Covid-19 crisis & why I feel let down by Airbnb!

[Yossi8]

As most of you out there, all of my bookings got cancelled. I don’t blame guests who have to cancel because they have no way of fulfilling their trips. However, Airbnb kept changing the goal posts on a daily basis re what we should be refunding and I feel almost bullied into refunding trips in the future months when we’re not certain what will actually be happening. No help to hosts, being a super-host counts for nothing, is being offered. None whatsoever! Yet it’s us who are taking the brunt! Guests get refunded! Airbnb makes so much money anyway. And lately Airbnb introduced some super flexible cancellation policy filter to entice guests to book. Now how does this benefit us? It benefits Airbnb & only Airbnb because they get their hands on the guests money to help their cash flow. And when guests cancel it’s the hosts who get screwed! Anyone agrees? 

[Mark1504]

On a le meme problème depuis plus de 2 mois au Vietnam.  C que le debut pour vous.

[Yossi8]

That's my interpretation of the situation 😞 I would like to know how they've come up with the idea of 25% of the cancellation fee! And Like you pointed out if you have a flexible cancellation policy you'd get nothing! 

[Frank35]

Well, well.... maybe that's the reason why AirBnB is so heavily promoting the flexible cancellation policy 🙂

[Gilly17]

Yes.....you've been shafted!

[Cormac0]

@Andrew883 

Let me put it another way you get nothing for being stupid, sorry!

There is a dichotomy between what's good for Airbnb and what's good for hosts.

[Fiona582]

That is exactly our situation too @Andrew883   

We are new to Airbnb and selected the suggested flexible cancellation policy for our holiday cottage. 25% of our cancellation =£ZERO

As many other hosts, we too have a mortgage and council tax and bills to pay but are being penalised for our generous cancellation policy.  Scary times.

[Felipe669]

@Andrew883 that's exactly my situation. 
 

I had my calendar all booked until June and now I have nothing. 8 reservations cancelled and none of them are covered by my moderate cancellation policy as cancellations were made with more than 5 days previous to check in. So I will be getting $0.

I won’t probably get any reservations for the coming months but still need to pay mortgage, utilities etc and Airbnb being my main source of income.

Seems to me that few people are going to be benefiting of the 25%. I think this should benefit all hosts with cancellations related to COVID 19 regardless of cancellation policy and and time in advance cancellation was made.

[Andy173]

AIRBNB ZEROED OUT ALL COVID CANCELLED TRANSACTIONS THEY ONLY APPEAR IN THE INBOX.....YES, NO TRANSACTION HISTORY.

[Fiona582]

I noticed that too @Andy173  so I have been trying to go back through my calendar to work our what we have lost. Shocking. 

[Andy173]

I have contacted support twice to try to get this shorted out so far I have not gotten an answer

[Huma0]

@Andy173 

Don't hold your breath. I have already spent 2.5 weeks and countless hours trying to get an answer from Airbnb about why they fully refunded guests who did not fall within any of their various COVID-19 policies, did not apply for extenuating circumstances and did not even ask for a refund. 

They will not give me an answer on any of it. I am getting to the point where I think legal action is the only recourse and I don't mean class action law suits, I mean getting my solicitor involved in small claims court.

Enough is enough.

[Yossi8]

So here is a case: one of my guests cancelled around mid March a week’s stay that was due at the end of April. At the time of their cancellation no one knew if travel would still be affected by the virus so my cancellation policy stood & they were refunded 50%. The guest wasn’t happy and Airbnb emailed me asking to issue full refund. As the guest in one of their correspondence said they’d like to rebook in the future I said I’ll take the remaining 50% off their fees when they rebook. But here’s a second email from Airbnb re this same guest again. 
“Your guest is requesting additional payment for an issue related to their Greater London trip. You have until Sat, Apr 4, 2020 at 2:52 AM BST to respond to this request. Hosts with multiple unresolved requests like this one may be subject to review”

Are any of you having to go back & refund fully those guests who cancelled too early and your cancellation policy was applied? 

[Gilly17]

Why don't hosts unite and strike ? People power ?

[Lisa1222]

@Yossi8  I have a similar situation as yours in timing and gave 50% back, but our guest must not have complained again for more as she knew she didn’t fall into the criteria, and actually, didn’t even fall into the 50%. So it seems to me unfair they put the blame on you. If the guest didn’t fall into the EC criteria, I don’t see how they can bully you except through this threat.

Can you call them and explain about the 50% return agreement for the rebooking of a future date? Especially if documented in the inbox. I have found sometimes you need to call a couple times and talk to different people, who have different levels of knowledge and helpfulness. 

[Gilly24]

I'm a host who has had to cancel upcoming bookings because we need the certainty of a longer term rental. We simply can't afford to lose rental income. I too understand that Airbnb is a victim of the uncertain times, but I was HORRIFIED that they charged me when I cancelled! They made £300 out of our loss.  How can they benefit during these times while the rest of us stand to lose so much more? I've tried reporting this to them and had nothing other than the standard response. I feel so let down. We earn for Airbnb as well as through them and they MUST support us by not charging for cancellations.