China Wu Han pneumonia issue

[Yan4192]

Hi,

As outbreak of pneumonia from China, some of customer from China or close to Wu Han city customer.  We would like to cancel the reservation.  Is it okay to do it?  Will it have any penalty?

[Quincy]

Hello @Yan4192, have you already contacted the customer service team? 

Please see their contact details below. 

United States and Canada

+1-415-800-5959 +1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

[Helen3]

If you cancel the booking any cancellation will be in line with the cancellation policy you booked under, unless there are official government warnings advising against travel to a particular area. @Yan4192  and then you can cancel under Airbnb's extenuating circumstances policy.

Are there travel warnings in place against travel to the area on your government's website (normally your foreign office will have this information).

[Airbnb]

Airbnb understands your concerns regarding the coronavirus, and we want you to know that we’re currently extending our Extenuating Circumstances Policy to hosts and guests who are being impacted. This penalty-free cancellation policy applies to:

• Any hosts or guests diagnosed with or suspected to have coronavirus
• Any hosts or guests who must change or cancel their reservation in order to comply with disease control and/or travel restrictions implemented by the Chinese government or to perform medical or disease control duties
• Any hosts or guests with January 21-February 8, 2020 reservations in China’s Hubei province, which includes the city of Wuhan
• Any hosts with guests traveling from Hubei province from January 21 to February 8. At this time, our penalty-free cancellation policy won’t cover hosts who cancel reservations by guests in or traveling from other parts of China (unless one of the above situations applies).
  
  

We’ll be closely following further instructions from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese authorities, and we’ll update this special cancellation policy as needed.

[Sandra3811]

It's pretty narrow to limit this policy to China. There are tens of thousands of cases in many countries, and it is growing. A guest or a host should be free to be cautious. This is life and death.

[Claire34]

As a host I have a concern that I can only cancel a booking if the Chinese government's disease control regulations prevent the guest's travel. My local government's advice is not taken into account. As it happens my employer has asked all people who have visited china recently to stay away from work till medically cleared. I expect a guest from China soon.  It's awkward. 

[Moira79]

Booking.com are cancelling all bookings in China or booked from China for arrivals until Feb 8th without penalty. While this seems very heavy handed, it is probably wise. I have a Chinese guests due tomorrow, booked from China. If they have been in China within the past 14 days I am cancelling. I feel that Airbnb should be following the same policy.