Extenuating Circumstances Policy and the coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Erol44]

I wanted to book a flat for next October for a month. To my amazement I found out that long term bookings have non refund policy imposed by Airbnb even if the Host is prepared to accept a more logical cancelation policy 12 months before the arrival date . Example : 50 % refund if cancelled 6 months before and no refund if cancelled 30 days prior arrival etc. 

More amazingly Airbnb does not recognise "the closing the borders" by the relevant authorities for Covid  as Extenuating Circumstance even if there was no border closing at the time of booking. It is like a joke , so Airbnb decision makers know what is next with Covid and mutations so they do not think that that is force majeur 🙂 . THIS IS BAD FOR HOSTS AND GUESTS , as no one in their right mind would book any accommodation for future and risk a month fee, so Hosts are not happy and Guests are not happy but despite my several communications with Airbnb , they think they are protecting someone ///

Please write to Airbnb and help to solve this travesty  

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Erol44  It isn't a travesty. When a guest makes a long term booking, that blocks the host's calendar for at least a month. If you then cancel close to the check-in date, you have effectively cost the host a month's worth of income if they are unable to rebook the cancelled dates, if you were to be fully refunded. 

Many hosts will agree to refund cancelled dates if they are able to rebook- you can ask the host if they would be willing to do this, or some hosts offer without being asked.

And regardless of the cancellation policy, hosts always have the option to refund a guest outside of that policy if they feel it's warranted or fair.

Covid has been around long enough for everyone to realize that travel restrictions can change from one day to the next. That is what travel insurance is for. It's unfair to expect a host to be your de facto travel insurer.

[Erol44]

Thanks for taking the time to respond , I think there might be a misunderstanding , of course I understand what you are saying and I agree with it as you rightly said "if you then cancel close to the check-in date". 

What I was suggesting was if one books a year before the check in. Theoretically, you can cancel 1 month  after the booking 11 months  months before the check-in date and you would not automatically get any refund with this policy. This is why I was suggesting a fairer cancelation policy like you lose 30% if you cancel 6 months before --lose 50 % if you cancel 3 month and 100% a month prior the check in  date.

Furthermore , if you are not happy with the above arrangement you as a Host can still dictate your terms and make it non refundable full stop. That is not the travesty ,that is your privilege as a Host.

The travesty is that as I was in this situation, my Host was  happy to make a more flexible policy to get my booking but could not do it because Airbnb's website  did not offer the option. My Host was of the opinion that if I cancelled more than 6 months prior and they kept the 10% , they would still rent the place in 6 months and get 10% extra and if I cancelled say 4 month before and they would have  kept 50% , they could have lowered the price by max 50 % and still find a new customer. 

In short it is the imposition by Airbnb not the decision as a Host which is the "Travesty". The Host should be allowed to determine their cancellation conditions as they are for short term bookings. 

On the question of Covid  related closures of boarders not being considered "Extenuating Circumstance" I suggest we should agree to disagree. 

Kind Regards 

Erol

[Erol44]

Furthermore, you are suggesting many Hosts would agree to refund if they can book the slot, why can't Airbnb make that compulsory and part of the cancellation policy rather than arbitrary decision of the Host so the Guest also is comfortable with the terms.

[Sarah977]

@Erol44  "my Host was  happy to make a more flexible policy to get my booking but could not do it because Airbnb's website  did not offer the option".

As I explained above, a host always has the option to refund as much as they want to a guest. So there was nothing stopping the host from doing that, regardless of  the cancellation policy in effect.

One of the problems for hosts is that Airbnb keeps the money a guest pays until at least 24 hours after guests check in. So if you book a place a year in advance, and cancel a month later, and are due no refund according to the cancellation policy, it is Airbnb who will be sitting on your money for the next 11 months (and collecting interest on it) - the host won't see that  money until a day after your original check-in date. So if the host refunds you as soon as you cancel, they aren't actually refunding you- the money  is coming directly out of the host's pocket.

And while you are no doubt an honest person, many people aren't. Hosts have gotten burned by refunding a guest like that, only to find out some time later that the guest was also able to get a refund from Airbnb. So the host is totally out the cost of the booking.

I'm not defending any of this, I'm sure the system could be vastly improved, I'm just trying to explain it to you. I have a moderate cancellation policy myself, and don't even accept long term bookings. And I'd feel like a jerk if I rebooked a cancelled date and didn't offer the guest who cancelled some refund, as long as the guest had a valid reason for cancelling.

As for Airbnb forcing a host to refund if they get another booking for cancelled dates, Airbnb would have no way of knowing if the host got another booking because many hosts use multiple platforms to book guests, as well as some having their own websites doing direct bookings. And just because dates are shown as blocked on a calendar doesn't mean they have been booked. The host may have blocked dates in order to have a holiday themselves, because they have friends or family coming who will be using the rental,  because the host has a medical issue, or has a renovation or maintainance project to do. 

And Airbnb already forces a lot of things on hosts- we don't need yet one more policy where Airbnb butts its nose into the way we run our businesses.

And lastly, re the Covid travel cancellations- if guests could simply cancel and be fully refunded because Covid cases had risen in the area they were planning to go, or flights got cancelled, etc., hosts might as well just quit hosting altogether, because they wouldn't have any reliable business. Like I said, it isn't up to hosts to be insurers for circumstances outside of their control. That would be totally unfair. This already happened back at the beginning of the pandemic- all guests were fully refunded. At great paain to many hosts. I didn't feel sorry for the hosts who practice rental arbitrage and have 20 houses to rent and didn't have a decent business plan so that they could cover the rent or mortgages for a month or two, but I felt really bad for hosts like single moms renting out rooms in their own home to make ends meet, who were going to be foreclosed on because all the bookings got cancelled and they couldn't pay the mortgage. 

But the Covid disruptions are not an unforeseen circumstance now, so guests should cover themselves for this by taking out travel insurance.

[Erol44]

Unfortunately you are insisting on not seeing my point which is  the following : , the Host should be free to chose their cancellation policy for long stays as they are for short stays and Airbnb should grant this option without imposing any cancellation policies. If you as a Host feel you want a non refund policy you and only you should decide to do so and if the guest is not happy with this they don’t have to book. Nevertheless, if a host take the view to accept a different policy to get the booking, they should be able to do so. I hope we can agree on the above or at least  agree on disagreeing and see if anyone else would comment. 

[Sarah977]

@Erol44  You won't get any argument from me on that. As I said, I'm sure the system could be vastly improved.

Hosts would like Airbnb to stop butting their nose into the way hosts choose to run their business altogether.  They shouldn't be dictating the long term cancellation policy or anything else, if that's not what a host feels works well for them and their guests. 

Unfortunately Airbnb likes to be all-controlling and they arrogantly ignore changes suggested by hosts. They might be a little more open to guest suggestions, as it's guests' service fees which fill their coffers, but they'd have to get a lot of guests asking for the same thing to even consider it.

[Huma0]

@Erol44 

I think that @Sarah977 has already pointed out to you several times (and she is correct) that the host still has the option to refund you if they want to, regardless of Airbnb's long-term cancellation policies.

There are tools in place for them to do so should they wish, so I really don't understand your host's understanding of percentages of refunds according to cancellation timings as they have apparently communicated to you as stated in your earlier post. It makes no sense.

If you cancel, the long-term policy applies, but the host can still choose to offer you an additional refund. This is totally at their discretion and not required by Airbnb. What they cannot do is refund you Airbnb's fees as they never receive these and those are out of their control.

I can totally understand though why a host would choose not to refund you out of their own pocket (and it is out of their own pocket as you have tied up those dates and therefore potentially lost them income) but offer to do so should they manage to rebook those dates. That's totally fair.

As @Sarah977 said, it should be no surprise by now that we are in the midst of a pandemic and that circumstances, like travel restrictions, can change. You surely booked being aware that there was a pandemic going on?

If I were you, I would ask your host to refund you should they get a replacement booking, which might mean you only get a refund for a part of the stay if that's all they manage to get a booking for. 

You agree to the cancellation policy when you book, so there's no point being outraged when you are held to that policy. If you didn't like it, you didn't need to choose it. If you are surprised, well, maybe you should have read it first?

Sorry to sound harsh, but you are coming across as very entitled. Guests, hosts and everyone else have been impacted by this pandemic. You are not the only one.

[Jenny]

Hi @Erol44 

We've announced some changes to the Covid Extenuating Circumstances policy recently, and I thought it might be of interest to you:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Airbnb-Updates/Update-to-our-approach-for-guests-sick-with-COVID...

Hope this helps!

Jenny