The 6 People Covid Rule

[Mandy321]

Hi

Can anyone tell me if Airbnb are giving a full refund of service fees due to the 6 people rule, I have booked a house for 8 people in for December for 2 weeks for my family and now cannot go if this rule is still in place 

The company that is dealing with the booking through Airbnb are asking for a decision to be made if I wish to cancel or not by 31st September as they will refund  but cannot answer if Airbnb will refund their fees? which are over £700 in my case 

Please can I have some advice as I can not see any updates regarding this new law 

Thank you 

Mandy

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Mandy321 When is the stay? If it falls before the current date (was mid October but could be later now) then you will get the service fee back under the standard Covid Extenuating Circumstances policy. 

By law Airbnb should return the fee as well if the rule of 6 is the problem but this might depend on the date of travel as if its a long way away they may be less willing to do so.

[Mandy321]

I booked it on Jan 31st 2020 so before March,  for the 23rd Dec 2020 to the 3rd Jan 2021- my problem is the house is for 8 guests which is my family, cant really go without them all 

[Huma0]

@Mandy321 

I don't think anyone knows if the rule will still apply as far ahead as December so I doubt you'd be able to get a refund of your fees right now, but there is no harm in asking Airbnb. Have you tried to contact them?

[Mandy321]

Thank you

I have no idea who to ask, when I booked, it went through a letting site, not the owner and it is them saying to me, I need to make a decision before the 31st if I want a refund or not, but says they don't know if I will loose the fees, so I don't know what to do 

Regards
Mandy

[Helen350]

@Mandy321 @Mike-And-Jane0  @Huma0  I'm puzzled.... How does this 'company dealing with the booking through Airbnb' fit in? I didn't think bookings worked that way..... Is this legit.? This confuses the issue for me... Certainly if I'd booked a place with Airbnb in the normal manner, I would  consider mid-September too early to speculate on what UK gov. Covid laws will be for Christmas/New Year, & would not even think about cancelling now, but make the decision when we know for certain. Who knows, Boris might relax everything for Christmas as a concession, or things might get worse & be tightened up...? I WOULD LEAVE IT TILL LATER!

31 September does not exist btw! (What sort of cowboys are you  dealing with?!!) 🙂 

[Mandy321]

Sorry 31st that me getting flustered its 21st , I felt a bit annoyed when I found I booked through a third person and not the owner, I feel that the 21st is to early as well but they are saying will only refund if I cancel before that date but wont cancel the fees that down to airbnb 😩

[Helen3]

If you are booked through Airbnb it sounds like the host is using a third party property management agency.

this should have been disclosed on the listing when you booked. @Mandy321  (does it not say on the listing that they are the hosts/co/hosts)

The agency can’t tell you that you need to abide by different booking conditions than the ones you booked under through Airbnb.

If they want you to cancel by 21 September get them to confirm that you will get a full refund including the Airbnb fee. They are absolutely in a position to do this. They just need to call Airbnb and check if they will do this. Or they can ask  Airbnb to cancel. Do not cancel yourself until you know you will get the fees back too. 

As others have said the government regulations for December haven’t been announced yet. If they decide nearer the time to extend the 6 person rule then Airbnb will extend their EC policy and you will get a full refund regardless of what this property management say.

[Mandy321]

Thank you so much for everyones help,

I just have told them straight unless they refund me all the money, I'm not cancelling 

They just tried to refund me at a loss of £899.75 that I needed to accept which I did not and have messaged them back stating what you all have told me 

I cant thank you enough, I could of just made a very expensive mistake 

😊Safe Well And Safe