This past Sunday I was on the sidelines of my 9-year-old son's first flag football game when I got a worrying message from my incoming guest. He had booked months ago, and was now due to arrive in 3 days from the UK, and stay for 11 nights, with a payout to me of thousands of dollars. He and his family were flying in from the UK and they had just taken their required pre-flight Covid tests and their daughter had tested positive. Now, he wrote, they would not be permitted to fly for another 10 days. Could I give him a refund or could he push the reservation to a later date? I
have a "strict" cancellation policy that prevents last minute cancellations with refunds, so I wrote back that I really felt for him and I was so sorry he was stuck in England, but no, I could not refund or push the dates, as either way, I would be losing the money for the dates he had originally booked, and I rely on that money to pay the house's expenses, and I would be unlikely to find another guest so close to the check in date. I suggested that he cancel as soon as possible to free up the dates so I could try to rent them to another guest, and if so, I would happily refund him for any dates booked, of course.
Well, stupid me, I was unaware that Airbnb has a Covid Extenuating Circumstances Policy that states that if you show a positive Covid test within 14 days of the trip, you may cancel without penalty or payout, no matter the host's cancellation policy.
So the guest just went to Airbnb, sent the positive Covid test, and Airbnb cancelled the reservation. 3 days before the check in date for an 11-day stay. No penalty for him, no payout for me. I got no help from Airbnb despite repeated calls, conversations and emails.
I had long assumed, from a cursory read of the updated Airbnb policies, that a guest could no longer cancel by blaming Covid. But I was wrong, of course. It turns out that the positive test is the only remaining way you can cancel. But it's a VERY easy way -- just send in a Word document -- and it also guarantees that the cancellation will be last minute, which is the worst thing for hosts, since the test must be within 14 days of the stay.
It goes without saying that of course I wouldn't want someone who has tested positive for Covid to travel. Of course. But that doesn't make the consequences from a guest's pre-travel Covid test my responsibility. Knowing he was flying internationally, from a place that has travel restrictions into the US due to Covid, the guest could have booked a house with a flexible cancellation policy, or he could have purchased travel insurance. He did neither. Instead he -- and more importantly Airbnb -- essentially expected ME to act as his travel insurance.
There was a lot of blowback in the early days of the pandemic after Airbnb allowed guests to cancel without penalty. In response, Airbnb set up a fund to reimburse hosts for 25% of their cancellation policy, which was not much but at least something. Post all that, Airbnb has talked a big game about trying to be better about supporting hosts. But if they were serious about that, why didn't Airbnb just keep the Covid fund going if they were still going to allow guests to cancel without penalty due to a positive Covid test? (You are not allowed to cancel due to other surprise illnesses or injuries.) Why, as usual, are hosts expected to carry the entire burden of Covid on our shoulders? Why doesn't Airbnb just require guests to either purchase trip insurance, or forgo their right to get a refund due to Covid? Or I am sure there are a million other ideas, any of which are better than making the host shoulder the entire cost.
But what really worries me is what happens going forward. Because now I realize that there is a way for guests to easily circumvent my cancellation policy by either sending Airbnb a legit positive Covid test, or just sending a Word doc that looks like a Covid test. So, what if someone books my house for weeks or months, blocking it months ahead of time, and then cancels with a positive Covid test 3 days before the check in date? Sure, it may be unlikely that someone would do that, but my point is that Airbnb allows it. And then I would have no recourse and I would really be in trouble financially.
At the end of the day, this whole experience just once again makes me resent Airbnb and it makes me want to try to get bookings on other platforms that don't micromanage me and get in the way of how I want to do business.
Thanks for letting me vent and for listening.
