May Day, May Day...

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

Not quite an International distress call yet, (although?), but yesterday the ability for hosts to cancel without penalty ended. This, then was supposed to herald the announcement or update of the guest centric cancellation policy going forward.

Does anybody know any details?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

I believe

Hosts have until May 15 to cancel now.

Guests with checkins between June 1 and 15 can also cancel. No 25% (aka12.5%) for hosts

Airbnb will apparently roll on (week by week??)  with allowing guests to cancel if they can't travel or are actually ill

Its all on Airbnb.com under the covid 19 policies

[Susan17]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 

See the thread below for the May 1 update (well, kind of..) 

Re: Request for Guests to recommit to their reserv... - Airbnb Community
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/COVID-19-Discussions/Request-for-Guests-to-recommit-to-their-res...

[Michelle53]

I  had a request to book come in last night for mid-May, just after midnight. Followed an hour later, at almost 2am,  by a no-longer-needed-please cancel message.   Newbie, joined 2017, zero reviews. 

While I know acceptance rating can fall below threshhold without consequence, this kind of thing is really annoying.  The rating tanks super fast when one has almost zero bookings, and then one has to do a totally forced decline. 

No response from my messages to the guest, so far, to please withdraw the request, and no response to Airbnb CS phonecalls. 

Of course, 16 hours still left to get this resolved. Ugh. 

Update: CS retracted the request-to-book. Glad they took care of it, but sorry the guest teachable moment passed by. 

[Fred13]

  In essence, Airbnb's position is now on a month-by-month consideration,  because it is dependent on when certain transportation services do indeed restart, making domestic and international travel possible.

  The next two months should prove enlightening since it will illuminate the wide differences among social, political and intellectual lines of individual cultures. 

[Sue49]

The  'Extenuating Circumstances Policy' had just been updated.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2701/extenuating-circumstances-policy-and-the-coronavirus-covid1...

As much as I can see elsewhere is "Hosts now have until May 15 to cancel 2020 bookings without charges or impact to Superhost status. Reservations must be booked before March 15" by way of an update.

Doesn't help much as still implies hosts will have to "guess' what needs to be cancelled right up to the end of the year. Yes there may be extensions but cannot rely on that.

As it encourages hosts to cancel there is still the question as to whether when a host does cancel due to Covid19 with full refund, do Airbnb still charge their fees to the guest? Seems unfair.

If a guest cancels at least until 15th June they get a full refund inc fees.

The uncertainties make it very difficult to advise guests the best course of action without shooting yourself in the foot at the same time!

[Fred13]

@Sue49 There are two things I do not do with Airbnb; one - is cancel any reservation and two - ever act as a liaison between the guest and Airbnb, because in both cases I get the impression such moves usually turn into living, breathing nightmares. For that reason I have never, ever have had to call their infamous CS department as long I been an Airbnb host -  6 years and counting. Who needs the heart attack. 😞

[Sue49]

I completely agree, and try to follow exactly that myself, but when asked by a guest about cancellations I have to reply with the best information I can to be fair to them and us! Too many hosts seem to have fallen foul to cancelling as the policy is still too vague.

[Lindsey34]

Although there may be some hosts who wish to cancel all of their bookings, it is my belief that hosts are being put in a very difficult position under Airbnb’s ‘one shoe fits all’ COVID-19 policy. It is in place in order to save Airbnb the headache of closely monitoring the legal guidelines set by each individual region or country.

The host is under no legal obligation to cancel a booking unless it is within the timeline/conditions of their own area’s legal COVID-19 guide lines.

Guests have the opportunity to prove Extenuating Circumstances

at which point Airbnb then have to come out of hiding to examine guest requests and then make a decision on a case by case basis - ultimately taking responsibility for their blanket decision.

I am following my region’s legal guidelines rather than Airbnb’s policy where they manage to save their brand and look like the good guy whilst trying to force the host to ‘step up’ (as one of my guests put it) and try to figure out which guest is entitled to cancel and which not.

I am starting out with this mind set as it is only going to become more and more complex in the coming months.

There is a huge amount of emotional blackmail going on here and I refuse to be drawn into it. This is my livelihood, I am affected by Covid-19 just the same as the guests and I am most definitely not registered as a charity.

There is no justification for hosts bearing the full financial burden of this pandemic when not legally obliged to do so.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Lindsey34 

We've just had two June cancellations - First from Australia who clearly cannot travel due to Covid 19. The second was from the UK where we will not know until nearer the time if they can travel. I've asked Customer Support why the second cancellation was allowed and await their response but I think its likely that anyone can cancel now up to June 15th if they just don't fancy coming.

[Gordon0]

It's an interesting one, @Mike-And-Jane0, certainly ref the latter of your bookings. I absolutely see your point, but from the would-be guest's POV, I think it's a little more complicated than simply saying 'they just don't fancy' it. 

I'm supposed to be checking into a Tel Aviv Airbnb on June 16 (the day after the current EC dates expire) but I don't see it as being possible. There's no 'don't fancy it' in my mind, but I think it would be foolish to attempt this trip, and I'd like to know sooner rather than later whether travel of this sort is permissible or not.

 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Gordon0 I agree its complex. International travel is very different from UK travel and likely to be unavailable for longer. Interestingly we have a late May booking yet to be cancelled because the UK guest clearly wants to come as long as, by then, its legal for them to do so. Who knows whether it will be.

From your point of view it appears that Airbnb will let you cancel as soon as they extend the EC to the last two weeks in June as long as you can't travel at the point the EC is extended  rather than when your trip is planned.

That said I do wonder about all the US states that are opening up (too early in my mind) for travel. It will be hard for Airbnb to continue to do blanket extensions of the EC policy unless they tighten up on it only being allowed if people CANT travel rather than WONT travel.

Keep safe 

[Lindsey34]

Yes, if they can prove Extenuating Circumstances which may have been the case with your UK guest. This may be fair and at least means it is a clear decision by Airbnb and not left to the host to look like the bad guy or trying to figure out each set of circumstances amidst emotion and confusion.

[Lindsey34]

I should have clarified  

- not left to the host to look like the bad guy - “when not authorising a cancellation when they are not legally obliged to do so”

[Jerry250]

I've read here that the host 'cancel without penalty' date has been extended to May 15. That's not what I see in my dashboard. I have a UK guest towards the end of May still showing and no option to do this. They have tried to cancel as their group has 'at risk' stay home members - but only get offered  a voucher unless they can provide COVID-19 documentation. I've advised them to wait until the govt extends the date. I cancelled our June guests with their consent before the April 30 'cancel penalty free' deadline to ensure they got a cash refund not a voucher. All of them had a final payment to make and didn't want to risk turning their real cash into a voucher if they had to cancel. I felt this was the fairest action for UK guests. I lost a booking that probably wouldn't be allowed anyway, and they got their money back. Ther is no 12.5% payment from Airbnb so I lost nothing. The UK Competition and Markets authority has warned all holiday let companies (and wedding venues) they must refund in full if no service is received by the guest. They explain that under UK consumer law a 'no refund' policy is unlawful if it makes the contract terms unfair / one sided.