Covid cancellation

[Bernardo195]

Hello as a host I have a question. I have a group of people that want to book my place. My cancelation policy is the "Moderada" (guests can cancel 5 days before). They are asking if they Cath covid after this 5 days if there is any Airbnb policy for them to not loose their money if they prove they're infected. Thanks

[Huma0]

@Felix401 

So sorry to hear that. I only had success because they kept telling me they were following policy and I kept sending them the wording from the policy that they were NOT following. They never tried to pull the 'alteration' trick on me.

Let us know how you get on. I personally would really like to know...

[FuQuan0]

They awarded refund to my guest 3 weeks after my guest wanted to cancel last minute. I have a strict policy and for them to cancel and send them refund now is very frustrating. It’s no longer a pandemic and they canceled a day before arrival. I was also blocked on those days of there reserved time. I’m not getting any rep over the phone and I literally told the guest I’m not able to cancel. SMH this is a scam. Reading from some articles I see that the guest are not even getting there full refund. I need help !!!

[Felix401]

@Huma0  @FuQuan0 

You are correct to quote that the policy has mentioned after 14 March 2020, this is 'no longer unforeseen or unexpected. Please remember to carefully review the Host's cancellation policy when booking and consider choosing an option that provides flexibility.'

However, this is not the case for our situation. The latest update is that I have send a letter of demand - basically asking Airbnb to attempt to resolve this mistake out of court. Of course, Airbnb has so far refuse to accept they have breached their own policy. In fact, they have magic up an internal unpublished policy of 'altering' the booking rather than 'cancelling' the booking, therefore refunding the guest.

 I will keep you posted on how this progress.

[Helen2181]

Thank you all for taking the time to post concerns with Airb&b cancelling and refunding on such short notice bookings.  this policy overides exsisting cancellation policy agreements we have with Airb&b and undermines our ability to manage 'our' bookings and our business.  We have our own policy on short notice cancellations when guests provide proof of Covid diagnosis -  airb&b should have no place in meddling with our bookings - Other 3rd party booking agents do not meddle - but encourage guest/host liaison. How can we with any confidence accept Airb&b bookings if they can override without consulation with hosts. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Helen2181 whilst we may not like Airbnb's policies I am afraid they are 'the price' of listing on Airbnb. If other platforms are more suited to your requirements then just delete your Airbnb listing and rely on the other platforms.

[Helen2181]

Now there's an idea 

[Linda2918]

@Mike-And-Jane0 What is the difference between a Level 10 and Level 2 rating?

[Sarah977]

@Linda2918  It's nothing. It relates to your activity on this forum- how often you post, how many thumbs up you get. Just a social media thing. You could go from level 2 to level 10 in a week if you posted a lot daily. 

It has nothing to do with your hosting account, your experience, your listing rating, or anything else.

[Adriana1283]

This is exactly what I'm doing after being a host for 6 years (super host for 2 and a half of them). Airbnb doesn't care about their hosts, employees or even the guests. That's the raw truth.

[Linda2918]

I'm glad, or actually sad, to see I'm not the only one experiencing this problem and continue to get the runaround when I ask to be escalated to a higher support person.  The first time this happened, we managed to get Airbnb to reimburse us for 50% of the financial loss and were told it would be a one-time event.  So today, we get another covid cancellation 24 hours prior to check-in.  I have written, again, asking that the policy be changed so the financial loss is borne 50/50, guest/host.  I feel like this conversation is just us ranting amongst ourselves and that Airbnb will not be responding.  Have they ever responded to a conversation?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Linda2918 in recent times @Catherine-Powell has been responding to a few conversations so it appears that Airbnb are listening. We can only hope they will make changes as well going forward. It is interesting to note that the UK is likely to drop ALL Covid restrictions (including isolation) this coming week so a Covid refund will make even less sense in the UK after that. Now whether this is sensible or just a plan to try and Save Boris Johnson from the Partygate scandal is, of course, another question altogether!

[Sarah977]

@Mike-And-Jane0  Restrictions are being dropped or scaled back in a lot of places. Govts. seem to be feeling pressure from everyone's Covid weariness and are loosening things up. I personally think it might be premature, and don't think it's particularly sensible at this point, but I guess that remains to be seen- I'd love to be wrong.

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Linda2918 and all,

Yes, we are definitely listening and reading. We're in the process of looking more closely at our Covid EC policy so that we can better address the issues like you mentioned here. We will continue to share updates on this in the Resource Centre and here in the Community Centre as well.

Kindly,

Catherine

[Karen3224]

Catherine. Please see my thread on this topic. Do you have any further update on the EC policy in terms of Covid 19 as the UK have lifted all their laws and regulations so in effect we are no longer in a pandemic. I could lose all my business as no checks are done on validity of emails which can easily be forged. 

[Catherine-Powell]

Hi @Karen3224,

I really appreciate you bringing this up here in the CC. We realize that policies in many regions are changing and we're actively exploring changes to our own policies. And we'll keep you updated here.

Thank you,

Catherine