penalties will apply.

Jay

[Belinda55]

In Australia the policy only applies to bookings to 14 April - neither host or guest can cancel late April, May or June bookings without penalty - "Reservations for stays ... with a check-in date after 14 April 2020, are not currently covered for COVID-19 related extenuating circumstances. The host’s cancellation policy will apply as usual."

[Bejay0]

Hi Belinda55

In Australia, Have the dates now changed where the guest can cancel under the extenuating circumstances policy?

[Jay181]

Sorry for all the long posts, but Airbnb says there are some new tools, but I cannot find them, maybe not available yet.

https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/how-to-get-answers-you-need-about-covid-19-and-trav...
If you need to change or cancel a reservation, here are some helpful resources.

Learn more about our new tools and programs
We’re working on a suite of tools and programs—what we’re calling “More Flexible Reservations”—to help hosts welcome guests and to help guests travel more confidently during this time of uncertainty.

We’re introducing a new tool for hosts to cancel certain reservations without charges—without needing to contact our community support team for help. This will allow hosts to choose to refund any guest who isn’t able to make a trip right now but who isn’t covered under our extenuating circumstances policy. Instead of needing to contact our community support team, a guest can ask for a refund through the tool and a host can give a full or partial refund to the guest directly.

(This would be great tool! I hope it comes soon.

Also would also be nice to be able to waive the strict cancellation policy if a guest has checked in for 2 months, but in the first month wants to change to just one month. Currently he gets charge for the next 30 days.)

Jay

[Elena87]

@Jay181 

Any booking over 27 days means the long term cancellation policy takes effect, if you have a strict policy usually it is overridden.

There already is a waiver in place for long term cancellations

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/448/what-does-it-mean-to-enforce-or-waive-my-cancellation-policy

[Jay181]

Thanks for the clarification. I did mean I had the "long term" cancellation policy.
 In the link you posted (thank you):
https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/448/what-does-it-mean-to-enforce-or-waive-my-cancellation-policy

"If If you waive your cancellation policy:

• Your guest is only charged for the actual nights stayed
• Your cancellation policy is only waived temporarily to allow for the alteration, but it’s not waived for the entire reservation"

But I could not figure out how to "wave Temporary" and when I talked to the aribnb support they didn't seem to know how either. So the guest changed from 2 months to 1 (I agreed), but he still got the charged for his current nights & ~30 more. I have a issue open with support to fix it that I agreed to waive but have not heard back.

Thanks again for your good informaiton.

[Cabo-Platinum0]

@Vicki88 File a support ticket.  They're rather helpful.  Unless you are asking about why they just canceled a booking--with full refund--in May (as they did to us). I filed a support request to try and understand why this cancellation was labeled as a COVID EC, but seemed to fall outside of the policy with regards to the arrival dates.  The support staff did not even respond, instead just closed the ticket.  So disrespectful to our "partnership".... 

[Catherine2252]

@Cabo-Platinum0 

You can sign the petition : 17 230 signatures

https://www.change.org/p/airbnb-airbnb-breach-of-contract-class-action-lawsuit-violate-cancellation-...