PLEASE HELP! AirBnb Ridiculous Extenuating Circumstance Policy - Super Host Here - FRAUD!

[Eric-and-Brooke0]

Hey everyone!  We are trying to reach out to other hosts to help us with a situation we are currently dealing with.  We are Super Hosts and have a strict cancellation policy in place due to several instances in the past where guests have canceled last minute and we were not able to re-book those dates.  We are consistently 95% booked all year round, hence the strict cancellation policy.  We had a guest book $1450 worth of dates but then cancel well beyond our strict cancellation window.  The guest was refunded half of the reservation per our strict cancelation policy.  He then reached out to me asking for a full refund.  I told him that I would consider this request IF we were able to re-book those dates with other guests.  The dates that he originally booked were the only open dates over a 3 month span and we were not able to re-book due to it being a last minute cancellation. So instead of being out $1450, we were out $725.  The guest still requested we give him the remaining refund because he had to cancel this reservation because a continuous education class he was going to attend was cancelled.  I appologized to the guest, but told him that I think it is fair that we split the difference because I was unable to book these dates, and was still ultimately losing money because of his cancellation.  The guest then escalated the case to Airbnb.  

I received a phone call almost 2 months after this reservation from an Airbnb representative stating the guest is still requesting the full refund.  I stated that this was almost 2 months ago and had no idea this was even still an issue because 1.) the guest agreed that a full refund would be considered if I booked those dates, 2.) I was protected by the strict cancellation policy, and 3.) the amount of time that has passed.  The representative (Hazzle) was extremely RUDE, unprofessional, arguementative, and tried to coerce me into refunding the guest throughout the entire conversation.  She was trying to put words into my mouth the entire conversation and was using intimadation techniques stating that it is our obligation to refund the guest and repeating that a "real" super host would "do the right thing and issue the refund."  Rather than trying to understand our point of view and hear both sides of the story, she was one sided the entire conversation even though we are the SUPER HOSTS and this guest had 0 reviews.  Why would she only be concerned with making the guest happy and not a host that has been a super host for over a year?!  I thought splitting the difference 50/50 was more than fair instead of 100% in either direction.  I told her that I was willing to work with the guest even though I did not technically  have to IF we booked those dates.  She continued to put pressure on me throughout the conversation but ulitmately told me it was up to me, but that she had confidence that I would make the "right" decsision and do the "right" thing, as any other super host would. 

A couple of weeks later I get an EMAIL stating that Airbnb had ruled in the guest's favor and issued the guest a full refund.  I immediately responded asking Hazzle for an explanation, and she replied via email that the guest provided appropriate paperwork that fell into the extenuating circumstances clause (which supercedes the strict cancellation policy).  This was the same documentation that was submitted weeks ago when the orignal case was open at the same time I spoke with her over the phone, and she did not mention anything at that time about the documentation qualifying for the extenuating circumstances clasue. Furthermore, the document provided by the guest was simply a generic letter stating the employer canceled the continous classes and apologizing for any inconveninces this may have caused the employees.  The employer in this case is the Canadian government and the guest was traveling to Florida for the class.  I immediately replied to Hazzle's response asking her to please call me to discuss the situation over the phone and at least offer me an explanation of why she felt it qualified as an exenuating circumstance.  She replied that she is disengaging from this email chain and refused to call me stating that the decision was already made and was now irreversible.  I replied back immediately asking her one more time to please give me a call and that it is extremely unprofessional to just make a decision via email and not honor my request to speak with her over the phone regarding the matter.  I called the Airbnb superhost hotline right away requesting to speak to a manager/supervisor and was told nobody was around and that someone would call me back.  Fast forward 5 days later and 3 call backs by me and I can not get a supervisor to even call me back.  Keep in mind that the government paid for the guest's trip and the trip that he had to re-book at a later date so the guest was NEVER out of pocket for anything.  The money that he received as a refund from this booking went directly into his pocket and then booked other dates at a future time that the government paid for.  So the guest personally profited $1450 and we are out $1450.  

I am absolutely appalled that this is how Airbnb is treating Super hosts, or any hosts for that matter.  Why do we have cancellation policies?  Why do we bother doing everything we can to go above and beyond for our guests and earn super host status when this company does not have our back?  Why should someone that is employed by the government have special privileges and our cancelation polices do not apply to them.  Does this mean I should never accept a government employee's reservation since they are above the law?  Now, I feel as though their inadequate system is encouraging discrimination, which goes against my personal beliefs and the mission statement Airbnb has clearly laid out to all hosts across the world. It is not fair that government employees and military personnel get this special treatment. If I booked an Airbnb with a strict cancellation policy for a work conference in California for my job but I cancel a few days before because of a work conflict, would this too fall under their extenuating circumstances policy (if I was able to provide documentation stating that my employer changed the travel dates)? Or did this guest receive preferential treatment because he happend to be a government/military employee? I've read through the extenuating circumstances policy and the list of reasons that qualify does not include anything about work conflicts. The types of circumstances that they outline in the written policy and deem valid include (and are limited to): -Unexpected death or serious illness of a host, guest, or immediate family member, -Serious injury that directly restricts a guest's ability to travel, - Significant natural disasters or severe weather incidents impacting the location of destination or location of departure, -Urgent travel restrictions or severe security advisories issued after the time of booking, by an appropriate nation or internation authority, -Endemic disease declared by a credible national or internation authority, -Severe property damage or unforseen maintenance issues that directly impact the ability to host safely, -Government-mandated obligations issued after the time of booking (ex: jury duty).

We rely on this income to help pay our mortgage and it is absurd that AirBnb would do this to a host that has represented their company in a very professional and positive manner.  I apologize for the lengthly post and we really appreciate any help or insight from other hosts.  I am not going to give up until this matter is resolved.  Thank you!

[Ryan111]

It seems that by posting here again and by calling them again, and threatening arbitration plus a small claims court case, they decided to back track to 50%.  We'll see if it really comes through.  But yes, moving platforms is ideal if you can book at a high enough level.  

[Jay47]

Yes, a trip insurance option would be very effective.  If Airbnb will not provide the app for a guest to purchase trip insurance, then at least allow the hosts themselves the ability to sell it, or to link guests to a company who writes trip insurance.  

Let me tell you a story.  Yesterday, I received a cancellation notice from a guest who resides on the east coast directly in the path of Hurricane Florence.  Residents in her area have been ORDERED TO VACATE.  She was booked in one of my places for Fri, Sat and Sun several hundred miles safely inland.  She cited "extenuating circumstances" of the hurricane forcing her to cancel, despite the fact that she had a safe place to go to, and had been ordered to leave.  Yes, I received 50% without pleading for it, which was the other surprise in that equation.  

With that said, I would love to personally have the opportunity to tweak and optimize the entire Airbnb model and make it purr like a kitten, but failing that, all we can do is keep pointing out some of immature rough spots.

[Emily140]

I am not a lawyer, but a deal is a deal.  As a host, I suffer devastating repercussions if I cancel a trip on a guest, and I would never do that unless it was a serious emergency like I cannot even imagine--not all the made up excuses I always get from international travelers and read about in these forums.  In the guest forums there must be prescriptions for how to get away with canceling on hosts.  Hello, we are NOT HOTELS. 

Travel insurance exists to protect guests from the unforeseen.  End of discussion.  Travel insurance companies have time to develop the tools to verify veracity of claims; I'm a host in Napa Valley, I'm busy fluffing the sheets, buffing the tub, recommending wineries and tidying the garden, etc.  A host sharing her home (me) MUST be able to rely on my policy to make her own travel and other plans.  Full stop.

If my strict policy costs me reservations from noncommittal people, no problem.  None at all.

Here's what I don't get--why doesn't Airbnb simply add a button to offer guests travel insurance and fund their own sympathy/marketing payouts through that insurance vehicle, and leave the host out of it. 

Bam, problem solved.  Guest decides how much risk to take--avoid moderate or strict cancellation policy locations, or buy the insurance.  No hassle.  Airbnb could contract out the travel insurance with a travel insurance company that knows how to identify a bs claim, and gain a referral commission on every policy.  And override whatever they want from their own profits.  But we're not involved.  We have a stated policy, and made plans around those dates.  If someone cancels a 7-day trip, and I've made plans then to check them in, travel day 2-6 then come back to handle the departure, then re-booking a 4-day trip in the middle of the reserved dates does NOT work for me.  That's why I have a STRICT cancellation policy.

I have an incomprehensible email in my inbox now too --as with an earlier post, it is from a Canadian resident.  Someone with no reviews and no real profile...  A third-party booking on top of it all.  Story is that she is booking a wedding gift for her brother; I made her explain in the message thread that her brother has seen the listing and agrees to this location and I required that she add the brother to the reservation, but I notice now the brother is not there on the reservation (since he probably doesn't exist?)  Next she burdens me with a dozen emails demanding to know why she hasn't received her 50% back yet.  How the heck should I know?  I am just the host in Napa Valley.  How guests are refunded their 50% I have no idea.  Especially for a Canadian guest.  I made plans, I will be losing 50% on this deal, which is only acceptable because I won't be running Air Conditioning etc. during the dates, but I made plans around their specific arrival and departure dates, so I've had to block the time as I cannot accommodate some other booking in the middle of this stretch.

Note that the Airbnb representative used cut/paste language in their demand (for me to offer in good faith some refund), which cut/paste language has no bearing on my specific situation.  They claim "fires near the airport in Canada" a month ago is the extenuating circumstance--which is nuts.  They further claim, "The guest stands to lose 100%" which is incorrect.  I already received confirmation from Airbnb, confirming that due to the cancellation date, that I will be paid 50% on the day after check-in per policy.

Does Airbnb keep the other 50%???

It's just infuriating.  A commitment is a commitment, even if made by and to a Superhost that Airbnb doesn't give a crap about.  It's tiresome.  And please, David in CO, don't post just to increase post count that the decision is made and I am wrong.  In the real world, a commitment is a commitment.  Airbnb should offer travel insurance and make fees on this.  Hosts must be able to rely on their policy and suffer the consequences of a strict policy = we get real, committed guests, or paid 50% when something goes wrong and if the guest was responsible the other 50% paid by their insurance.  End of story.

[Emily140]

Actually, I think with the Canadian element, the third-party element, the lack of prior reviews, this is highly likely a fraud.  One member could book dozens of these using one other person's knee surgery records or one cancelled government class--over and over and over.  Pretend it's the brother's honeymoon on one, the government's cancelled class for her boss on the other.  And it's absurd Airbnb still favors the guest vs a solid, 5-star rated Superhost. Honestly, what are the qualifications to be an Airbnb Case Manager?

I guess since hosts currently eat the cost of the fraud, Airbnb has no motivation to care.  Just cut/paste then "final decision," and coddle the so-called guest who has no travel record and is worth nothing to Airbnb.  This company is in no position to go public.  Where the hell is grown-up management?

We need a place to enter the NAMES on these cancelled flights or whatever "documentation" is used.  Guarantee lots of duplicates. 

[Wilson-And-Marge0]

I think all hosts who do not agree with the extenuating circumstance policy should bring this up with Brian Chesky and/or Airbnb via Twitter.

[Ryan111]

Ha. Here is a new one.  I had a major leak in the apt and I needed to get work done immediatley.  I had a somewhat last minute booking that I accepted because it seemed like everything had been fixed.  After 2 of the guests 3 nights, it was clear water was still leaking and ruining everything below.  So, I spoke with the guest who totally understood and was happy to go to a hotel for his last night.  I gave him a full refund that night, as agreed by the guest.  We were both satisfied.  Then I got a call from airbnb customer service a few days later saying that I had to refund additional money.  The customer service rep was rude and beligerent and when I asked to speak to a supervisor, the call was "accidentally" disconnected.  I wrote customer service about him immediatley via the messaging tool and no one ever wrote back.  

In the meantime, I reached out to the guest to explain why he had not honored our deal.  He told me that he had resepcted our agreement and that AIRBNB HAD REACHED OUT TO HIM TELLING HIM THAT HE WAS GOING TO GET ADDITIONAL MONEY BACK.  He had never asked for it or filed a claim but they created a "problem" in order to reclaim money from me.  It was all very suspicous for a situation where two people were able to work out an agreement without using the extenuating circumstances clause directly.  

[Rick255]

It really seems like Airbnb is putting themselves at very serious risk of a class action suit from all of the hosts where Airbnb has provided refunds that conflict with the cancellation terms agreed to between the renter, the landlord, and Airbnb.  The unexpected circumstances policy is just that, a policy -- it is not part of the posted cancellation terms.  Guests have the ability to insure against unexpected circumstances by purchasing travel insurance.  Travel insurance covers illness, death, travel interruptions...  Landlords do not have the ability to insure against the unexpected circumstances of their Airbnb guests and Airbnb has unilaterally shifted the risk to the landlord without consent.  I have lost thousands of dollars through this policy and I've not had one situtation where Airbnb has denied the request from the guest.  I believe it's just a matter of time until some law firm takes the opportunity to file a suit against Airbnb for these millions of dollars of refunds that have harmed landlords and their ability to make a living, pay mortgages, fill their properties...  Airbnb should simply partner with a travel insurance company and offer the option to their guests so the risk can be shifted off of individual landlords and be handled in the aggregate like all other travel risk is handled around the world.  They would likely even make some money off it it rather than be exposed to so much legal risk and make their landlords want to support competitors like VRBO/Homeaway. 

[Zappa0]

Agreed. If they are going to have an extenuating circumstance policy then they need to share with hosts exactly what requirements qualify as "extenuating circumstance". Not.."my uncle's brother's best friend's dog" died and it was supposed to be traveling on my trip with me" refund!

[Che5]

I agree, Airbnb sometimes is very cold. I was super host for moment, but because how they favored a guest for refund, I just dump my dedication to keep my super host. My income didn’t get lower for not super host, and one less thing to worry.

This was what made me lost the super host.

My house have two extra bedrooms for Airbnb guests, they share the bathroom, almost every guests understand that if there are some mess it would be from the other guests. And I’m charging very low price compare to other Airbnb in the same area.

But there was one guest, she made a complaint one month after she checked out, Airbnb didn’t ask me and issued refund for her.

The reason was simply hair in the bathtub hair catcher(bathroom is shared)

Trash is in the bathroom trash can(apparently complain the purpose of trash can is viable for refund)

Dust behind a vase, and behind faucet corner (I think she should grateful for low end price, if the general area is clean)

[Mohamad-Firdaus0]

As long as the Extenuating Circumstances Policy still exist, it doesn't matter what type of cancelation policy you choose because Airbnb can overide them anytime without even investigate and/ or check thorughly on the claims and documentation provided by the guest. 

Yesterday, I just received a cancellation from a guest who had made a long term stay reservation (16 Jan - 8 March 2019) since October 2018. The reason given was that the oldest brother was dignosed 3 days ago with liver cancer. But the problem is the that oldest brother is not a travelling party as the guest told me that she is coming with her husband. According to the clause in  Extenuating Policy, circumstances that require documentation are, --> "serious illness of a host, guest, or any member of the traveling party. You’ll be asked to provide a general statement from a physician confirming that the person can't travel. The statement must be dated after the reservation was booked". In my case, obviously the guest didn't not fullfill this. But they still told me this, --> "according to the extenuating circumstances' policy, I have to issue a full refund to the guest. I just wanted to inform you, there will no payout sent for this reservation. I hope you can understand". Can you expect me to understand something that is even against your own policy? 

One best part, I also talked to another airbnb support staff. This one told me that there is a designated team who thoroughly validates the documents being submitted by guest. We do not provide refund right away after they claim for an Extenuating Circumstance. We also do not provide refunds right away too if they sent documents as it is being submitted to a team who validates the authenticity of the documents provided." But from what i'm getting, it seems like they just made the decision to give full refund straight away after getting the documents without even checking the authencity of the documents. Get it? Yesterday, the guest cancelled the reservation, today she gave the documentation, and Airbnb straight away sent me an email saying i'm not getting anything from it.

It is true that Airbnb have unblocked those dates yesterday but the damage is already being done. If that guest had not made such a long term reservation, i would have been able to receive many bookings. Right now, i'm suffering losses from a prospect reservation especially  we are in a peak season. As you all know, people don't make bookings last minute, they often make bookings months before their arrival date.

I believe this is a loophole that guests will use in order to get full refund despite what ever cancellation policy used by hosts. I also believe that this Airbnb Extenuating Circumstance Policy will be abused by guests and as a result of that many hosts will suffer current and future earning loses.

It's obvious that Airbnb definately valued guests far better than hosts. But they forgot that we are the one who shaped the world of Airbnb. This is only one case that happen to me so far but i'm sure they are many hosts that have suffered the same thing. Our complaints will always fall into deaf ears as long as the Airbnb Extenuating Circumstance Policy exist!

[Zappa0]

I have asked numerous times for the exteunating circumstance internal guidelines as to what qualifies. Not just the vague policy but what do they use to determine an extenuating circumstance and why isnt it the same as the airlines?

[Mohamad-Firdaus0]

I think we can't just complaint here because no one else will hear it. Airbnb will definately not. I can tell they don't even read about what we pour our heart out in here. That's why this community exist inside Airbnb. So that they can contain us. We need to take legal action. Class action suit is the only answer. Airbnb Extenuating Circumstance Policy is a discrimination towards hosts. It doesn't matter what cancelation policy you choose because Airbnb can always overide them anytime without even investigate and/ or check thorughly on the claims and documentation provided by the guest. Do we need to wait for it to happen again? 

[Delphine-And-Michael0]

Why doesn't AirBnB require travel insurance to resolve this problem, they are big enough to offer their own insurance and/or offer insurance from providers instead of putting the burden on the host.  When

we used booking.com we had in our terms that the guest must purchase travel insurance to book with us.  The travel insurance would cover their unforseen circumstances and we would minimally  have to deal with it.  We had cancelations where were paid and all we needed to do was  confirm to the insurance provider they booked and paid us for the guest to complete their claim.

[Susan17]

@Delphine-And-Michael0

No need for Airbnb go to all the bother of offering insurance when it's so much easier to simply force their hosts to act as guests' personal travel insurers instead, thereby earning the company shedloads of goodwill, brand loyalty and return custom from the guests, at hosts expense. Never mind the ethics, morality or even the legalities of such an ingenious little wheeze - Airbnb's bottom line is all that counts.

[Lana112]

Hi Mohamad, 

I completely agree. We are currently wrestling with Airbnb on a Extenuating Circumstance case. It is obvious that Airbnb wants to be generous at the hosts's expense! I realised a while ago that hosts do not matter to them, all they are after is the customer ( guests) satisfaction, and we have no rights whatsoever. Why even bother with cancellation policy if Airbnb can override it any time? 

Not sure what we can do though...