Forced to come to NYC?

[Scott1159]

I know this is a host oriented site, but I don't understand how it is in anyone's interest to FORCE me to come to NY city at this time. I am just past the April 14th cutoff for refunds. NYC is the hottest zone in the USA right now. I'm not even asking for a refund, just credit for a later time. As it is, I would be going from one quarantine to another with a nice chance of getting sick on the airplane. This is CRAZY.

Scott in San Jose, CA

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Scott1159 

Chill....... I am sure Airbnb will extend their EC policy past mid April as and when it suits them. I am sure you will get all your money back and your host will get nothing to help with their costs.

[Scott1159]

I would be happy to pay the host full rate for the same reservation at a later time. If the host is in financial difficulties, then would not having full booking later help him out at that later time?

My host would not even answer emails or calls. I had to find out from Airbnb that he had refused to move the reservation. Hell I would still make a deal with him. I have been very good to my hosts in the past, and am not looking to screw anyone.

[Helen3]

Have you read the EC policy for the virus? @Scott1159  Post 14 April you can ask the host to do a voluntary 100% refund have you done this?

If not give it a go and if they say no wait for the policy to be extended.

[Anonymous]

@Scott1159   If you'd prefer not to wait for the free-cancellation window to be extended, you can open the itinerary, select "Change or Cancel," and request a change in your booking dates. This would require the host's approval, and it only works if the dates are available; they may be set at a different price, and there's no certainty of exactly when it will be safe to travel to NY again.

I don't recommend this course of action. Right now, hosts are losing months of income and may need to quickly reconfigure their businesses as long-term rentals or even sell them. It's not necessarily an advantage to be saddled with a commitment to a short booking long in the future under these conditions. Especially when you consider that Airbnb does not pay out the host until after the check-in date, and does not offer a "stored value" option unattached to calendar dates. 

You're best off waiting, unless your travel insurer advises otherwise.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Scott1159 

I know it's hard to wait..... but I strongly recommend it. Airbnb will most likely extend the date for penalty-free covid-19 related cancellations very soon.

Personally, I think we need to be prepared for the long haul..... at least the next 4~6 months, and probably longer for things to REALLY get back to normal. 

In S.Korea, # of confirmed cases started spiking in mid~end of Feb so airlines started cancelling flights end of Feb for 80~90% of their flights till mid-March. Then mid-March, flights cancelled 95% of flights  and the full refund is extended for up to end of April, and now everyone is expecting an *official* notice that confirms cancellations till end of May~early June flights. Some people couldn't wait and just went ahead to cancel an April flight end of Feb and paid the cancellation fee - which they ALL regretted only a few weeks later. 

Hang in there and stay safe~

[Scott1159]

So the date was moved by airbnb, and I got a "credit" towards future airbnb purchases.

This ends my relationship with airbnb. The service really didn't offer much that hotels do not. I have used the service about 5 times, and it is roughly comparable in price and features to hotels. I don't do "room in a house" type rentals, we tried it and didn't like it. For the price of a good hotel room, you can get a whole apartment, but most of the advantages of that we don't use. I don't cook meals on vacation, so don't use the kitchen.

Using any travel service, hotel or airbnb, involves substantial risk, and the Covid crisis illustrates that well. I have always had good luck with hotels. They have been willing to refund for good reason even when it is my fault. In contrast, the airbnb host in New York never returned my calls or emails. I was very reasonable in a bad situation. Going to NY was getting worse and worse, and at this writing would be certifiably insane. I offered to move the reservation, no refund, and I got stonewalled in a very unprofessional manner. Waiting 1 hour online with airbnb got me "we will check into your case", followed by a form letter.

So one apartment owner here declared that I am a whiner. Well, lets see if the next time you are robbed on the streets of New York of $500 if you still feel you are a whiner.

As for me, I am done. Airbnb does not provide reward sufficient to cover their risk.

Scott

[Ria16]

@Scott1159   You said in your first post that you wouldn’t mind a credit and you got one.

I sincerely hope that your host is well and not in some hospital which is why they can’t answer messages .

Kia Kaha NYC ❤️

[Nanxing0]

@Scott1159 First of all I don't know why you got the impression that Airbnb is a "host oriented" site but most people feel Airbnb is a guest oriented site on the contrary. 

While I'm travelling, I do half hotel and half Airbnb. There are something Airbnb can offer while hotels cannot, while there are also something hotels can offer but Airbnbs cannot. It's a complicated thing that nobody can make a simple conclusion. Again Airbnb is a platform so different hosts provide different service. Just like you buy things on Ebay that there are great sellers but you can also find fake stuffs on it as well. 

Speaking about the risk, the hotels are in NO WAY safer than Airbnb in my opinion. In most hotels there are tens or hundreds of rooms sharing the hallway and lobby, while in most Airbnb properties there are only at most a few, plus we don't use front desk or lobby for check in process. The possibility that another virus carrier stays in the same hotel building is way higher than that of an Airbnb, plus the virus can be easily passed to you through front desk representative, while in Airbnb most likely you won't have any chance to have close contact to the virus at all.

Regarding the refund, I hope you understand the situation that right now Airbnb is ruling for the nicest extenuating circumstance policy for COVID-19 that FAVORS GUESTS that is making lots of, maybe most of, hosts angry and some of them are signing for a class action on that.