New extenuating policies to little and too late

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Leon134
Level 2
Kuta, Indonesia

New extenuating policies to little and too late

We had 5 villas on Bali with an average occupancy of 94% through the year. 
Airbnb provided around 60% of our reservations which was very convenient if you compare their payment terms to booking and other platforms.

But since the start of Covid Airbnb had turned their back to their hosts, their reason of existence.
One after the other cancellation came in without any form of communication and without any form of compensation.
The few guest who contacted us before hand asked if they could cancel and be refunded 75%. Airbnb did not accommodate this either. 
Airbnb fully accommodated the guests and left us owners in the cold. Instead Airbnb should have let guests compensate 20 or 25% and I’m sure they would have been happy to do so or could have added a button for cancelling guests to voluntarily pay 25%. 
With direct bookings we always recommend to purchase a comprehensive travel insurance and any booking made before February 2020 should be eligible to be compensated. 
I have heard a couple of times from our guests they both had been compensated by their travel insurance and from Airbnb. 
Airlines world wide, travel agencies world wide, hotel chains worldwide have been giving out vouchers for fully paid services. Not Airbnb, Airbnb just refunded OUR money, minus their fee. 

we have 8 staff to feed. 

We have been super host for 9 times in a row, the 10th time was revoked because we only had 1 booking in September since March 2020 and rated us 4 star ( actually it was a splendid review but newbies on Airbnb thus rating a 4 ) 

So even in these troubled times with only one reservation Airbnb is still cold as ice. 
Today we received message that Airbnb has changed their cancellation policies under extenuating circumstances. Yippee Ayee!!! To little too late, closing the pit after the cow has drowned. A cigar out of our own box. 
To little and too late 

1 Best Answer

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Not if they travel to France and they can be hosted. 

 

 

@Leon134 is in Indonesia.

If the contract is lawful like in France , guests should not be repaid without host’s agreement if the host can welcome him.

 

If the guest pay with a gold amex, he is repaid when there are gouvernemental travel restrictions.

There are plenty of travel insurances.

 

This is why many travellers were repaid by Airbnb and their insurance.

This scam is well known.

 

The problem is that in this case Airbnb participates actively to rip off the host and their responsability is engaged because they don’t apply the contract and they convert the lease contract into insurance contract.

Insurance is a regulated profession (like banks).

Hosts don’t have the right (on a legal point of you) to do an insurance work.

View Best Answer in original post

8 Replies 8

@Leon134 

 

Airbnb is not the right place for professional hosts because they do not apply the contract.

Professional hosts work first with booking, hotel.com, homeaway, your own website...

These websites are older and applied the contract when covid happened.

Airbnb is only used as a 2nd choice solution when some days remained unbooked.

 

Airbnb is great to rent a room at home in addition of a real job to have extra money.

But it is far too risky when it’s your only earning.

Take care of you.

 

30% comes through our own website , villajenile.com . 10% on returning guests. 
less than 1% through booking or other platforms. 
Depending on your location, Airbnb is/was the leading platform for booking villas in Bali unlike in Europe where booking dot com or ie Agoda prevail. 
Nevertheless Airbnb choose to 100% refund customers where everyone else like airfrance chose to issue vouchers. We were left with bones stripped by Airbnb even when guests wanted to pay 25% Airbnb didn’t accommodate. 
Last year Airbnb went to marked and collected. So their current marked value is based on how they squeezed their reason of existence, the hosts, the house owners . 

Robbie54
Level 10
North Runcton, United Kingdom

@Nathalie-Et-Gilles0  you make your statement sound like fact, however it's your opinion only. When I first started listing our property I was on 4 platforms, including HomeAway. Airbnb were by far the best at attracting guests, with HomeAway a distant 2nd. Attracting guests is my top priority, hence why I've stayed with them, for better or worse. There are plenty of "professional hosts" on Airbnb, and I'm sure most do well out of it. Your comment is just plain nonsense. 

 

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Leon134 The new policy will still refund guests if it is illegal for them to travel or be hosted. Even if guests take travel insurance the insurer will not pay out if the host has to refund by law.

Not if booked after January 20 2021.

Airbnb should have been more causius cancelling reservations made before February 2020, before the pandemic was announced. 
Can you blame this pandemic solely to hosts? Normally everyone who books flights and villa for up to  6 persons will have a travel insurance. Not Airbnb, they just allow cancellations and 100% refund regardless. They , Airbnb, didn’t loose, we who make Airbnb a succes have paid for it. 

@Leon134 If you think the new EC policy won't cover guests who can't come because of govt. COVID restrictions on travel, you'd best reread it. If a guest isn't allowed to travel from their home jurisdiction, or isn't allowed entry to their destination area, they will still be able to cancel with full refund. 

 

What they won't presumably be able to do is cancel with refund for is saying they tested positive or are afraid to travel. 

Maybe I wasn’t clear before . I do not give a **bleep** what happens now. The problem was in 2020 March, April, May, June etc when all cancellations came in and AirBnB just went along with it. They just allowed 9 and 8 months old reservations to cancel without consulting hosts.
My son had booked with 9 friends tickets from Amsterdam to Denpasar and amongst others hotel stays in Bali in April 2020 and already paid for it. 
They got vouchers from the airline, ( KLM and Garuda ) they got vouchers from the hotels, just like millions of people who booked their holidays. But not the ones who booked through Airbnb, no questions asked they got 100% refunded. 75% would have been fair. 25% is our non refundable deposit and if you choose not to have a travel insurance than so be it.

Now it turns out that people having a travel insurance being compensated twice because Airbnb just bents like a puppet and travel insurances paid out the invoice.  

@Mike-And-Jane0 

Not if they travel to France and they can be hosted. 

 

 

@Leon134 is in Indonesia.

If the contract is lawful like in France , guests should not be repaid without host’s agreement if the host can welcome him.

 

If the guest pay with a gold amex, he is repaid when there are gouvernemental travel restrictions.

There are plenty of travel insurances.

 

This is why many travellers were repaid by Airbnb and their insurance.

This scam is well known.

 

The problem is that in this case Airbnb participates actively to rip off the host and their responsability is engaged because they don’t apply the contract and they convert the lease contract into insurance contract.

Insurance is a regulated profession (like banks).

Hosts don’t have the right (on a legal point of you) to do an insurance work.