Thrown under a bus AGAIN

[Alison695]

So, here we go again. 

Despite Covid being a known risk, despite strict cancellation policies, despite all the flak received by the company in the last round of lockdown for choosing to use their hosts as insurer for their guest base, I have just received notification that my guest has cancelled and will be refunded in full. I'm waiting for the rest of November to go the same way...

Chesky et al don't bother to respond to hosts concerns, do everything they can to window-dress their position with nonsense host advisory groups and throw us all back under a bus. 

I guess we all have to make our own minds up about whether to try to pursue this with court cases, boycotting the site or just slinking away with our tail between our legs. 

I think it might be helpful to share this feeling with Airbnb so that they understand that this is not the way to treat their host assets. 

Kind regards all

Alison

[Ricardo85]

@Alison695 

You should watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OlWAViwFro

Ricardo

[Alison695]

Thank you Ricardo - interesting.

[Sharon1014]

Here is the law firm handling the class action case and details of the case

https://www.traverselegal.com/airbnb-coronavirus/

My understanding is that there are likely to be EU representative plaintiffs as parties to the case and arbitration.  You should contact the firm to obtain details.

@Alison695  @Ricardo85 

[Helen3]

A difficult one. @Alison695 

Morally whether or not Airbnb decide to refund a guest, I will refund any guest who is not able to travel to me because of our government's new restrictions brought in 5 November - 5 December if they can't move their travel dates, as I am not able to provide a service.

There was always a risk that STRs would close again if the infection and death rates went up. As business owners,  we are sharing the pain of many other business owners in the UK who have seen their businesses decimated. Sadly many in their hospitality sector have already lost everything.

Fortunately hosts like yourself with whole listings are still able to let your place to key workers including those in health, construction, retail etc on a shorter term basis and also look at long term lets, so perhaps these are options you can look at. @Alison695 

As a host with a shared home, I was unable to do STR at all from March to July and have yet to recover from this period.

I have no reason to think I could take Airbnb to court as I knew their terms when I signed up and that there was always an option they could apply extenuating circumstances, which I might not agree with.

[Bridget116]

I get it, it sucks!

But I would not be able to run a success business with 37 listings without Airbnb as a platform. 

Its simple to use and I use them exclusively for bookings.

No one is making any money when something like this happens and we need to keep guests coming back to the site when the world returns to normality. Im taking a long term view and will refund or agree to refund guests regardless of cancelation policies. As much as it sucks just remember to be kind 🙂