Covid

[Hugh117]

Hi

Hope you can help me, I just want to clarify some of the stuff coming from Airbnb.

Re compensation, is this only if there is a cancellation within my normal cancellation period of 5 days which is being waived by Airbnb due to Covid.

if my understanding is correct then most of my cancellations were outside 5 days except one in March which was 2 days beforehand and the payment came through it I subsequently refunded to the lady, is this eligible for compensation.

Separately I notice that the cancellation has been extended to 15 May and just want to check if as s hist I cancel booking in July and August now then will it have any impact on me as s host in terms of fees and impact on my superhost.

Thank you

hugh

[Helen3]

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2701/extenuating-circumstances-policy-and-the-coronavirus-covi...

From what you say,  if you read their covid cancellation policy your cancellations would fall outside of their covid cancellation policy and therefore you would be liable to the normal host cancellation charges.

According to the information Airbnb sent to hosts a few weeks back you will only get 25% of your 50% cancellation fee returned if you have a strict cancellation under the Covid EC policy for guest refunds.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Hugh117 @Helen3 

On the right hand side of the URLbelow it says you can cancel bookings made before March ?? for the rest of the year. There is no more info as this just then links to your reservations but it clearly states no penalty.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/resources/hosting-homes/t/coronavirus-updates-34

[Helen3]

Ah thanks @Mike-And-Jane0 I didn't realise they had extended host cancellations to the end of the year. Wonder why they are doing that. Seems like they are shooting themselves in the foot, when most countries are likely to start lifting their restrictions over the summer.

[Sarah977]

@Helen3  Perhaps because they are trying to promote LTRs now. I'm sure they want hosts to sign up for those, so it ends up looking like a successful initiative. But in order to take LTRs, hosts would have to clear their calendars of any bookings they currently have. Hosts can cancel any future reservations for the rest of the year, but cancelling them is only possible without host penalties until May 15. So they are kind of prodding hosts to cancel, but only giving them a short period of time to make that decision, or there won't be enough hosts to fill up their proposed new LTR category, is what it seems like to me.

Or I could take off my suspicious, ulterior motives hat and think they are doing this out of concern for the safety of hosts and guests during the pandemic. But in that case, they'd let hosts cancel without penalties until the pandemic was no longer a big threat, wouldn't they? Why only until May15?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Sarah977 I prefer to think, but time will tell, that they are being fair by giving guests as much notice as possible. If hosts want to change their business model or are concerned for their safety they can cancel the rest of the year. I plan on not cancelling but if stays become illegal then I will either ask the guest to cancel or use the original EC policy to cancel free of charge nearer the time.