Covid 19 & SXSW Cancellation

[Mary116]

Austin Texas does not have any cases of COVID 19, but the Mayor did cancel the major festival, SXSW, next week.

Does anyone have recommendations on how best to handle cancelations because companies who were exhibitors at SXSW have decided not to come to Austin because the festival is canceled?

We had one big company rent all of our houses, and then say COVID-19 is why they are not coming. But we don't have any cases in Austin yet.

Our cancelation policy is strict. They are demanding a full refund and unwilling to settle for anything less.

A $10k refund will hit my bottom line hard enough to turn it red. 

Any ideas? 

[Mary116]

Airbnb extenuating policy on COVID-19

• In order to comply with disease control restrictions implemented by relevant governmental or health authorities

The disease control restriction placed on Austin by Mayor Adler and Judge Eckert only relates to events with more than 2500 people, not travel.

Their are currently zero cases of COVID 19 in Austin, and no indication coming to town is unsafe.

The guest is canceling because they want to attend a specific event which has been canceled.

Because disease control restrictions is not on travel, only large events,I it doesn’t seem like the extenuating circumstance would cover event cancelation.

I thought the policy was to cover health related travel restrictions.

Can anyone clarify?

[Cynthia745]

The only guests of ours that have canceled so far have been due to their company not allowing them to travel, not due to the festival being cancelled or flight restrictions. There are no virus cases in Austin.  They want a full refund which is unfair to us.  We want Airbnb to stick to our original cancellation policy.  

I am sympathetic to guests' predicament but this is not tenable for hosts and we shouldn't have to bare all the loss.  Maybe Airbnb should share it with us and the guests equally since we are all hurt by this.

[Lisa723]

@Mary116 Airbnb will make the decision about whether the circumstances are extenuating. Airbnb CS is known to interpret the policy very inconsistently so it's probably a roll of the dice. In any case, there's little or nothing you can do. The guests will cancel and Airbnb will refund them or not. (Just don't cancel for them, of course.) Sorry you've joined the many hosts dealing with such cancellations.

[Sandra126]

I think the reason for cancelling this massive event is precisely because you don't have any cases. I'm assuming Austin wants to keep it that way for as long as possible. So, 500000 attendees will not be coming. Or whatever the number is. It's high. 

[Kelly149]

my read on the ABB COVID19 version of EC is that Austin does not qualify for free EC cancellation. Unfortunately, all any of us can do tho is sit back and see what ABB actually does

[Top-Trip-Rentals0]

COVID-19 has the potential to hurt each and every host at some point. I am currently upholding our posted policies. Airbnb to date is considering SXSW an event cancellation which is not covered under their Extenuating Circumstances policy. I have pleaded with Airbnb for years now to offer trip insurance and/or find a more equitable solution for unforeseen issues that most often occur at the last minute. I don’t think it is fair for host to absorb 100% of a loss anytime and particularly when we are in uncharted territory of a pandemic expected to last for months. Chinese, North Korean, and some Italian hosts lost 100% of their revenue with no notice and no end in sight. I feel awful for them. With SXSW cancelling and countless pleas for full refunds, I face the reality of having to close my business after 13 years and let go 6 housekeepers, 1 maintenance person, and 6 other support members who rely on my flexible hours and paycheck to support their family. I hope Airbnb  considers all impacted parties as COVID-19 is sure to expand. Good luck to you Mary! 

[Sarah1960]

We've had both of our SXSW guests request to cancel for a full refund. I directed them to the new coronavirus policy and asked them to contact Airbnb directly to request a refund with their cancellation (we have our policy set to strict). For one guest, the reservation was canceled immediately, presumably by Airbnb, with no notice to us and no upcoming payout listed. The other guest said Airbnb has been no help. We agreed to offer her the refund anyway, but the page keeps timing out and won't let us confirm it. It was a tough decision, but we ultimately realized that if we were in their shoes, we'd hope the host would do the same for us. The lost income (and considerable expense we had in getting our place ready for this week) is painful but we're fortunate that we'll be able to absorb the loss. So, it seems Airbnb is applying its new policy inconsistently for now, and it's up to each host to decide what's best for their own situation.

[Jane788]

I had 3 separate SXSW guests booked, with a moderate cancellation policy. One cancelled about 5 min after SXSW did, just in time for a full refund. I haven't heard a peep from the other two yet, which I think is interesting considering they both still have a day or two to get a full refund. So...do I remind them of that?Or sit tight? If I'd been the traveler in this situation I'd have definitely been on it like my first guest!

[Corey100]

Maybe they still want to come to Austin to hang out. There will be a bunch of local shows going on.   I was thinking the same exact thing yesterday. 

[Corey100]

What to do??  I just started my Airbnb business in October. I’ve been counting on SXSW to float me through the slow season of June July and August.  if I give a full refund, that jeopardizes the life of my Airbnb. Would I be so terrible of a person not to refund them? I have a strict cancellation policy which I just changed about a week ago because I had a SXSW cancellation and was worried about somebody else canceling.   Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Sarah977]

@Corey100  Airbnb will either refund your guests in full or they won't. You don't have to offer to refund them, let the guest work it out with Airbnb. And no, that doesn't make you a terrible person. We just all have to deal with this as our own conscience dictates.

As you've sadly found out, it's never a good idea to count on money you haven't yet received, unless it's just a regular paycheck from your employer. So many things can happen.

[Corey100]

Thank you Sarah977!

[Mary116]

Thanks everyone.

These cancelation are tough on guests, hosts and the Airbnb support staff. 

Hoping this disaster will be over soon and we can get back to our regularly scheduled lives.

[Juan63]

This is another case of good intentions that ends up putting a boot up a hosts rear end. We had one cancelation citing the mayor's 7 day state of emergency because they want to force two Chinese individuals from traveling within the city. There was no travel ban and no outbreak of the virus. Of course Airbnb uses this very vague and open policy to cancel our strict cancelation policy. We put $1000's and effort into their business and we very often get the short end of the stick. Very upset host here. Then support tries to make me feel bad because I only have one cancelation so far and others have many more? That sorry excuse for sympathy doesn't pay the mortgage.