Extenuating circumstances policy

[Bronwen3]

It's one thing if as a host you decide to cancel.  But my situation is that ABB just cancelled a reservation from the Wuhan region, refunded the guest, and did not pay me.  It was a ten day reservation so I have lost over £1000.  This is very unfair as the guest should have travel insurance which covers this sort of situation.  ABB should compensate hosts in any event if they decide to cancel the reservation as we have no say in it. I have complained to ABB who keep just telling me the same thing about the Extenuating Circumstances policy.  I am very unhappy about this, it is very sad for those affected in Wuhan, but I just don't see why it is down to the host to compensate and not down to ABB.  They say they are simply a platform, but this is patently not true.  They handle the whole process, deal with complaints, supply insurance etc. etc. and should honour the booking rental if they make it. They also encourage instant booking which I do, which means I cant vet the booking in advance.  Perhaps I should change this, and reject all enquiries from China and Hong Kong going forward since I cant possibly know if ABB will honour the booking going forward.  Has anyone else faced this problem?

[Helen350]

How very British of you @Bronwen3 ! - The rest of the world is bombarding Airbnb with phone calls BEGGING them to cancel guests from China, not wanting their families, neighbours, communities & the wider world infected with a potentially fatal disease, & you say 'stuff & nonsense!' & carry on regardless!!

@Robin4  @Cathie19  @Joy298 @Olga6 @Marko222 

[Bronwen3]

Not exactly I just think ABb should pay the cancellation fee.  I can see in the past others have complained about this particular policy! 

[Anonymous]

@Bronwen3 You want Airbnb to pay you out of pocket? Good luck with that. Fact is, hosts are pretty disposable now that the market is oversaturated. You might benefit from adjusting your expectations accordingly. Perhaps you'll find (as many of us already have) that Airbnb works great for the most short-term/low risk bookings but isn't adequate for high risk and high value transactions. 

[Bronwen3]

I thought lots of hosts may be affected so reason I mentioned it.  Thought it might make ABB reconsider the policy if enough people all raised at the same time unusually.  Thanks all for feedback. 

[Anonymous]

@Bronwen3  Yes, if you reasonably want to have more control over the booking process, deactivating Instant Book is the most logical thing to do. And I also agree, and have always said, that the EC policy is a poor substitute for travelers insurance.

On the other hand, unilaterally banning over a billion people based on a single experience with Airbnb is a self defeating move in many ways, especially since you just advertised in a very public forum that you might intend to practice ethnic discrimination (which can get you permanently delisted).

And also, a short term profit loss seems like a petty concern compared to the overarching goal of containing a potential global pandemic. If Airbnb weren't granting refunds to people banned from traveling due to a lethal outbreak, the bad press would hurt them a lot more than your predicament. 

[Bronwen3]

I don’t think ABB is managing a global epidemic!  I’m very glad you see the flaws in the policy and the way it is managed which is my concern. 

[Lisa723]

@Bronwen3 this topic is frequently discussed here, and yes, all Airbnb hosts must recognize that Airbnb defacto requires us to provide automatic "free" trip insurance to every guest. It's unfair and annoying, but if you choose to list on Airbnb, this is a potential cost of doing business that you must build into your business model.

[Bronwen3]

Thanks.  Hadn’t appreciated this. it seems Abb don’t even ask whether travel insurance is  in place in these circumstances.  I will have to bear in mind as you say.  Thanks. 

[Anonymous]

@Bronwen3 it's worse than that, actually. Many insurers now refuse to reimburse for Airbnb cancellations because of the EC policy, or require that the customer attempt to use it for a refund before accepting a claim. So even the responsible tourists with insurance are backed into a corner.

But as @Lisa723 said, it's all baked into the platform and clearly stated in the terms. So any of us who are taken by surprise when it happens should probably be reading our contracts a little more carefully. 

[Susan17]

@Anonymous 

Agree, on all points., but the policies chop and change with such frequency - invariably, with little or no information from the company as to what those changes are - that it's practically impossible to know what's what, even for those of us who are scrutinising the labarynthine T&Cs on a regular basis. 

But certainly, the Extenuating Circumstances policy (along with several other parts of the T&Cs) would never stand up to a concerted legal challenge in most jurisdictions. 

[Robin4]

@Bronwen3 

Bronwen, in 3 + years of hosting I have never been faced with this problem before and as @Lisa723 said, it is us hosts who provide a 'safety net' for guests travel arrangements, not Airbnb!

I am fully prepared to have Airbnb cancel and refund any potentially suspect reservations, I have never expected to be paid for a service I didn't provide! 

My issue is, these virulent viruses spread through casual human contact and casual human contact does not come much closer than an aircraft seat. Cases have already slipped through to 14 other countries via supposedly safe passenger handling practices. The possibility exists that a guest from an entirely unrelated part of China can board an aircraft without the virus and depart that aircraft with it! 

I love my Chinese guests but, just at this time, I would rather have my health than their money!

Cheers......Rob