Positive PCR test - free cancellation with full refund forced upon host

[Jo785]

Guests can take out a travel insurance to cover cost in case of a positive PCR test. After almost 2 years pandemic and many cancellations it is about time this policy is lifted.

How do you feel about this Airbnb policy?

[Anonymous]

@Jo785  It's a tough one. Travel insurance is more globally available than PCR tests, which in turn are often more costly than the insurance itself. I don't know if Airbnb takes any measures to verify a self-reported Covid infection, so it seems the policy leaves a lot of room for abuse.

If they dropped all extenuating circumstances for Covid cancellations, would that also mean that hosts get penalized if they refuse to honor a booking because the guest tested positive? I hate seeing hosts lose their income over this, but surely Airbnb doesn't want to be seen in the media as pressuring people to travel while infected.

[Debra300]

@Anonymous,

IMO, the removal of the COVIC Extenuating Circumstance Policy should be removed, and guests should assume or mitigate the risk just as they would any other potential travel cancellation scenario.  You make a good point, but it's not applicable to places where an international flight or ferry is required to the destination.  It is far less probable that an international guest would be able to travel while knowingly infected with COVID, because the majority of travelers have to be vaccinated and have a negative test to receive entry authorization.  It is the transportation carrier and the destination country's travel authority that would prevent the visitor from traveling to stay at the accommodation, and not the host.  Although there are some Caribbean countries that require travel insurance as part of the travel authorization these policies may provide coverage only after the visitor has arrived, but I am not sure, because it's not required in St. Lucia.   

[Anonymous]

@Debra300  More and more countries are dropping the negative test requirements for vaccinated international travelers, so in Airbnb's biggest national markets that's not really a thing. But now I notice that the OP is based in Curaçao, where the situation might be more similar to yours than to a host whose guests tend to be domestic tourists arriving overland.

[Debra300]

@Anonymous,

Yes, on this side of the pond, many countries, including Canada and the US (the major markets for travelers to other countries in the Americas and Caribbean), have been slow to drop the requirement of a negative test for entry despite a unified call to do so from all major airlines and the severe financial impact it has on travelers.  In the US, the experts have diverging opinions:  https://abcnews.go.com/Health/us-drop-covid-restrictions-uk/story?id=83044303.  I am cynical about the delayed policy update, and believe the test supply manufacturers have requested that changes to the entry requirements be delayed until most of their date sensitive stock has been consumed, and production of new supplies can be adjusted for a much lower demand.

I believe that the better option is for destination countries to require travel insurance for visitors (it's been a long standing requirement of Schengen countries).  Most travelers would prefer to purchase travel insurance that protects them and their travel investment vs. paying up to $200 USD per person for one-time-use tests that only permit them to execute their paid travel plans.

[Pat271]

@Jo785 We may not quite be there yet, at least not psychologically, but Covid is quickly becoming an endemic, similar to other Coronaviruses. Many colds, for instance, are Coronaviruses.

Eventually, Covid won’t trigger a refund just as a cold won’t trigger a refund. It would behoove those who are worried about getting a Coronavirus to get trip insurance.

[Jenny]

Hi everyone

I just wanted to let you know that we've announced some changes to the Covid Extenuating Circumstances policy recently, and I thought it might be helpful to post the link here for you:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Update-to-our-approach-for-guests-sick-with-COVID...

Hope this helps!  Let me know if you've any questions or concerns.

Jenny

[Debra300]

@Jenny

Thanks for the update.  Please note that the link you've included is broken, but we've already read about the updated policy.

[Jenny]

Thanks for the heads up, @Debra300 - much appreciated.  I've fixed the link for anyone else who might want to view it.

[Laura2592]

As someone who just recovered from Covid and works for a large healthcare research organization I will tell you what my dedicated occupational health nurse told me before giving me the clear to return to work.  PCR testing will show positive for the covid recovered for up to 90 days. This does not mean that the individual is contagious or unsafe to travel. 

[Debra300]

@Laura2592,

Yes, you are correct and it's well-known information that prior infection may trigger a positive test result for a few months.  In countries which still require pre-arrival COVI tests (mostly for unvaccinated travelers), they will have a notice about what steps to take in these situations.  This is the one for St. Lucia: https://www.stlucia.org/en/covid-19/faqs/#pcrfaq