Parisian host cancels reservation in 2 weeks based on national origin

[Kenneth12]

Reservation made two weeks ago,  host appears to have decided that new EU rules means that people from the US should not travel from England or somesuch (despite not having been in the US for some time).  Host has kept listing active for dates.

Thoughts?   It's still 3 weeks out but pricing has gone up and options have gone down significantly.  No additional fee was provided with auto-refund,   Twitter and email have received no reply,   ABB Superhost hotline is backed up 45 minutes.

[Kelly149]

I think we all have to keep in mind that any and every ABB reservation is a “maybe” proposition. 

Abb is big but many hosts are small. That listing you’ve booked is a single entity (not a large bank of rooms in a large hotel) and any number of things could go wrong and render it unavailable regardless of cancellation policy or past history. One (particularly when you have Very Specific requirements) should likely have a backup plan in place.  

[Kenneth12]

Well,  yes,  but,  looking over 200+ stays,   I don't think I've every experienced a cancellation before.  "Cancellations should be rare,"   or something like that.

There was the time,  years ago,  when I arrived at the address listed by a host in Da Nang,   to walk around an in-construction building looking for someone.    Fortunately I had purchased a local SIM;    it was long enough ago that ABB only kept US hours,   so no help there.

The host had entered a similar address for the listing,  so that you would see a residential neighborhood when looking up on Maps--  a common ploy taken to the extreme (as far as I could tell,  there were no home stays in HCMC/Saigon or Da Nang at the time...  much less Hanoi,   but lots of commercial operators trying to look like homes.

In any case I eventually contacted the host,   got the address of the 30-story hotel,   walked to the nearest main road and found a cab ...

Airbnb's reliability problem when travellers are stranded remains,  but has been discussed in other threads.   VRBO is far worse in other respects,   but seems to immediately escalate stranded/distressed travellers to dedicated desks,    while ABB leaves you hangin'.

[Dimitar27]

I am not sure if I understand your situation correctly. Take a look at the link below:

As from 1 July, EU Member States should start lifting the restrictions on non-essential travel into the EU for residents of the following third countries:
Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity.

Residents of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican/Holy See should be considered as EU residents for the purpose of this website.
Every two weeks this list of countries will be reviewed and the information updated here.

More info: https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9208-2020-INIT/en/pdf

https://reopen.europa.eu/en

For example: US citizens are not allowed to enter in Bulgaria, no matter where they are coming from, if they are not a medical or diplomatic personnel, they are passing transit or they are on their way back to US (or some other country, where they reside permanently.)

[Kenneth12]

We are entering from the UK;   France is open to arrivals from anywhere in the European Space.     

What you've linked to is also in many ways incorrect or misleading;   the Commission's recommended EU entry policy/protocol is more complex in several ways,  and appears to be about where individuals have been in the past 14 days as well.   It is also up to individual states to implement,  and we seem to be seeing some variation.

Unless Bulgaria is far outside the common protocols,   anyone already in the European Space (which includes the UK and some areas not listed above) should be free to enter Bulgaria at land crossings and via Air Bridges.

[Dimitar27]

Rules can still be different in every member state. The process of synchronization between them is just in the beginning. Just checked the last orders from our Ministry of Health. There is no exclusion about non-EU citizens, already in EU. Probably there will be new order after 2-3 days or week, depending on the situation.

[Helen3]

How were you able to stay in STRs/hotels in the UK @Kenneth12  when they are only open to Key Workers until tomorrow?

[Kenneth12]

Note, as stated,  due precisely to that timing,  this cancellation was made ~3 weeks out.

[Helen3]

Sorry I don't understand that that means @Kenneth12 

You stated you have been staying in the UK during lock down - I was asking how you were able to do that. And what made you travel to Europe during lock down?

[Sarah977]

@Kenneth12  Hosts have problems with locals booking, because they are often booking to have an undisclosed party. But in many of those cases, the guests says, and has listed on their profile, that they are not local, but from elsewhere. In other words, they are bamboozling the host.

So how would the host know for sure that you you were telling the truth- that you've been the UK for quite awhile?

Thanks for the correction about there being no restrictions between the UK and France. I knew that guests coming from the US, Mexico, Brasil aren't admitted now. 

I do agree that travel restrictions should not be based on nationality but the country or area the guest is coming from. I'm Canadian, but I haven't been in Canada now since August. Tons of people are in that situation.

[Kenneth12]

Late-night reply:

AFAICT this host does not want any guests from the UK at this point.    I can't quite tell what's going on with her,  but she seems a bit confused and probably worried.

I get it,  but it's a situation where she might accept a guest from Portugal,  figure out that Portugal has been labelled a high-risk zone,  etc,   and then cancel.    My quick take is that she probably shouldn't be hosting until she figures things out / works things out and makes some clear decisions in advance.

FWIW again,  she appears to be exiting her apartment and staying elsewhere,    and want to return immediately after a guest leaves-- with no plans for disinfection etc.   (At our listings,  we're imposing 48 hours separation if disinfecting fully,   72 hours in most cases).   I'm therefore a bit surprised she hasn't thought this through in advance,  but it appears she hasn't.

If she'd asked politely,   she'd have gotten my quick version of the advice I've gotten from ICU doctors on setting up a decontamination entry,  and a bit of an earful on how serious my procedures,  which take a few hours out of my day,  are.   Instead she went off in left field about how I couldn't enter France...

... I assure you,  if anyone with a Mexican passport enters Japan in August,    it is likely to be me.  🙂

[Sarah977]

@Kenneth12  I see a lot of people quite confused by how to take precautions in an intellignt way. Common sense seems to be in short supply these days. I'll see people who wear a mask to enter stores and be in crowded places, then they'll take the mask off and stick it in their pocket. Then pull it out and wear it again. If there were any virus particles on the outside of the mask, they've now thoroughly contaminated the inside of the mask as well. Or they'll be wearing the mask, but continually fuss with it, pulled it up by grabbing it at the top with their fingers inside and outside of it, so unless their hands were perfectly sterile, they've now contaminated the inside of the mask.

This French host does seem unclear on the concept. She's going to accept guests from places she considers to be safe, without any proof that guest isn't infected, perhaps asymptomatic, and then move herself right back in as soon as they leave? 

This is one reason why the thing continues to spread- people just don't get it.

No way I'm hosting now in my shared-home listing. I don't care where guests might be coming from. If I lived on an island where there were no cases and they weren't letting in outsiders, sure, I'd take local people, but that isn't the case.

[Peter2726]

All seems fantastically complicated **

**[Inappropriate content removed - Community Center Guidelines]

[Helen3]

Apparently @Kenneth12  has managed to enter the UK and stay here during the Covid lockdown for the last two weeks, which is quite a feat seeing as STRs and hotels in the UK have been closed since March to all but key workers, those attending funerals etc.

And under our lock down rules you could not visit or stay with people who are not in your household..

How did you manage to get around our lock down rules @Kenneth12 ?

[Kenneth12]

Again apologies for any confusion;   the host cancelled closer to three weeks out than two.

ABBs and hotels reopened on July 4th?

Otherwise,   have you seen the picture of AMLO delivering a wreath at the Lincoln Memorial today?    

[Sarah977]

@Peter2726  It appears that you didn't fully read Kenneth's post. He has a home in Mexico City, but he wasn't travelling from there. He has been in the UK for some time.