Nothing to complain about

[Ann72]

I hate to say this, but I have literally no complaints about anything Airbnb at all.  Susan in Dublin is going to hate me for this.  (Love you, Susan!)

Got the usual assortment of cancellations.  Those I had before May 31st got full refunds; the rest got 50%.  Nobody whined, and Airbnb didn't nag me to refund the rest.  The vacated dates were all re-booked within a matter of hours, though, so I've been refunding the cancelled guests.  They seem pleased.

One would-be-returning guest asked if she could have a special flexible cancellation policy if she booked - IN JULY, THE BUSIEST MONTH OF THE YEAR - and I said no.  Someone else booked her chosen dates a few minutes later.  I will admit to a very pleasurable moment of schadenfreude there.

Three other guests took their bookings from this summer to next summer.  Didn't say a word about the higher rates for next year.  I'm awed by people who can plan that far ahead.  

What else?  The payouts have been arriving on time, if not early.  My guests have all been super polite, if not downright friendly and amusing.  One of my current guests asked on Sunday when the garbage would be picked up.  I apologized and said I would get someone in the next day.  Turns out he hadn't noticed and wasn't complaining - just wanted to know.  

Hang on, I do have one complaint!  I don't give out keys.  My doors won't accept any kind of smart lock, I hate to try to keep track of keys, and no one locks their doors in the Maine woods in the summer anyway.  But two guests in a row have asked for keys because of their "valuables."  I didn't tell them there are a few things in the house probably worth more than anything they could bring with them.  I just said they could have a key.  I hope that after a few days they'll get so relaxed they'll forget about the stupid key.

What a dull post this is.  Now I understand why newspapers never report good news.  I hope you haven't fallen asleep by this point, but that if you have, you'll have a good nap.  You've earned it.

[Nick]

This is one of those moments I wish we could post Gifs on here so you could see the happy dance happening right now @Ann72 

Maybe the next logical step after emojis? @Stephanie 

[Stephanie]

@Nick 

[Nick]

* shocked / sad emoji * @Stephanie 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

[Ann72]

😂

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Ann72 

Those I had before May 31st got full refunds; the rest got 50%. 

3 months of 100% refunds here. 

Who do you know to put a word in, as 50% refunds are a figment of the cancellation policy I selected many moons ago?

[Ann72]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  I haven't said a word to anyone at CS for fear they'll notice!

I think I know why, though.  Most who've cancelled have written first, and I've told them I would refund the 50% balance when I re-book the nights.  Two cancelled without writing first and without asking for the money back, but I've re-booked their dates and issued the balance.  Three moved their reservations - two to next year, one to later in the summer.  A fourth cancelled yesterday, citing Covid-19 symptoms, and was only given a credit.  She promptly applied it to a two-week booking for next summer.

I don't know whether a rep can see our history with refunds, but if they can, they'll see that last summer, when someone tried to get their 50% back by having CS write me multiple times, I brought the wrath of God down on them...

[Huma0]

@Ann72 

That is very interesting because, like @Ian-And-Anne-Marie0, I have not seen 50% for any cancellations, including guests who were supposed to check in this month (July). 

I have also found out that the requirement for 'evidence' from guests cancelling for COVID reasons is very flimsy indeed. The policy states that they must either be sick with COVID or unable to travel due to Government travel restrictions, all flights being cancelled etc. that sort of thing. However, this is not the case. Not only do they not have to provide any evidence (a CS rep confirmed that they could just 'attest' to the facts instead), the reasons they can give seem to be literally anything, not necessarily just those specified in the policy.

I had one UK guest due to stay late July/early August. He was not covered by the COVID EC at the time but was insisting on a full refund and that I cancel rather than him, emailing me several times a day about it over the course of a week. I directed him to the policy and offered to refund him the remaining 50% if I could rebook the room, but he refused to cancel even though he knew he was definitely not coming. Airbnb gave him a full refund anyway, not because he couldn't travel or any restrictions were in place to stop him travelling but because he didn't want to travel. I understand not wanting to travel, even if it is within the UK, at such a time, but why should the guest not shoulder at least some portion of the cost?

Glad to hear things have gone so well for you though. Not sure the rep can see that history you refer to though.

Oh and, by the way, every payment I was due lately (ones that were not fully refunded under COVID EC),  I had to fight tooth and nail for. Every single one took roughly one month of non-stop calls and messages to CS before getting my payment. In every single case! In two cases, the guest was overcharged as well, even though Airbnb was paying me nothing!

[Huma0]

Oh, and also, it was not possible to rebook the rooms via Airbnb so I couldn't have made good on that promise of a further refund, because Airbnb blocked our calendars for months...

[Ute42]

.

Hi @Huma0  ,

the cancellations You've reported in Your post, were these bookings made past march 14?

[Huma0]

@Ute42 

No, all of the cancellations were for bookings made prior to 14th March. Some of these clearly fell under the COVID-19 EC policy and were fully refunded. Others didn't as the policy dates had not been extended that far but, bar one understanding guest who went ahead and cancelled, the others waited until the policy was extended to cover their dates.

There were also two long-term guests who were already staying here when the pandemic was announced. Those guests were not covered by the EC but were fully refunded anyway, including for nights they already stayed. One was refunded for two weeks she already spent here and I was then told by CS it was up to me to try to get that money back from her!

The nice guest I mentioned above was supposed to pay for a portion of her stay as per the normal long-term policy. Instead, she got overcharged (paid for almost the entire six week stay) while I was told I would get £0.

I did eventually get the payment for the three latter cases mentioned above, but each one took weeks of negotiation with CS. As far as I know, the last guest mentioned got her refund (I asked her to let me know if she didn't receive it and I've not heard back yet).

I offered every guest an additional refund should I be able to rebook the dates, but that turned out to be impossible because Airbnb blocked the calendar. In the end, it didn't matter as Airbnb decided to fully refund most of them anyway regardless of what policy should have applied.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  According to the information update Airbnb put out, if a guest doesn't submit documentation for a COVID cancellation, they can choose to "attest" to the reason. In that case, they supposedly only receive a voucher rather than a cash refund. Off course, it's the same dif for the host, who gets paid nothing, but now I'm wondering if they are giving cash refunds if guests only "attest", in contravention of their stated policy.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

I am not sure. The guest just told me that Airbnb had agreed to his refund and could I please accept his request to cancel. I told him that I didn't need to accept it (it was already showing as cancelled and fully refunded from my end) and that Airbnb would be the ones to refund him as they hold the cash. That was the last I heard from him...

[Ute42]

.

@Huma0  , @Sarah977  

On june 1st a guest in Germany wanted to cancel due to covid. She had already paid 50% of the rental price, 50% were still outstanding at the time of cancelling.

2 options were shown to her:

Green box: If she wanted her money back (in her case zero, because so far she had only paid 50%) she would have had to submit documents to proof this is a COVID cancellation. It doesn't say that in the green box, but that's the way airbnb handles it.

Yellow box: If she was willing to accept a travel voucher. No proof of any kind was requested.

The red underlined text says in English: „without You having to submit any kind of documentation“

So the guest only has to click „voucher ok“ and thus doesn't lose any money.

Here's the original thread of said guest.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/COVID-19-Diskussionen/COVID19-Stornierungsm%C3%B6glichkeite-f%C3...

[Huma0]

@Ute42 

Thank you. I wasn't aware of this as I haven't been on the CC for some time. That's why it's such a valuable source of info! I did actually ask a CS rep to explain this process to me in detail and she never mentioned this at all.

Probably this has already been posted about plenty already, but how unfair to hosts is this? So the guest can cancel for any reason without evidence providing Airbnb gets to hang on to their money, but the host in the meantime gets nothing...

I don't know why I'm surprised. Actually, I'm not. It's been one sneaky policy after the other from Airbnb to cover themselves without any consideration for the hosts whilst, in the meantime, they PR their bleeding hearts all over the media with their generosity in helping hosts. Did they PR the fact that they were going to keep extending the 100% refund to guests but very quickly cease the measly 12.5% or less that hosts were being compensated (PRed so heavily as 25%) to = $0?