Future reservation- covid

[Ben3587]

Hi just looking for some advice here. I made a reservation early March 2020 for an overseas trip mid jan 2021 and as it stands it’s looking unlikely we will be able to travel Due to government restrictions  as we live in Australia. As I booked pre pandemic and if government restrictions are still in place I should be entitled to a full refund? Correct? The other issue is how long do I leave it to make the call of asking for refund?  Or do I just wait closer to the time? Thanks

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ben3587 Airbnb have not yet extended the extenuating circumstances policy to your travel dates (its currently up to mid Sept 2020). They have been drip feeding extensions to the dates presumably to manage cash flow.

This policy is extremely damaging to your host as their property will be blocked until about 4-6 weeks prior to your planned stay leaving them little chance of re-booking from someone who can travel.

Equally it would be unfair for you to cancel now as you would certainly lose your Airbnb service fees and maybe up to 50% of the stay cost depending on the cancellation policy of your host.

FYI the host cannot cancel as they will be fined $50 and the booking dates will be blocked.

The fairest and best thing to do would be to contact the host and see if the two fo you can persuade Airbnb to allow a non-fault mutual cancellation. Failing this its wait and see - It is possible (though very unlikely) that travel may be allowed in 2021.

[Ben3587]

Thankyou for the advice. Very informative:)