A guest wants to change reservation date, not cancel their booking due to COVID-19

[Darma1]

I have have several guests message me today that they are concerned with flying and their government (australia) has issued a Level 3 travel warning. (Level 3 = 'Reconsider you need to travel'). There has not been a travel block yet to Bali/Indonesia yet (where I live)from most countries, so they cannot yet apply for the extenuating circumstances policy and receive a full refund. Instead they would like to postpone their trip for a couple months and not cancel the booking.

My sole income is based on tourism here in Bali and I run all my bookings through airbnb. I have close to 15 cancellations this last month, most have been issued with a 100% refund because of the extenuating circumstances policy. The more cancellations I have, my income decreases and I am in fear it is going to get worst. I have a strict cancellation policy on my listings and where I can, I do not make any exceptions for cancellations as I need to to ensure I can continue to operate my business and I can afford to pay my staff, especially in these tough times. 

I've tried to find the best solution and wanting to ask for the opinion from others regarding this issue of postponing a booking. 

The bookings are within a week to two weeks time. I will not be able to get them rebooked in time for sure, and is I accept the changed reservation, I run the risk of them cancelling straight after because it will be outside of the cancellation policy. 

What would you do? Would you be strict and treat it like a cancellation? Or agree to postponing the trip? 

[Sharon1014]

@Darma1  I also have had 2 cancellations in the last 2 hours.  One has rescheduled their 2 night stay (this weekend) to a 1 night stay in April but I am now concerned they will cancel that one also.  Can't find anything on whether or not guests who reschedule then have the option to cancel again on the rescheduled date and avoid paying anything that way.  If any other hosts know what the arrangements are around this, be much obliged if you can contribute same. 

Have just now changed my cancellation policy to strict with 10% off for non-refundable bookings.  Just isn't any other option when hosts are left in a hole carrying the cost of something that should be covered by travel insurance.  Impossible to recoup lost revenue for this weekend and next.  Very unsatisfactory situation for hosts to be left in.

[Sarah977]

@Sharon1014  The extenuating circumstances will trump the non-refundable, although the 10% off may attract more business to make up for the cancellations.

@Darma1  At this point, it really doesn't matter one way or the other. If Airbnb has been giving 100% refund to your guests if they cancel, rescheduling and then cancelling garners the same result- you don't get paid either way. I'd be inclined to accept the rescheduling, as some may actually end up not cancelling.

Most hosts are in the same boat as you right now, although some don't depend on the income. I know it's terrible when you depend on it and even have staff to pay. Good luck.

[Linda108]

In my case, a large event was moved to 6 months later and the guests just rescheduled rather than cancelling.  One advantage of rescheduling for the guest is that they don't have to wait to get paid in full. Air BNB is overwhelmed and the refunds are slow.  You might sweeten the pot with a slight discount for reservations 6 months later.  Pretty much all travel related businesses are taking a huge hit and Air BNB is no exception.  Stay safe yourself.

[Rowena29]

@Darma1  I really do feel your financial pain, I have been struggling terribly since October 2019 (bushfires, floods, now Corona).   I would be inclined to accept the change. You're quite right - they could make the reservation for much later in the future and then cancel with no penalty.  However,,, since airbnb has pretty much being giving every traveller who asks for it a 100% refund, whether the area the guest is travelling to is corona affected or not, ( airbnb has been over riding it's own extenuating circumstances policy - the forum is full of complaints re this) the fact that guest is asking for a delay, not a cancellation bodes well IMO. Also most Australian travel insurance will not cover cancellations of flights, accomodation due to pandemic.  So my guess is that guests are paying a penalty to adjust their flights to a later date rather than lose all their money. You are very definitely in a dammed if you do dammed if you dont' situation.   However I think a number of people are already looking to the future - there may well be a surge in tourism and "good times" as people rush to throw off the doom and gloom. It's impossible to know how things are going to pan out. Corona is meant to peak in April May here, so things are definitely going to get much worse before they get better...

[Sandra126]

@Rowena29 , where did you read April may? I read that we will start to see spread in April may, expected peak in August. But nobody knows. 

Stay well.

[Rowena29]

@Sandra126 I've tried 3 times over the last 24 hours to reply to you and I keep getting an error message.  This is my last attempt.

I have to admit I didn't read the April/May peak thing anywhere.

I heard it from someone quite high up in the health department about a fortnight ago. She was VERY drunk at the time, ( it was at a wedding)  so I took little notice of her, what she said was going to play out over the next 2 months,  or of all the strategies she was urging me to employ.

I saw my GP a week later and asked her opinon and she it made sense, as the virus was due to peak in Australia in late April early May.  So I've only heard by word of mouth, but I did assume it was accurate coming from my GP. I dint' stop to question that assumption -  it could be totally wrong  and I could be one of those people spreading misinformation ( not deliberately). I probalby should shut up

However with each passing day, the things the drunk wedding guest said are becoming more and more relevant.  She told me for instance that there would be shortages of toilet paper, pasta, medications, about 3 days before that all kicked off ( she urged me to go and stock up on toilet paper and I took no notice at all).  She talked about school closures ( after EAster was her information) long before the first schools started shutting up shop.  YOu're absolutely right though, no one knows   - making educated hypotheses and contingency plans more like...