Guest exposed to covid, wants to cancel day before reservation.

[Rachel2030]

Hi, new to this forum and a new host. We have a party booked for January 1 through the 5th and they just emailed me asking for a refund because one member of the group has been exposed to Covid but no positive test. I feel for them, not sure what to do. Any advice?

[Sarah977]

@Rachel2030  They should not be contacting you to ask for a refund. Tell them that Airbnb deals with refunds, not hosts. They need to talk to customer service.

A positive Covid test is currently covered under the Extenuating Circumstances policy for full refund. Airbnb claims it requires documentation, so if they are just using Covid as an excuse, hopefully you will still get paid according to your cancellation policy. If they can produce documentation, you're outta luck.

[Rachel2030]

Thanks so much for your response. Yesterday she said she had a family member with it and that she was exposed, now she is saying that she has it and that other members of the party have it and they need to cancel. Big story change. She sent a picture of one positive test, but there's no way to identify whether or not it is her or a member of the group. No name, date, nothing. Wouldn't the documentation need to reflect who the test is for, etc? It could be anyone's results, and it's just the at-home rapid test. Not sure what to do here. 

[Sarah977]

@Rachel2030  As I tried to tell you, there is nothing for you to do here. She shouldn't be sending you her tests nor talking to you about cancelling or refunds. 

Tell her Airbnb deals with guest cancellations and refunds and to contact customer service. Then stop communicating with her.

[Rachel2030]

Sorry, I should have clarified. She did contact them. I got a message from them and that's when she said she was positive, etc.  I had the option to approve the request to cancel or decline and then provide additional information, so that's what I did. I'll see what happens and then have Airbnb deal with it if I have to. Thanks for your help. 

[Mark116]

@Rachel2030 I may be wrong, but I think if the guest sent you a request to cancel, that is going to show up as a host cancellation and you're going to have to talk to Airbnb to get that reversed.

[Helen3]

Just decline the request . If she truly had Covid they would have refunded her under their Covid EC policy 

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

The EC policy says it applies when a guest has COVID. This is also what I was told by CS and that they require a positive test with the guest's name on it.

However, on another recent thread here (let me see if I can find it and post it here), the host said that the guests got a full refund after they had been identified as a contact of someone with COVID. The host also posted screenshots of the message with CS explaining that the EC applied both to people who test positive AND to those who have been identified as a contact.

That's a new one to me. I have never noticed anything in the CS policy which states being a contact is enough to warrant a full refund...

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Since when has contravening their own policies stopped them? 🙂

[Therese203]

Hi.  Therese203.  I had a guest that is supposed to check in to our place in 2 days.  We have a cottage on the lake & it is supposed to rain all weekend.   Today she texted me wanting to know what my cancellation policy was.  At the time of her text I was out of town, so I directed her back to my Airbnb listing.  She claims to have been “exposed” but doesn’t specifically say Covid.  I’m concerned that if she does keep the reservation that she will be exposing everyone in my little town to it. What do I do?

[Helen3]

She should get a test before travelling and not travel if she has Covid. If she booked after end of May Airbnb shouldn't refund @Therese203