Covid19 PENALTIES FOR HOSTS!!!

[Hideout0]

Dear community, I am writing this with quite some emotions, this situation is crazy!

Bali, Indonesia. Local government have issued a document stating that in the area of Karangasem (our district) is not allowed to host or bring tourists between 24-30 March. We were told that we are not allowed to host for the following week. Police will be controlling the situation.

Since we had 9 reservations confirmed for that time, we asked Airbnb support to walk us through what to do - of course, we were hoping that under this situation, we would not get Airbnb penalties for cancellation by host. This is out of our scope.

But since Airbnb has issued new Exten.Circ. policy in COVID19 times, we are not in these exceptions. Therefore they want to give us full penalties..

- 100 usd per reservation
- loosing Superhost status

- probably deactivation of our profile

I am trying to keep the discussion alive with them, but they are just flat on their decision.

I provided our official document providing this restriction. 

They don't care.

And this is at the same time when they are issuing articles where they describe how to adjust your listing to host during COVID19 - we actually did all these advice!!!!!

Can someone help me to get in touch with anyone from Airbnb that would be able to evaluate this situation with some logic and reason?

We are super hosts for 5 years now, big advocates for Airbnb so far.

Thank you for any speedy answer.

Ali from Hideout Family

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Hideout0 

I don't understand.

The policy says

Reservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences made on or before 14 March 2020, with a check-in date between 14 March 2020 and 14 April 2020, are covered by the policy and may be cancelled before check-in. Guests who cancel will receive a full refund, and hosts can cancel without charge or impact on their Superhost status. Airbnb will refund all service fees for covered cancellations.

Were your bookings made after March 14th? If so just message your guests, tell them the police will turn them away and suggest they cancel to get some or all of their money back.

[Hideout0]

Their reservations were made after March 14th, therefore the second part of advice would be applicable here. You are probably right, maybe this will be my next course of actions if this situation repeats in April.

But my common sense was telling me that since I am unable to host them - I am the one who should cancel. Being guest at this situation, this is what I would be expecting from my host.

[Sarah977]

@Hideout0  In normal circumstances, it would be the hosts responsibility to cancel if they couldn't host. But these aren't normal circumstances. There is an option guests can click on when they go to cancel that has been instituted to deal with COVID cancellations. Ask you guests to proceed to "Cancel or Change" reservation, then "Next", then they should see an option to send the host a message to approve saying they want to cancel under the COVID policies with full refund. If they do this, and you approve it, it should effectively deal with the situation without penalizing you.

[Mary475]

I feel strongly that Airbnb should be allowing hosts to cancel and not just guests. I also think the timeline is off. By April 15th this will not be behind us unfortunately. It will likely be june before any shared spaces should be rented. Particularly in NY (where I host). I don’t want to host during a pandemic and shouldn't be penalized and the current policy is absolutely penalizing hosts. 

[Hideout0]

Hopefully, there will be some adjustments in the policy.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Hideout0 

All things considered, if it were me, I would just contact the guests with a message starting with letting them know about the government issued document. (Maybe tell them search "Karangasem travel restriction" or whatever key words that will lead to links) And explain Airbnb has never been very supportive of hosts contacting them to cancel so you'd appreciate if the guests could please cancel and also point them towards where they can find more info about Airbnb's extenuating circumstance clause being applied for covid-19. Explain that from the information provided to you as a host from Airbnb, you were told guests would get full refunds and hosts would not be penalized for accepting cancellation requests due to covid-19, and leave it at that. 

[Hideout0]

Unfortunately due to their reservations being quite new (performed after March 14th) they can't ask for covid-19 extenuating circumstance, and they don't get their fees back. 😞 Not every guest is understanding. But I do see that I will have to take responsibility to their side.

[Huma0]

@Hideout0I am so sorry this has happened to you. I am not saying you will get anywhere, but I would keep fighting this decision if you can (try posting on Airbnb's social media, Twitter, Facebook etc. to see if you can get anywhere that way).

Even if these bookings do not fall under the current COVID-19 EC policy, I think they do fall under the normal extenuating circumstances policy, so tell Airbnb that. E.g.

Circumstances that require documentation:

Government-mandated obligations including jury duty, travel restrictions, court appearances, and military deployment. You'll be asked to provide a copy of the official notice dated after the reservation was booked, including the name of the person fulfilling the obligation.

Circumstances that require special review:

Natural disasters, terrorist activity, and civil/political unrest that prevent the guest from travelling to or from the destination, or that make it unsafe to host guests.

The policy also lists:

Epidemic disease or illness that suddenly affects a region or an entire group of people. This doesn’t include existing diseases that are associated with an area – for example, malaria in Thailand or dengue fever in Hawaii. Any updates to our policy regarding the outbreak of a disease, and the scope of policy application, will be determined based on announcements by the World Health Organization and local authorities.

While they might refer you back to the COVID-19 policy, note the part I have underlined here about announcements from local authorities.

Again, I am not saying you will get anywhere. Airbnb CS are making the most illogical decisions right now. Maybe it's worth a shot though.

[Hideout0]

Hello everyone,

the matter was solved.

They have reviewed the situation after many discussion and decided to waive down penalties. 

We are taking measures so this doesn't happen again, and only guests will be those who cancel.

Thank you all for your words!

Ali