Extenuating Circumstances Policy - SO unfair to hosts

[Maria188]

As a superhost of 6 years standing and 100% 5 star reviews, I have, for the first time, been caught out by Airbnb's Extenuating Circumstances policy. I have lost 780 eur with little or no chance of rebooking the dates as the guest cancelled on the day of booking. I know I have suck it up as it is in the ts and cs - albeit buried deep within of course.  However, I believe this is a grossly unfair policy and amounts to misuse of power by a large corporation over its individual suppliers. I would love to know what any corporate lawyers out there think of this policy. If a host has chosen, as I have to have a strict cancellation policy, should Airbnb not honour this? By all means have an EC policy but the funds to pay for this should come from airbnb or a guest funded insurance policy, NOT out of a host's own pocket. 
 
Whats more, despite having never visited my property, the guest has been invited to leave a review. I imagine they are angry with me for not agreeing to give them a refund as I cannot afford to do so, (although thanks to airbnb I have ended up gving them one anyway) and I am worried they will leave me a bad review. I have worked tirelessly to achieve my great reviews and I cannot believe that now my business could be adversely affected for something that is completely beyond my control. When I called airbnb about this they said it was not possible to stop them leaving a review. The guests did not even reach my town let alone my house, yet they can review me! How is that fair?  Yes, I can review them too, but I am a good person and I am not going to leave the guest a bad review when they have tried understandably to reclaim their money.
 
I want to do something about this and would welcome feedback for other hosts who also feel the policy is grossly unfair to the entire host community. 

[Maria188]

Go to your profile and scroll down to 'Give us feedback' n the 'Support' section.

[K92]

I am writing to them in Twitter 

[Maria188]

Good idea. Let me know what #s you use and I can try to find the conversation on Twitter. Other hosts can also join in. 

[K92]

I m using Airbnb Help in Twitter now. If it doesn’t work, I will go to it’s CEO twitter and the Airbnb twitter to put all my arguments there to make them give me an explanation... my argument point is :

1. I didn’t make any wrong doing, why do I need to suffer a financial loss if a guest last min cancelled? Just give me one simple reason why I need to pay for the guest decision ..

2. The guest  occupy my calendar for two months ..where is my time value of money ? Like you put your money in your bank, where is the interest?

3. Every single Airbnb is unique like an art, only one of a kind in the world unlike hotel rooms..once a guest booked it, no one else can book it..if he books it for two months, basically I will have no other potential guest can book for that period ..if he did last min cancellation, most likely 99% I can’t get any replacement ..Shouldn’t the host get back the payout for the time value of money depending on his reservation holding period ? 

4. No transparency and openness under extenuating circumstances..no one inform me to get my agreement or acknowledgment.. shouldn’t I be the informed before any decision made or cancellation? Where is the fairness and openness here? 

5. I didn’t ask the guest to book my Airbnb , neither did I ask him to cancel..why should I pay the cost for his decisions? Please give me any correlation and reasons that a host should pay for a guest’s decision...

6. I have spent tremendous time to communicate with the guest and give him tourist information and prepare a helper., where is my recognition and payout? So my time and efforts are all in void. Does it make sense? If yes, please give me at least one reason.. 

[Maria188]

This issue is not resolved. I just pressed the ‘ most helpful’ button on one of the replies on this thread and got a message from airbnb tell me this matter was now resolved!!!! For the record it is most definitely NOT resolved. How dare they presume I have a solution when I have had no useful feedback from Airbnb! Please fellow hosts continue to respond to this issue. Your voices are needed.

[Sarah977]

@Maria188  The community center here is separate from the Airbnb site. If you say a response here was most helpful, that only relates to the forum here- that you got an answer you appreciated. It has nothing to do with your matter being resolved by Airbnb. The message you got would have been generated by the forum, not Airbnb customer support.

[Dallas1]

That doesn't seem to stop them from redacting comments relating to interaction with them on this forum. 

What I have discovered in recent times is that they are a faceless, cowardly entity. When things go wrong they scurry like cockroaches in the light to their T&C's. 

Basically, they don't give a **bleep**. 

[Dallas1]

Somebody remind me again why I have agreed to allow this company to use part of my property, which they take no responsibility for? 

[Donald28]

You said... I have lost 780 eur with little or no chance of rebooking the dates as the guest cancelled on the day of booking"  Did you mean... on the day of arrival? 

[Maria188]

Yes @Donald28 I did mean the day of arrival. And sadly I never managed to rebook the dates as its not really in a place that benefits from last minute bookings. In six years I have never had a next day or same day booking. Hence my strict cancellation policy. 

[Helen3]

Why did the guests cancel @Maria188 ?

[Maria188]

Hi @Helen3 , the guests cancelled as one of their party fell ill. I was extremely sympathetic but I told them that I simply could not afford to give them a refund on the day of their arrival!  We dont get passing trade so I cannot refil the dates at short notice. I  suggested that they make a claim on their travel insurance and offered to give their insurance co.  any documentation they might require.  I had thought Airbnb would honour my strict cancellation policy but no! Airbnb took the money from next payout which was in £££ so not only did I lose my euro payout, but I had to pay airbnb's extortionate exchange rate too.  I have no love left for Airbnb. I have worked so hard for the past 6 years and this is how they repay me. 

[Donald28]

If you complain enough to airbnb they may just pay you out of their own pocket. It's happened to me a few times. The squeaky wheel get the grease. 

[Maria188]

Well funny you should you should say that as the case manager (who obviously has very little authority) finally agreed to repay me 1 night. It's not much but at least it covers my cleaning and check in costs. I did however, have to call multiple times till the poor person was completely sick of me. But 1 measly night was all I got.  Who have you spoken to to complain?

[Nicky109]

Donald,

I am dealing with this now.  Where did you go with your complaint to get a result?  I have been through to 3 supervisors and they are adamant that their decision is final and that I have no recourse.  They are trying to direct me to go to 'feedback' which obviously is just a black hole.  They won't give me the address of their accounts department nor did they even want to give me the address of head office until I insisted.  So I am keen to know how you got results?  I am not about to give up an will take them to court if necessary.  They are not following their own Extenuating Circumstances policy it's as simple as that.