Just wondering if other hosts are experiencing this and how you're handling it.
Obviously, anyone initiating a booking after March 14th is well aware --super aware -- that they are making plans in the middle of a global pandemic. As such, obviously there are risks (duh). We are all living in a time of great uncertainty. It's actually hard for me to understand why anyone would book any travel at all during this time, unless it's for emergency travel.
We are in NYC. We have had a surprising number of people booking vacations here lately. Bizarre, because nothing is open except some limited outdoor dining -- no museums, no theater, no nightclubs, no tourist attractions. What are these people thinking?
Anyway, we are so strapped for income since the pandemic began -- and since Airbnb decided not support hosts during this crisis - so if someone wants to book with us and if they agree to all our house rules and our cancellation policy -- and if they don't have any bad reviews -- we're not turning them away. Of course, we do all the enhanced cleaning.
NY State initiated a travel advisory about 2 1/2 months ago, which is updated literally every few days. It is public. Easy to find on a simple internet search. (Would you book travel during a worldwide crisis without doing a quick search first? Who would do that?)
Anyway, we are having a rash of people cancelling and demanding full refunds. We always apologize but refer them to Airbnb Support. We tell them that we will abide by Airbnb's decision in case Airbnb decides that their situation fits into the Extenuating Circumstances policy. Generally, these cancellations do not fit. Even when it's crazy last minute, we (graciously IMO) offer them penalty free alterations to any date in the future, as long as we're available and as long as their new dates meet our minimum and maximum stay durations. Sometimes, the date change happens. Fine. We even give them our current pandemic era reduced prices for future dates, knowing that we might be back up to full rates by then. Some people are fine with that. But, it's shocking how many dig into hard core guilt tripping. Hey, we lost almost all our income since March. They took a risk for the cost of one vacation. And most importantly, they absolutely agreed to our cancellation policy when they booked. So, why all the guilt tripping?
And Airbnb seriously makes it worse. In virtually every canned message to guests about these sorts of (or all?) cancellations, they specifically suggest that the guests ask the hosts for a full refund. Why??? So, Airbnb makes the host into the bad guys. Why doesn't Airbnb back us up?
This has become quite unpleasant. Not to mention that the constant bickering style messages from the guests is taking many many hours of time. I hate this.
Times are hard for everyone. Why are hosts suddenly scapegoated? Not fair.
