Airbnb's "Extenuating Circumstances" Policy Overrides my Cancellation Policy

[David358]

We had a booking request from a family who said they were visiting a very sick relative who was dying of stage IV lung cancer. This was for the Thanksgiving holiday-- Wed-Sunday. I have a "strict" cancellation policy and accepted their reservation a couple months prior to check-in. Three days prior to check-in, the guest emailed me to say that his daughter had contracted pink eye and they were afraid of exposing her to the sick relative whose immune system was compromised. He didn't say they definitely could not come but they were essentialy "fishing" for a refund. He did make a strange sort of threat saying that he would hate for them to infect our household with her pink eye. 

Our kids have had pink eye before and we know that once they get the drops in their eyes, it is only contagious for another 24 hours. This was three full days before they were due to travel. Anyhow, I apologized and said there was nothing I could do. I wanted to ask-- why did you book my home, knowing it had a strict cancellation policy, given your situation visiting someone who was terminal but I did not. 

I contacted Airbnb, and they said the guest could submit medical documentation to them if they wished to do so. I relayed that info to the guest. I asked the person on the phone from Airbnb what would happen if Airbnb accepted their excuse. She said we'd still get paid out minus the cleaning fee. Sure enough, we did get paid out (about $700) on the day they were supposed to check in. So I thought we were set even though we did not get a new reservation for Thanksgiving. (who plans a thanksgiving trip 2-3 days in advance?)

We are only occasional hosts--- we rent our place to fund our own trips-- so for us to get our house ready to rent it is a major project. It takes 3-4 days of work. So this week was our first time renting again and on the day new guests checked in, Airbnb deposited the money from them MINUS the $700 or so from the previous guest. I called to find out what was going on and they said the Thanksgiving guests were able to provide a doctors note recommending against travel and so they took the money they had paid out to us back! I was shocked. We are always full for thanksgiving and I dont' know why their poor planning/decision making-- booking a strict cancellation policy place and failing to get travel insurance-- are supposed to be my financial burden?

Do we have any recourse? Aside from the lost revenue, we also spent days getting the place ready for the reservation and got $0 for our effort.  Thank you. 

[Catherine-and-Dave0]

I have just had this happen to me.  We had guests that were coming to our unit for a family wedding in SC.  I ALWAYS advise guests to take out cancellation insurance from June 1 - Nov 30th - hurricane season.  I even provide them with a link to a carrier.  I was just advised that the guests was given a full refund under the Airbnb 'extenuating circumstances' policy - which obviously does not include cancellation of a family event due to a hurricane situation.  Am I being petty?  I don't think so.  I CLEARLY have guests sign off on the 'hurricane policy' during this timeframe and encourage they take out cancellation insurance to be able to cover their costs without affecting my revenue.  It seems I am not the only one that has fallen victim to Airbnb's lenient policies.  

[Aylit0]

Similar problem here, but in many ways worse.

My guest messaged to tell me that she had a death in the family and would not be coming.

She said that she knew that it was too late to cancel and ONLY WANTED DOCUMENTATION OF THE COST SO THAT SHE COULD MAKE A CLAIM WITH HER TRAVEL INSURANCE.

Airbnb got in touch with her, and instead of giving here what she wanted, offered her a refund WITHOUT TELLING HER THAT IT WOULD COME OUT OF OUR POCKETS, so, of course she took it. 

Then, when I argued to Airbnb that they had no business giving her the refund because she didn't need it or ask for it, a support manager told me, well, she would otherwise be entitled to a refund, but because she never cancelled the reservation, the policy would not apply to her.  Ok, right result, even if for the wrong reason. 

But then, a day later, I hear from another case manager that they are going to RETROACTIVELY cancel the reservation and give her the refund out of my pocket.  Since then, I have called in several times, and all of the reps I have spoken to have responded like robots, "she provided the documentation, so the policy applies."  But what about the fact that she didn't even want a refund from you???  "She provided the documentation, so the policy applies."  The fact that they have screwed the host when there was a travel insurance company who got paid to make sure that everyone could remain whole in just such an event means nothing to them.  I have honestly never encountered such a callous bunch.  They simply do not care that they have screwed the host.  I  also think that there must be something else going on here that is making Airbnb so itchy on  the trigger to give these refunds.

Bottom line;  I do believe that if Airbnb does this on a regular basis, as it seems they do, there is a valid class action to be filed, and I believe that the discovery process would yield interesting information.  Has anyone taken any steps yet?  If not, could you please respond here if this is still a live wound for you?  I would like to get an initial sense of how many people have been affected and care.

[Jason391]

Airbnb is gearing up for the IPO. Bigger fish to fry than weigh in on an item that has ~10 Hosts frustrated (on this thread).

I will note, that I've seen a massive decrease in these EC instances. To me, it seem Airbnb may have stiffened this policy a bit...