AIRBNB - refunded a guest, overstepped my cancellation policy

[Jordan478]

Hi,

I was supposed to have a guest check in for the entire month of May, and he cancelled now 2 weeks before the supposed check in time.

According to my cancellation policy he should have not received a full refund, but only 50%.

After he cancelled, he sent me a request for a full refund, which I have denied and explained that Denmark is reopening today and the Coronavirus is not a reason to cancel that reservation.

I got a message from AIRBNB today that they have issued a full refund because the guests flight has been cancelled and they could prove this. What got me very frustrated is that although I have denied that request, they still overstepped my cancellation policy and refunded the guest in full without even asking me first. 

Then proceeding to tell that I will get the 25% they promised because of the Coronavirus outbreak. Need to note that all of my reservations in March, April and now May have been cancelled last minute and all the guest have been issued a full refund. And I have not received any email yet that I "qualify" to receive retroactively the 25% from my cancellation  policy.

Has anyone received anything like this? And has anyone received any money as AIRBNB has promised? And is it normal for AIRBNB to behave like this even if I have denied the request?

Thanks,

Jordan

[David3267]

yet to hear of anyone who has received even an e mail (promised for 'early April') let alone any money. They'll change it again soon

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@David3267 

I have an email (post a cancellation) that tells me I will receive my 25% (well 12.5%) within 4 weeks.

[Cindy78]

why 12.5%????? It's supposed to be 25%

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Cindy78 Its 25% of what you would have got under your policy hence

Strict policy would have paid out 50% if cancelled more than 7 days out so 25% 0f 50% is 12.5% and of course the cleaning fee is not included!

[Fiona358]

hi 
Airbnb don’t care about hosts it’s wrong. I have strict cancellation policy’s on four apartments in london. I am still awaiting my 25% back for May bookings some £7,000.  What are Airbnb doing.

All guest must have there own  travel insurance no one in there right mind travels with out travel insurance. 
airbnb must ask everyone to show proof of travel insurance before booking. 
The billionaires at Airbnb should dip further into there pockets and do the right thing by hosts instead of refunding guests. After 31st May we are on our own losses are massive

stay safe 

[Cindy78]

Same here!  I've not had any emails, no Superhost $, or any % of my cancellations from March or April!!!  Does anyone have ANY insight or suggestions?

[Marit-Anne0]

@Jordan478 the whole wide world of airbnb hosts is experiencing the same, there must be hundreds of posts on the forum if you  care to take a look. 

Even though Denmark (and Norway) is gradually lifting the restrictions, it is far from opened up. All EU borders will be closed until further notice and many countries have banned international travel, so those who disregard these guidelines will travel with no insurance and risk getting stuck in the country they visit at own expense. Besides, most flights are also cancelled.

In Norway the authorities indicate that there will be no lift to the travel restrictions until past the summer holidays, but we may or may not be able to travel freely within the country. I wish we could travel within the Nordic countries, but it does not seem likely.

[Robin4]

@Jordan478 

Jordan, it's hard, hard on everyone.

In one way I agree with you, why do guests who travel with Airbnb feel they don't need travel insurance?

They are of the opinion that someone else will pick up the tab for them being cheepskates and dumping this travel thing in someone else's lap if something goes wrong.

I have had all my bookings cancel, most of them made before this pandemic got off the ground....they were certainly entitled to travel insurance when they booked but, in most instances didn't even think about it.....and Airbnb certainly didn't advise them that they should consider it.

Airlines and hotel advise booking customers to take out travel insurance, but Airbnb (as a travel service provider) consider that is not necessary. So, I am with you there Jordan, we have done our bit, why doesn't everyone else do theirs!

On the other hand, I don't feel comfortable taking money for something I don't provide. It's not Airbnb's fault that a pandemic has shut the world down. I certainly would not accept a guest at this time and my state of South Australia is leading the world in getting on top of this virus issue. We have severe social distancing regulations here. This is our state current graph,

I can assure you we in this state are much further advanced in getting on top of this than Denmark is. We in S.A. currently have 144 active cases compared to Denmark's  3,798! But until a vaccine....or at least an effective containment treatment comes along, we can't let our guard down and start accepting guests.

Jordan I know its hard but what Airbnb are doing is 'trying to walk a middle ground here. I don't get the luxury of even that 25% that you might get because I have a flexible cancellation policy which means, I am not eligible. 

The only thing I might be able to access is a bit of the Superhost grant money as a compensation.

Jordan, it's what it is, none of us could foresee it and it is the last thing Airbnb wanted when they are trying to get an IPO off the ground. We just have to accept that we are in tough times and deal with it as best we can......Good luck.

Cheers......Rob

[Pat271]

@Robin4 Your chart looks fantastic!  It’s the best one I’ve seen.

[Robin4]

@Pat271 

I believe as of tonight we have had one more death but, our current active cases are down to 68.

Now this could be a false positive Pat, because no doubt very little testing went on over the Easter holiday so it will be interesting what the figures are going to be by Wednesday, I am sure we will see some sort of a spike.

But I am so impressed with the way the authorities have handled it here Pat, they didn't just wait and see, The government jumped onto this and I can safely say at the moment, the chance of picking up this virus in South Australia is less than winning the $20 M Cross Lotto!

Cheers......Rob  

[Pat271]

@Robin4 I looked at that also, Australia has done a lot of testing!  14201 per million of population - that’s a much higher testing rate than most countries.  I’m sure you’ve probably seen the different sites, but this one is pretty good for tabular comparisons:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

Does Australia have a reopening date goal or strategy yet?

[Robin4]

@Pat271 

If you click on the individual countries you will see a breakdown of what is happening in that particular country.

My graph was specifically for South Australia but, the trend is universal throughout Australia.......

We are seriously wiping this virus out, but Pat, it has been hard work. More than  $10 million in fines have been issued in the past week around Australia for people breaking the social distancing regulations.

We, as a nation, are serious about stopping Covid-19, the downside of that is, there are still in excess of 10,000 Aussies abroad and as they come back into Oz, spot fires are going to keep on happening. So we have to be strict and keep our guard up!

Cheers.....Rob

[Marit-Anne0]

@Robin4  @Jordan478   I have learnt from other forums that many travel insurances have a clause on pandemics, especially those from the US. Most European insurances would cover provided there is a travel ban.  Not sure about Australia, but many AU-EU travellers had to cancel due to flight cancellatons as many flights are via Singapore. My May/June guests cancelled quite a while ago for this very reason. Just as well, we are now stuck in the very apartment they were supposed to stay in. But I must admit I find the whole airbnb EC policy quite absurd, but surely a fine tool to please customers and create goodwill for airbnb.

[Pat271]

@Robin4 Is the site you from which you pulled the screenshot an international site?  I’d like to look at it if I can access it.