My listings are suspended because a guest Cancelled due to covid!

[Johanna462]

My last guests booked a 3 night stay and after the morning of the first night I received a cancellation.   They wrote and said they hadn't made it as one of them had started to feel ill on their road trip and then tested positive for Covid.   They never made it to the house.   I have a strict cancellation policy and Airbnb asked me to give them a "goodwill" refund.  Sometimes we will get last minute bookings so I always say that if we get someone to book for some of their stay then I will (Airbnb kept calling and messaging me asking to give refund).  Then all the sudden my account was suspended.  I've spoken with my "case manager" who is doing an investigation! They asked me all the covid symptom questions (I do not live at the rental, it's not a shared space, it's a whole home on its own lot, so this shouldn't matter regardless!).  Anytime I tried to ask how this could be happening he just read from a script saying he was investigating.  Is there a way to talk to someone who can actually rationally deal with the issue?  (I've called general customer service and they just say my case manager will call)

[Colleen253]

@Johanna462 “They asked me all the covid symptom questions” leads me to think someone at Airbnb got confused (not unusual) and thinks YOU cancelled because you have Covid. That would explain the suspension. Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do except wait it out. 

[Keisha60]

Hi 

how long was it suspended for?

[Anonymous]

@Johanna462   Incompetence strikes again. So many service tickets get bungled by agents who are under too much time pressure to read a whole message and get their heads around the situation. I wish there was a shortcut that escalated a problem to a supervisor, but now that the entire customer service operation is outsourced to other companies (and in no small part to AI), this doesn't appear to exist. 

In hindsight, one thing that might have saved you time to have known is that your cancellation policy doesn't apply when a guest tests positive for Covid. That's considered an Extenuating Circumstance, and Airbnb is supposed to cancel and refund the booking without any action on your part, "goodwill" or otherwise. See also: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2823/does-the-extenuating-circumstances-policy-apply-to-my-reser...

[Mark116]

@Anonymous  How crazy is it that a bunch of random hosts posting in a forum know the Airbnb rules, in and outs and loopholes better than the customer service professionals?  

@Johanna462 I'm sure what  happened is that the dumb CS team thinks that either the guests arrived at your listing with covid, hence the suspension, or that you have covid.  So, I would go on FB and twitter and ask for help clearing up this misunderstanding that the person with covid never ARRIVED or SET FOOT in your property.  It may still take days to fix the problem.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Mark116 Worry not - Apparently @Catherine-Powell is going into print soon with all she has achieved for hosts in the last year. Perhaps we can send a message to her that proper training of the poor customer support folks needs to go onto her list for next year. I do feel sorry for the CS team who must have a dreadful time dealing with guests and hosts on minimum wage with minimum training.

[Colleen253]

@Mike-And-Jane0 Probably works out to far  less than minimum wage.

[Johanna462]

After they "investigated" they unsuspended the account so it was all over in about a week.  It seems like it is just about ticking the right boxes for CS and not actually logical listening to the circumstances which to me just means they are trying to protect themselves to not get sued and be able to say we have a protocol...

[Colleen253]

That’s exactly it @Johanna462 

[Nick]

Hi @Johanna462 I've forwarded the details of your post to Customer Support so they can look into this. Will send you a DM when I have a reply. Thank you 

[Jackie237]

How long did it take to sort this issue out in the end? I'm having a similar issue right now and their customer service is diabolical. I honestly don't think they know what they are doing and making some of it up as they go along.