Frustrations with Extenuating Circumstances Policy

[Jon-Marc-and-Gigi0]

Hi All,

Hoping to get some feedback from other Plus hosts and possibly the moderators on this forum.  

We all experienced frustration from last spring during the COVID outbreak where Airbnb stepped in and took money from hosts by overriding the host's cancelation policy.  I thought Airbnb recognized they did not handle this the best way and updated their policy.  

Unfortunately, though, I just had a similar situation where Airbnb stepped in and canceled a last-minute reservation supposedly under the extenuating circumstances policy and took money out of my pocket. The guest gets a 100% refund with no process to review or appeal the decision.  We are in Austin, TX so the issue is with the winter storm that just hit Texas.  While the storm was bad and did temporarily affect water and power in some areas the worst is behind us and power and water is flowing again.  We actually hosted guests throughout the storm without issue because our property never lost power.    

I have a new guest that is supposed to check in over the weekend, and the forecast is for sunshine and temperatures in the 60's during her entire stay.  She wanted to cancel her reservation due to the weather.  I offered to shift her dates into the future, she didn't want to do that.  She just wanted to cancel.  I try really hard to be reasonable and fair with my guest and often end up give refunds based on the circumstances even if my cancellation policy is set to Strict.  So I was going to do the same for this guest and offer them a 50% refund.  That seems more than fair considering there is nothing preventing this guest from completing their reservation.  However, the guest stopped communicating with me and because they just wanted a 100% refund and they went to Airbnb and got it.  

Airbnb never reached out to me to get any details about the circumstances of the reservation before they decided to cancel their own.  The most frustrating part is that when I reached out to Airbnb customer support to try to understand why the reservation was canceled under the extenuating circumstances policy I was simply told by Manuel, a Sr. Support Ambassador, that he "can't disclose further details why it was considered an extenuating circumstance, due to security purposes, but rest assured there is a team working 24/7 to endure these types of decisions are taken fairly."

It's infuriating to have money ripped out of my pocket, but it even more infuriating to not be told why.  However, my biggest concern is not with the money I lost on this single reservation, but it's not knowing when or how often Airbnb is going to do it to us again or to what extent.  

There has to be a better way to deal with this.  I completely understand that there are circumstances can make things difficult for guest, but the full burden of cancelations should not fall on the host.  There should be a process to appeal these types of decisions so that it not just left up to the judgment of the Airbnb support person you happen to get.  We have hosted 1000's of guests on Airbnb at three of our properties in Texas, so we have a lot of experience successfully working through issues with guests. I just Airbnb would let us work out an equitable solution without guests without overriding the host and making us take the full burden of the loss.

We all get frustrated and emotional from time to time, so the purpose of my post is to understand if I'm being reasonable?  Should I just let this go, or should I continue to pursue this in an effort to make the process better for hosts, guests and Airbnb?  I would also appreciate any guidance from others on this forum on how they have handled similar situations.

Thanks,

Jon-Marc

[Clay]

Hi Jon-Marc,

Thank you for writing in.

I'm truly very sorry about this situation. This has been an incredibly challenging year for all hosts and travelers, and the application (or lack thereof) of Extenuating  Circumstances policies can often cause frustration and stress for the hosts and travelers affected.

While we on the Plus Host Success team aren't involved or informed of extenuating circumstances policies and their application, taking a look at our help center article on EC can provide some insight as to why the decision was made to fully refund this guest. The weather and related situation in Texas seems like it could relate to a few of these events, such as declared emergencies and epidemics, or natural disasters.

I've checked with the team that made the decision, but I am only able share as much information as our policies allow, so I may not be able to provide any additional context.

I'm sorry if this answer doesn't provide the clarity and closure you were hoping for, but I'm happy to provide any other answers to questions you may have.

Regards,
Clay

[Jon-Marc-and-Gigi0]

Thanks @Clay I appreciate the thoughtful response.

It was a tough week in Texas with the unprecedented winter storm and as you can see from the positive reviews I received this week from guests they were all very happy with how we worked with them through the storm. We always try to be fair and flexible with our guests, but when they don’t want to be reasonable we like to have the ability to fall back on our cancellation policy and be able to uphold what the guest agreed to when they booked so that the full burden of a cancellation doesn’t fall solely on the host. 

Clay I know this is cancelation issue not in your realm, so I don’t expect you to solve this problem, but just hoping the more voices that speak up the more likely it is for there to be a change. 

I love everything that the Airbnb platform is about, the friends we have created through the world and the business it has allowed us to grow, but this cancellation issue continues to rear its ugly head and makes us question if I should continue to solely list all our properties on Airbnb or diversify to other platforms. 

I think the solution is to either create an appeals process for these types of decisions so that there is a more in depth look into these types of issues, or assign high value host an account manager that they can work with to resolve issues. 

[Clay]

Hi @Jon-Marc-and-Gigi0 - I 100 % hear where you're coming from, and please trust me when I say that we take all Plus host feedback to the appropriate teams. Many of the things you've mentioned -- cancellation appeals processes, additional clarity, etc -- are being actively discussed, and Airbnb is always trying to find the best solution for our hosts and guests.

For Plus hosts like yourself, please continue to make use of this forum, as it's the best way for us to hear and react to requests and questions that you have for us. If it's something that relates to Plus hosts in particular, we generally can act on that, and if it's something more broad, we can take it to the proper team.

[Viv26]

I feel your pain.  I have seem to have found the policy is different at different times, I also know that as I host for 4 properties and my one high priced one is on the PLUS section which I am not convinced is a benefit.the other 3 other lower priced and two of which are on other marketing platforms.  Everytime there is a guest to cancel they NEVER put it through until they have phoned the host to discuss.  I find airbnb superhost platform the best out of all the platforms except for the cancellation policies. And now they have recently added another level of cancellation which I decided to join as it was more strict than others, I now understand that one to only be 50% of my bookings and airbnb algorithums decide who is in which category so I actually have no idea whats going on.   My big bug bear though on the PLUS side, is I have been trying to contact customer service since last sunday and the bot keeps sending me the wrong answers so on Wednesday I call, the customer service person gave me the wrong information, I had already spent two hours looking for it after following the list of instructions in the help section but didnt work.  He told me this didnt work but said he didnt know how to.  I found it out myself eventually, after another hours working it out.   But more frustrating.  I also wanted an answer regarding something else which only the PLUS team could deal with, and he cannot give me a contact email or tel number, could not pass me through but rest assured he will pass on my query.  Its now friday night and no contact  The Plus system is very hard to work with.  

Airing my frustrations with you.  Its simple for airbnb to give solutions to all of these as well.  Good luck as I do not think you will get the result you want from this.  And neither will I.

[Clay]

Hi @Viv26,

Thank you for writing in. I'm very sorry for the frustration you've been experiencing.

Regarding cancellation policies and related, Plus listings are subject to the same rules and policies as non-Plus listings, and cancellation/refund tickets and decisions are owned by the broader Customer Support team. As a result, we on the Plus team are only able to request updates or additional clarification on open tickets.

Regarding your Plus listing and your request to have photos added or changes, I see that that ticket was correctly routed today, and you've been able to share the additional photos, which is great. I'll keep an eye on that case to ensure it's resolved well. I also see that you had to reach out multiple times, and your ticket was misrouted multiples before it ended up in the right place today. I've kicked off an investigation into what went wrong there so that future Plus hosts don't go through the same runaround before finding support.

As always, we keep a close eye on this community group, so please let us know where we might be missing things, and we'll always be happy to help out in whatever way we can, whether that's through taking over a support ticket, or just through answering a question.

Thank you for being a valued Plus host. We're incredibly appreciative of you and hosts like you on Airbnb that are providing outstanding and memorable stays for guests all over the world.

Sincerely,

Clay

[Viv26]

Hi clay @Clay 

thank you to your response to my message.   There are still a couple of at areas that I would like to discuss with someone 

how to reach out to a customer service representative that understands the Plus system directly from the start of contact.   

Also, I would like to know how to be considered for the Luxe listings? As for my Plus listing we provide a vip arrival service at the airport and collect our guests as well as having a fully stocked fridge and wine for their arrival. Along with many other services it looks like we should fit this criteria and wondered on how this inspection is considered.
Thank you
Viv

[Clay]

Hi @Viv26,

For now, the best way to get in touch with the Plus team is here. We moderate this forum very closely. We are working on ways for you to reach Plus-trained customer support, but until some of those changes have rolled out, your best bet is to come here for Plus-specific needs.

Regarding Luxe, I can refer your listing(s) to that team for consideration if you let me know which ones to pass along.

[Viv26]

Hi @Clay 

Ok thanks Clay,  It is my Plus listing titled " Next to the best beach"  And "Luxury Private 2 bed cottage"

Thank you

Viv

[Clay]

Thanks @Viv26 - will send over to the Luxe team for consideration. They'll follow up if they think it's a good fit.

[Clay]

Hi @Viv26 - you can email partners AT luxuryretreats DOT com, and they'll consider your listing for the Lux tier.