Guest Cancels reservation for vehicle vandalism off Airbnb premises. Total loss for Landlord

[Ryan156]

I have furnished apartments in downtown San Jose. 5 star...always superhost. This is a new one from Airbnb!

Guest's car is vandalized off site...windows busted in a City parking structure. To reiterate....this parking structure has nothing to do with my apartment, nor my building. It is nearby parking (among many other parking options) offered by the City of San Jose. Guest loves our apartment but cancels her 6 week reservation after staying 2 weeks. Airbnb refunds guests money for remainder of trip. As landlord I am out 4 weeks rent because of a crime that happened to her in the City. They cited the Extenuating Circumstance Policy:..."Natural disasters, terrorist activity, and civil/political unrest that prevent the guest from traveling to or from the destination, or that make it unsafe to host guests."

Therefore, under this policy, if any of my guests who experience a crime in the City of San Jose...can now tie that to that to the Airbnb rental, cancel and leave me out in the cold. Apparently I am liable for any experience that the guest has beyond the confines of my rental. This makes no sense to me. I am sympathetic to having her vehicle damaged but if it was me in guest shoes...I would never to think to hold my Airbnb accountable if the parking and/or incident had anything to do with my rental.

[Anonymous]

@Ryan156  Wow, that was a terrible call on Airbnb's part. I wonder which of those things they considered car vandalism to be. A natural disaster? An act of terrorism? Political unrest? Is San Jose officially considered to be an "unsafe" place to travel now?

Airbnb has a lot to answer for here; you might consider airing this one on Twitter.

[Ryan156]

You know as much as I ask questions and try and communicate with them in a constructive manner, I'm just referred to that sentence...within the policy. No explanation of how that sentence applies to this incident. It's a complete waste of time at this point. I asked them to not contact me any further unless it is them reversing their findings. Thanks for the support Andrew. Having others see it my way at least verifies that I am not insane. It helps with the closure...moving on.

[Colleen253]

@Ryan156 Air this incident loudly and repeatedly on Twitter, as @Anonymous  suggests. Many people report getting positive results this way. Simply talking to one after the other untrained and uninformed CS agents rarely gets one anywhere.

[Ryan156]

I'll tweet it on Airbnb Help forum I suppose. I'm a bit deflated but will post it. People need to know about this sort of thing. It's just wrong. Thanks for the support!

[Helen3]

That makes no sense @Ryan156  I'm sorry Airbnb took this decision.

Hosts can't be held response for what happens outside their homes (unless it is alerting guests to say ongoing loud building work in the listing before they book).