No refunds for bookings cancelled due to Govt imposed travel bans in 2021

[Audrey695]

My partner and I were meant to be travelling interstate to Melbourne, Australia this weekend and had booked an Airbnb before a snap lockdown put in place by the state government due to a Covid-19 outbreak.

https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/victorias-restriction-levels-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR1yhHLK7_GHjlfsOAyPS0M88...

The lockdown means no-one can leave their homes for anything bar five reasons:

- To pick up food supplies.

- Authorised work

- Care and care giving

- Exercise (only with one other person and only for 2 hours)

- To receive the vaccination

Since we can no longer legally travel, we naturally presumed we would automatically be given a refund through Air Bnb. But no, we haven't.

Is anyone else in this position?

Our host has a 'no refunds' policy and somehow, Airbnb thinks its a fair business policy to allow greedy hosts to maintain a no-refund policy during a government enforced stay-at-home order. We should very much be entitled to a full refund, because the host is earning a taxable income from our booking, a service for which we now have NO way to legally have fulfilled. By allowing the host to enforce their own no refund policy - despite State government-enforced travel restrictions due to a Covid-19 outbreak - AirBnB has actively chosen to maintain a system that allows hosts to illegally profiteer from the pandemic. Moreover, AirBnb itself is profiteering by purposefully withholding automatic rights to a refund, where it can continue to collect its fees on such bookings. AirBnB is engaging and allowing individual hosts to engage in direct, open theft.

Guests/consumers cannot be forced to undertake illegal activity in order to access the bookings for which they have entered into the service agreement - if the service agreement cannot be met from the hosts end, why and how are guests liable for this cost?

I want actual answers to these questions...

[Emiel1]

@Audrey695 

The extenuating circumstances policy, related to COVID , is clear about this:

Only when guest or host is sick wth COVID it will refund.

All oher circumstances (as mentioned in the policy) are excluded if reservation is made after 14 March 2020

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

Making a reservation in pandemic times with a strict cancellatkion policy means you accept a certain risk. Which maybe can be covered by additional travel insurrance (?)

[Lawrene0]

But you would have been refunded by your travel insurance, @Audrey695 , wouldn't you?

You didn't expect your host to be your insurer?

We have "emergency brakes" here, which is something like your snap lockdowns. Anyone who decides to book when these are still possible either has travel insurance or books with a host with a flexible cancellation policy. And no one is taking a chance on inter-provincial holiday travel right now. Too risky with all the closures.

Hosts choose the cancellation policy that works best for them, and guests choose a place with the policy that works best for them. 

[Laurelle3]

@Audrey695 your information about your booking and refund, as a host in NSW does show that their are some greedy hosts out their and it will depend on the amount of time you gave before cancelling. If you live in Aus most people should understand the situation with now 5 lockdowns that Victorians has experienced. Sadly it is the hosts rules that they have set on their property that they have on airbnb. 

I have flexible cancellation with 24hrs, when a guest cancel before the 24hrs they receive their money back into bank account. If less than 24hrs they are charged for 1 night but Airbnb ask would I like to give them the full refund. Which I do give back as, I feel we are all in this Covid together and we are all giving up or going without.

I then communicate with guest and let them know and explain that Airbnb do keep the fee that is added to the booking. (I think this is correct, someone will inform me if this is incorrect on this page).

Lots of guests have started asking what is my cancellation policy which is on my Airbnb page before booking on pending/decline request. My advice to other people who ask me is to check cancellation and this is the same with hotels, motels and other booking platforms.

[Fuying0]

you are doing the right thing @Laurelle3 however the reality is not all hosts are like you. I am experiencing the same matter as @Audrey695, but the only different is our host is not responding to us or responding to Airbnb's team at all. My friends and i have been calling and messaging airbnb more than 30 times but all their responses are seem 'favouring' the host cancellation policy instead of protecting the guests as well.  

[Laurelle3]

Sadly not all guests read the cancellation rules before booking. @Fuying0 I hope Airbnb contact you. We didn't know that we were going to be affected by Covid again as we felt as if we had control in Australia. But this Delta strain is going to knock alot of people untill we are vaccinated.