Guest abusing Airbnb COVID policy to cancel penalty free

[Hl0]

Hello fellow hosts!

Sharing my very recent experience with a dishonest guest here who abuses the Airbnb COVID policies. The guest has made a 3 week booking under the strict cancellation policy. At around 6 days before the booking, he claims that he wants to cancel the booking under COVID circumstances, and then within an hour sends a date change request to shorten the trip, while the start date remains on the same date ( which is in 6 days.) 

I asked him if he is tested positive for COVID, with which he admitted that he is not tested positive, but that he needs to work somewhere else due to work circumstances. He then tried to send multiple date change requests to further shorten the trip to 2 days, both requests with the same start date. The guest later on make up multiple excuses, such as saying his roommate has COVID, etc, to try to justify his date change. He also tried to continuously text and call me to harass me  into accepting his date change. 

It is very obvious what the guest is trying to do, which is to try a way to get around a loophole to avoid the cancellation penalty.

Later on I was contacted by Airbnb that they had cancelled the booking penalty free as the guest had provided 'valid documentation', though they had not say what type of documentation he provided. I tried to bring to Airbnb about the guest's dishonest behaviour, but the customer service rep, Jorge, just keeps repeating the same thing and doesn't even look into our case of the conversation between us. 

I tried to call in Airbnb and the customer service rep keeps pushing this issue back to the 'person who was helping me' while the person helping me couldn't care less as they had cancelled it anyways. As a superhost for years I felt that, while we have been helping the company reach their IPO status, the way they treat us under these COVID circumstances is horrible, and when things happen, those customer service rep couldn't care less and never offer any help rather than simply you a corporate reply. ( I've had guests who stole from us, guest who had anti-social behaviour, etc, and they didn't do anything any those circumstances, rather than for is to suck it up and cover our losses.)

Would love your thoughts on what is the most effective way to reach out to Airbnb to get someone to look at our case so the cancellation fees apply, and also to report the guest?

Thank you so much!

[Ramona-Bogdana0]

Hi @Hl0 , 

So sorry for this, it is not fair, but I saw Airbnb has these rules to apply for COVID circumstances.

I can help you with this link to check better the  situation, and push back Airbnb for your losses:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2823/

If you booked after March 14, 2020, your reservation is eligible if all of the following are true

• Your check-in date is within the next 14 days
• and you haven’t already canceled it
• and you haven’t already checked in
• and you or another guest in your traveling party is currently sick with COVID-19

If all those things are true, you can cancel by contacting our community support team. We’ll ask you to verify this with documentation (such as a COVID-19 test result), where legally allowed.

Stay safe and healthy, and be the best Superhost!

[Huma0]

@Ramona-Bogdana0 

The problem with this is it sounds like the guest does meet all those criteria if he did indeed provide 'valid documentation' as the CS rep claims. I very much doubt he did. I suspect he submitted a forged test result (I have heard this is easy to do) or, more likely, Airbnb just didn't bother to check. Or perhaps he used the loophole of only needing to provide a result 'where legally allowed'.

If they have decided the guest has proved he has COVID, then DS are not going to care what correspondence went on before and they are not going to provide the host with information about the documentation as they will just say that is confidential. 

It's not fair at all as it's pretty clear this guest was angling any way he could for a refund. Unfortunately, when they realise the host is not obliged nor willing to refund, that's when they start searching online and find the COVID EC policy and try to get their refund that way. It's happening more and more often according to reports here on the CC, so I'm not at all convinced that Airbnb are always checking documentation. I had a similar situation recently where the guest gave reasons for his cancellation but then started saying he was feeling unwell and going to take a COVID test. He didn't get a refund, but then he had already cancelled so wasn't eligible. 

Also, I saw a post from another host where the CS rep told him the guests could get a refund if they had been a close contact of someone with COVID, even though that's not what's written in the policy!

[Ramona-Bogdana0]

@Huma0 

Or perhaps he used the loophole of only needing to provide a result 'where legally allowed', this is the key, 

and yes, we learn the procedures from the experience of the hosts:

''Also, I saw a post from another host where the CS rep told him the guests could get a refund if they had been a close contact of someone with COVID, even though that's not what's written in the policy!''

But even so, there are penalties and procedures, as written below:

'' Your account will also be temporarily blocked from making new reservations, and any upcoming reservations within the next 14 days will be canceled.''

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2823/

[Huma0]

@Ramona-Bogdana0 

Yes, it's good to know that the guest will not be able to book/stay at another Airbnb for the next 14 days.

However, in the majority of cases, I imagine the guests will not need to anyway. From my own experiences, and most of those reported here on the CC, guests trying to get full refunds claiming they have COVID, have wanted to cancel their trip due to travel restrictions, cancelled events etc. so they are not likely to book another Airbnb anyway.

In @Hl0 's case, it sounds like the guest may well have been planning to book somewhere else as he said he had decided to work elsewhere, but who knows? He might have gotten free accommodation somewhere, e.g. with a friend, or this might have been an excuse as well. Also, there's nothing to stop the guest using another booking platform to find a place.

So, while this will affect some guests, it really won't make a difference to a lot of them.

[Hl0]

Thank you so much both for your comments - super helpful! Good to know that this policy should only applies to guests who directly have COVID themselves ( though it's such a shame to know that they refund people who claim to come in contact with someone who has COVID, which, with Omicron nowadays, is almost like everyone.)

So on Airbnb it claims that the customer has submitted 'valid documentation', yet they never mentioned what type of documentation they submitted. They have also closed my case without even going into the details of the previous behaviour and conversation of the guest.

From your experience, what's the best way to get Airbnb to open my case and look at it seriously? So far on my calls to the Airbnb team they just keep saying they have made a note to the team and the team will contact me ( which they never did.) Online chats just circle back to the previous support message that indicated this issue is closed.  It's almost impossible to get a human who can do something about this to review this case! I wonder if you know of any similar situation where they can get Airbnb to revert the case and report the person? Obviously guests like this is harmful to the community.

I also wonder if Airbnb will review their policies with regards to Covid as it seems out of date with the current practices in the industry - last year I actually got tested with COVID before a flight, and both my flight company and my credit card company refused to refund, stating that this is a risk that everyone has to take if they decide to travel or book accommodation. I understood that and suck the cost up myself. This should align with Airbnb as well - if guests worry about the possibility and future risk of COVID, they should look for listings with flexible cancellation policy ( which is much more expensive). The host who have strict cancellation policy has baked that consideration into their pricing in offering a better price for their guests, and it's unfair for Airbnb to allow guests to abuse this policy. 

[Huma0]

@Hl0 

Yes, it's ridiculous if some reps are refunding when people are just a contact. As you said, in London at least, it is almost impossible not to come into contact with someone who has COVID. The host I mentioned posted a screenshot of the conversation with CS where they confirmed that this was a valid reason for a refund, but I have no idea where the rep was getting that information from as I can't see it in the policy...

When I spoke to CS about it, they told me the guest had to provide a positive test result with their name on it. 

I have had success in getting my payout for invalid COVID related refunds, but it was a battle. It took me about a month of constantly chasing CS and refusing to accept the situation. I eventually won because I just kept quoting their policy, word for word, back at them.

The trouble, in your case, is the guest had not already cancelled, even if they had explained in the correspondence their real reason for wanting to. They sent you date changes instead. You could try going back to CS and asking them if the test result came after these requests, but I don't think that would make any difference. There's no way for you to prove that the guest didn't contract COVID after that, but before the cancellation was made by Airbnb.

You could also remind them that the guest's account should be blocked and any booked stays cancelled for the 14 days after, but there's no guarantee that they will check that as it sounds like the person dealing with it couldn't care less. Also, again, they are not required to provide you with specific information, proof of a valid test result or anything like that. They say that type of information about a guest is confidential.

Some time ago, I had a guest who kept changing their story for wanting a cancellation and pushing me for a full refund. I recited the EC policy that was in place at the time back to him and explained why he was not eligible but that I would refund him if the dates got rebooked, so he would be better off cancelling sooner rather than later. He wouldn't accept this. It was only after that he started saying his brother and his girlfriend were vulnerable and that's why he didn't want to travel, but that is not the reason he gave me before (as I said, his story kept changing). First he said his work trip had been cancelled. When I asked why his work couldn't refund him, he admitted the trip wasn't cancelled etc.

Then he contacted Airbnb and received an immediate full refund. This happened within minutes of my last conversation with him. There is no way he would have been able to provide any sort of evidence for them to check in that space of time. When I contacted CS to find out on what basis he cancelled and what evidence was provided, they refused to tell me anything.

Sorry I can't be of more help. If I think of anything else, I will let you know.

[Hl0]

@Huma0 I'm so sorry to hear about your horror story with the guest - sounds like it's a common tactic that many guests abuses, clearly there's a loophole that Airbnb needs to address!

Thanks so much also for sharing your experience and success with the other case, although the battle does sound really draining! I have been battling with CS for the past 24 hours and it is already so tiring - I really wish they could care more for their hosts. I'm so glad your persistence and resilience won!

May I ask which is the channel you use to contact them the most / you think is the most effective in reaching someone that can actually help? I've tried calling a few times and it's really a hit or miss. One agent was completely new and have no idea on anything, the other, while nice to talk to, told me that he needs to forward this to another team and wait for them to reach out - also fruitless. Online support just seems to repeat the same about valid documentation ( probably simply copying and pasting the last correspondence lol) 

I will definitely persist, particularly to also report this guest, as I especially hate to let this happen for other hosts too. 

Thank so much again for your sharing 💕

[Huma0]

@Hl0 

Many guests here on the CC say that they prefer to use the messaging system to contact CS rather than calling. The reason is that you then have everything in writing, and can quote the policy back to them. I totally understand this and see why having all the conversations there in writing could be useful.

Personally, I prefer to call. I find that I always get through very quickly but, like you say, it depends on who you end up speaking to. In my experience, some reps are helpful and knowledgeable about policy and others are completely clueless. In the past, I have even told a rep that I'm going to hang up because she just had no idea about the policies (in that case, it was to do with a third party booking). She was offended of course, but I'm glad I did it, because when I redialed, I got someone who understood and sorted everything out straight away.

The reason I normally call is that sometimes a situation can be sorted out very swiftly (with a well trained rep if you get one), whereas, when you message, you can wait ages for a response and then just get passed around from one rep to another with no one actually doing anything.

I think though, at the end of the day, it's just the luck of the drawer. I have had success and failures using both methods of contact. It just depends on who you get at the other end of the phone or message...

[Huma0]

PS, that was meant to read 'many hosts'...

[Emilie]

Hey @Hl0 @Ramona-Bogdana0 @Huma0, 

I know it's been a few months since you've discussed this particular issue, but as we've announced some relevant changes to the Covid Extenuating Circumstances policy recently, I thought it was worth giving you a shout to share the changes! You can read up more on them and let us know what you think here:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Update-to-our-approach-for-guests-sick-with-COVID...

Thanks 🙂

Emilie

[Huma0]

@Emilie 

Thank you. Yes, I saw that thread and commented there already. It's a very welcome change.