WARNING - AIrbnb Backdated the new Cancellation COVID19 cancellation policy to a booking that cancelled before it went into effect

[Helen213]

I had guests due to arrive March 30 - April 5th  to rent my entire apartment. In the beginning of March the guest was nervous about travelling and asked his options.  I explained the strict cancellation policy.  I also offered if he cancelled within 3 days I would give him the deposit back if I got another booking.  He choose not to cancel.  He waited until 3/10 and finally cancelled.  I was supposed to keep my deposit.  Airbnb just contacted me and they are giving it back to him.  The  new policy was not in effect when he cancelled.  They were not sick and there was no ban when he cancelled. 

I am now out the $500 which was my lifeline after the new policy went into effect and I lost all the rest of my bookings for 8 weeks.  This is completely unfair and I now I am going to get a bull**bleep** reply from customer service about this too.  So Airbnb looks like a hero and I may end up homeless!

[Christine1]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0 , seriously, I  am going to be blunt and say, I  totally 110% believe in Hospitality as an industry, a professional and personal path in life and a core value that underpins my hosting. 

I have no problem being a servant, I like being of service and am proud of being trusted by my guests.  To me that's  the essence of hospitality.  

My suggestion that some hosts might like to offer isolation accommodation was tongue in cheek.  But the idea came from other hosts who have chosen to offer this service in a time of need. 

People who need to quarrantine, need SOMEWHERE to stay. Many of them are  locals,, and many hosts have suitable venues available.  Thats what hospitality and accommodation services do. They adapt to events and grow their businesses.

I find it ironic that you are spitting chips over Airbnb's policy over CoVid 19 and yet horrified that you could be asked to accommodate someone who might have the disease.

Can't  you see that the fear you express is the same fear that so many guests have. So why wouldn't a host agree to cancel and refund?6ķ

Best rega

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Christine1 

The UK government have officially restricted travel:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-essential-travel-guidance

The agreed extenuating circumstances now apply as non-essential travel is banned. Because of this, my last remaining guest within the applicable dates has cancelled. I’m fine with that. That’s the rules.

Part of the reasons - as stated - is the pressure on local services and NHS. Why should we burden local services and NHS with our additional guests?

@Christine1  You are not a servant to your guests you are a servant to AirBnb. It is their woven web of rules which are causing the problems, not my interpretation of them.

As an owner and a host I decide what’s best for me and my family, I do not need to adhere to rules which are being administered illegally outside of their specific time frame and I will hold them to account over those based on the evidence at hand at the point of cancellation which extenuating circumstances will denote.

[Rose123]

@Christine1 could have, but didn't. Let's try and stick to information about the present policies as they stand (and not as you would like them to stand) so that hosts don't get confused when they are already under so much stress 😉  ... we're all about helping each other right now!

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

Just a 'Heads Up' on this one.

A guest who cancelled a month off from now, outside of the Extenuating Circumstances policy 'applicable dates' so on our Strict cancellation policy entitling us to a 50% payment, I have just noticed their cancellation is no longer in the 'cancellations' tab on my dashboard, but is in the pending reservations.

I have already contacted Help via message, pointing out that this is already cancelled and that I have screenshots of messages, policies in force at point of cancellation and requesting confirmation of cancellation as well as date of payment.

By moving this cancelled booking into 'pending' rather than 'cancelled' would make it easy for the guest to RE-CANCEL when Extenuating Circumstances changes dates and override the previous cancellation.

Please check your Dashboard and bookings for any anomalies.

Having never needed to cancel a guest, I am not sure that moving a booking to 'pending' will actually lead to a negative result but this reservation WAS in 'Cancellations' after the moment of cancellation.

Additional note: In messaging your Guests, confirm their booking date cancellations as well as the current date of your cancellation since the messaging system only refers to days as 'last Tuesday' rather than <DATE> This is important for your own evidence.

[Adriano78]

(message deleted)

[Adriano78]

New refund today ! One more !

Guest cancelled, on March 11 (before special COVID19 cancellation policy) reservation from MAY 23 to 27 (after special COVID cancellation policy date range).

So special COVID19 not apply (as written in their own COVID19 rules : "Cancellations submitted before 14 March 2020 will be handled according to the extenuating circumstances coverage in effect at the time of submission (not the coverage described here).")

At that time, my cancellation policy was applied, so I was told I would get 50%. That's what expected so it was ok.

Today, message from AirBNB (at 4AM on the moring, I am in Europe, so sleeping), telling me that the guest had given proof of Extenuating circumstances.

I phone airBNB, I got on the phone on guy named "Samuel", very very unpleasant.

He declined to tell me what kind of circumstance it was...

I really don't know what kind of circumstance could occur to a guest to cancel a trip more than 2 months before the dates planned !

It is a real shame that AirBnb give NO DETAILED EXPLANATION for this kind of cancellation.

Moreover, customer service extremly rude, unpleasant.

I really don't trust airBnb any more.

Extremly disappointed by airBnb, and doing all my possible to get more reservation from other platforms !

[Christine1]

@Adriano78 over hear in Australia, travel is banned in and out of the country, and from state to state. Local quarrantines are being put in place, Airlines are standing down staff and parking their planes. The goverment is saying things will be tight for at least 6 months. 

It doesn't  surprise me that guests are realising it is not possible for them to travel. Their transport options have probably be shut down for an indefinite period, and they can't  attend the venues, or visit the people they intended to. Conferences are being cancelled.  Our goverment is cancelling everything, national memorial services, national and state fairs and exhibitions. Every major event all music entertainment and arts are being cancelled. 

Hosts need to understand that local governments are stopping their citizens from moving about. From another location I might not know the constrainst that apply to my guests, but I'm  just going to accept their word. 

I'm  sorry this has been difficult for you and so many others.

Christine 

[Adriano78]

@Christine1Sorry, but this is not the issue.

I understand perfectly that a guest can be uncomfortable for travelling.

The issue is that airBnb does not follow its own rules, refunding 100% the guest when their own rules entitle the guest to receive 50%. they override their own rules, they are rude, they don't give any explanation.

It is not because there is this crisis that the most elementary rules not have to be followed.

It is in these times of crises you can see that a company is, in fact, managed by amateurs.

On another platform (V..O), the host is given the choice of the refund while they advise strongly to give a 100% refund or coupon. Much smarter behaviour.

I had a booking with them, normally with no refund.

As I totally understand the situation, I choose to give the guest a "coupon" of 100% of its payement for travelling at another dates.

With this kind of arrangement the host can smooth the costs of cancellation over the next months.

The hosts does not have to be asked to support 100% of the cost of this crisis (when in strict cancellation policy).

(sorry for my English!)

[Sarah977]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  "I would certainly like that crystal ball of those guests, otherwise, they're just cancelling because they're uncomfortable with the situation. Extenuating Circumstances do not rely on an uncomfortable feeling they rely on physical facts."

The physical facts are that we are in the midst of a global pandemic and every day more and more places are instituting lockdowns in order to try to stop the spread of this highly contagious and deadly virus. Of course guests are "uncomfortable". That's a really trivializing statement. No one should be travelling right now unless it's absolutely necessary. Everyone needs to stay home so we can hopefully see an end to the ever escalating infections and deaths.

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Christine1 @Sarah977 

"I would certainly like that crystal ball of those guests, otherwise, they're just cancelling because they're uncomfortable with the situation. Extenuating Circumstances do not rely on an uncomfortable feeling they rely on physical facts."

In line with their Extenuating Circumstances [EC] policy it was Airbnb who provided the Covid-19 update to cover this event. The scope of this update was specific, it states:

Reservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences made on or before 14 March 2020, with a check-in date between 14 March 2020 and 14 April 2020 were applicable. These reservations may be cancelled before check-in and guests receive a full refund.

and,

If the guests reservation is not covered by the applicable dates, the host’s cancellation policy will apply as usual. 

This implies that reservations outside of 14 March 2020 and 14 April 2020 are not covered by the Covid-19 EC update.

The regular EC resume outside of those applicable dates, which for current circumstance involves the ’Epidemic Disease or Illness’ and ‘Travel Restrictions’ headings.

The scope of these circumstances are stated as follows:

Epidemic Disease or Illness …Any updates to our policy regarding the outbreak of a disease, and the scope of policy application, will be determined based on announcements by the World Health Organization and local authorities.

Travel Restrictions …Travel restrictions imposed by a government, law enforcement agency, or military that restrict travel to or from the listing or experience location.

So, the scope of the existing EC relating to Disease in these circumstances is described by Covid-19 but travel restrictions would still apply if imposed by government, law enforcement agency, or military.

This concludes: That a guest booking outside of the applicable dates would need to speculate on and subsequently prove that there would be/was an official government agency restriction on travel in place restricting access to the listing, since the scope of the disease outbreak specifically, is only covered between the applicable dates of 14 March 2020 and 14 April 2020.

A guest may well be uncomfortable with their reservation outside of the applicable dates, but those dates are fully specified by Airbnb as the scope of their applicable EC relating to the Covid-19 outbreak. Outside of those dates the pandemic isn’t covered(!) so it cannot be cited as an excuse for cancellation (Unbelievably).

[Sarah977]

@Ian-And-Anne-Marie0  I'm not sure why you addressed this post to me- I'm as much against Airbnb ignoring their own policies as anyone , and the fact that they're now handing out full refunds like candy, outside the stated policy, is abhorrent. 

You obviously misunderstood my post. No, no one should be travelling right now, but that doesn't mean to me that Airbnb should just be giving all guests 100% refunds. 

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Sarah977 

You did comment on my Crystal ball post, that’s all.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Host-Circle/WARNING-AIrbnb-Backdated-the-new-Cancellation-COVID1...