Save the date: Tune in April 28 for a Host Update with CEO Brian Chesky

[Airbnb]

Hello everyone,

CEO Brian Chesky will be providing updates and answers to your top questions about hosting during COVID-19 at 3:00 p.m PST Tuesday, April 28.

Watch it live: Airbnb.com/live

Can’t make it at that time? We’ll share a recording with you after the event.  

For more answers to your questions about hosting during this challenging time, please visit Airbnb.com/COVID–we’ll keep updating it with trends, tips, and information on what we're doing to support our community.

Thank you again for being a host and we hope you are staying safe and healthy. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Kristina382 

The only right thing to do for both sides is to give guests vouchers they can use for listing they have booked till end of 2021, or that guests cancel reservation upon listings policy. 

That seems very fair to me, to both guest and host.

[Kristina382]

Yes, and that is how everybody else did. Tourist agencies, airplane companies, maybe not with this date all but for me the right thing to do was this. It protects hosts and you are not taking only income for them and also protects guests. Guest can use voucher in amount of the reservation for your listing till end of 2021. Brian Chesky's crisis management made awful decision. Even the are not giving back refund in money for guests fees for booking they are giving credit for it. Also my   policy is strict. 

[Adam-and-Ike-0]

FYI to all -- there's now information on your Reservations page (under the tab 'Cancelled') showing which cancelled reservations are eligible for a refund and for how much.

This is helpful to see.

[Huma0]

Can anyone clarify on this point?

Some updates on support payments:

• Hosts with eligible cancellations before April 8 should receive their first payment by May 1

I assume this means stays that were cancelled prior to April 8, not cancelled stays where the check in was supposed to be prior to April 8, or have I got that wrong?

[Stephanie]

Hiya @Huma0 @Dee148 et al,

Sorry for the delay in replying here. Unfortunately there's been a delay in getting all the refunds rolled out but here's some information:

Why haven’t I received my payment?

We originally planned to have the first batch of support payments sent in mid-April, which would cover eligible reservations through April 8. We’ve started to send payments, but unfortunately some of them have been delayed. We’re working as hard as we can to get back on track, and we hope to have the first batch sent by 5/1.

When will future payments arrive?

We expect to send payments to hosts with eligible reservations at least once a month until the program is completed. We know how important these payments are, and we’re working hard to send them as quickly as possible.

It's worth noting that if you go into your transaction history you'll see which have had the refund applied, and you'll also get an email with a downloadable file with further details broken down.

Thanks,

Stephanie

[Huma0]

@Stephanie  Thank you for the update. 

However, I am not sure the transaction history does show applied refunds. I had a COVID-19 cancellation for a booking due to start in mid-April. The customer services rep confirmed to me twice that I would be eligible for 25% of cancellation fees for that booking. However, there is nothing in my transaction history relating to the booking at all.

When I go to the booking itself, it says the payout is £0. When I got to my cancelled reservations, it says both 'pending' and 'processing', but under the amount, there is just a dash -

So, I am none the wiser. Also, as I can no longer see the amount that the guest would have normally had to pay under the long-term cancellation policy, I can't even work out what amount I should be getting.

Also, does 'eligible reservations through April 8' mean bookings that were due to start by April 8 (I assume this is the case) or any bookings that were cancelled by April 8?

[Huma0]

@Stephanie 

Sorry for all the questions, but the devil really is in the detail here. It's important that hosts know both the payout they should be getting and roughly when they will be getting it as mistakes with payments frequently happen and need to be followed up with CS.

I have only this month been paid for three outstanding payouts dating from as far back as August 2018, which were being held on the system for no reason. It took a lot of chasing to get those payments finally processed.

[Susan17]

@Huma0

The April 8 date refers to bookings cancelled on or before that date. I received payout for cancelled stays in May (but not for my fully eligible March bookings, including my St Patrick's week ones  - by far, the highest value amount of them all) 

[Huma0]

@Susan17 

Ok, thank you. Well, in that case, I am due to receive that first payout tomorrow. Let's see though. It's not in my transaction history at all. I foresee more calls to CS... None of this seems to be straightforward, but one can only hope...

[Stephanie]

Hiya @Huma0 ,

If you don't mind keeping us informed on that too? Either here in the thread or drop me a message.

Many thanks,

Stephanie

[Huma0]

@Stephanie 

Yes, I will do. At the moment, there is not much change. Nothing is showing in the pending transactions page and on the cancelled reservations page, it now says 'still processing' rather than just 'processing'! 

[Dee148]

I’m confused. The end of March Airbnb promised 25% to hosts to cover cancellation of stays due to the virus. I haven’t found any update on that. I had a 6 week reservation canceled  by my guest due to his medical rotation being canceled. If I understood correctly it was to be 25% of the total lost due to the cancellation. Is that correct? Help! 

[Lizzie]

Hello @Dee148,

Good to meet you. To provide you with an update on the $250M fund, notifications are go out to hosts so if you are eligible and are still waiting, you should hear soon. 

Also, to let you know a recent update has been implemented to the host dashboard, making it easier to understand your cancellations better. To view, visit your Reservations page. Hopefully this will help to clarify things a little.

Wishing you well. 

Thank you,

Lizzie

[Dee148]

@Lizzie thank you so much. I did discover that tool and saw that it is pending. Appreciate you getting back with me. 

[Kristina382]

I have received email telling me 285 dollars its on his way, that is not 25% of refund its 12.5%...