Strict cancellation and yet Airbnb refunds gusts in full

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Brynja0
Level 4
Akranes, Iceland

Strict cancellation and yet Airbnb refunds gusts in full

Hello

 

Guest that was supposed to come in February cancelled and said it was because of the flight being cancelled. She asked for a full refund but after checking that she could get cheap flight with other airliner I refused. No Airbnb send me this post. Would you be ok with this and if not what would you do?

 

Christine S, Oct 6, 14:53 PDT:

Hi Brynja,

Greetings from Airbnb. My name is Christine - one of the case managers.

We are writing on behalf of your guest Samantha.

Samantha was able to provide sufficient documentation of an extenuating circumstance, we have cleared your calendar for these dates, and refunded your guest in full. As such, we will not be able to provide you a payout for this reservation.

If you'd like, you can review our extenuating circumstances policy here:

www.airbnb.com/help/article/1320

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your understanding of these circumstances.

Christine
www.airbnb.com/help

1 Best Answer
Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Brynja0  I would get on the phone to AirBnB immediately like right now. Did she document in the AirBnB messaging system her flight got canceled? I hope so. A flight being canceled is not part of the extinuating circumstances policy only an ACTUAL airport closure which was not the case here other flights were available. The AirBnB customer support person was wrong to refund her! AirBnB owes you the money. Call and demand an investigation and ask that it be escalated as it was just a canceled flight, not an airport closure, so there could not have been documentation of that which is needed with proof of the canceled flight also. Quote them their own policy and demand to be paid as you should have, it is not your fault that some customer service rep did not read the full policy or did not understand it. I would also cut and paste from the policy below the underline section and reply to that idiot customer service rep that there was no airport closure other flights were available, what you did was against policy. 

 

What if I need to cancel because of an emergency or unavoidable circumstance?

 

We may be able to give you a refund or waive the penalties if you have to cancel because of an unexpected circumstance that’s out of your control. Below is a list of circumstances covered by our Extenuating Circumstances Policy. Before you cancel, check that your circumstance is included in the list below and that you can provide the required documentation.

 
Circumstances that require documentation

 

Death of a host, guest, or their immediate family member. You’ll be asked to provide one of these documents:

  • Death certificate
  • Obituary
  • News article naming the deceased

Serious illness of a host, guest, or any member of the travelling party. You’ll be asked to provide a general statement from a physician confirming that the person can't travel. The statement must be dated after the reservation was booked.

 

Government-mandated obligations including jury duty, travel restrictions, court appearances, and military deployment. You'll be asked to provide a copy of the official notice dated after the reservation was booked, including the name of the person fulfilling the obligation.

 

Severe damage to the home that makes it unsafe to host guests, or that prevents guests from accessing basic amenities like running water. This doesn’t include planned renovations. You’ll be asked to provide all of the following documents:

  • Proof that the issue is being fixed
  • An estimate of when it will be fixed
  • An invoice for the repairs being done
  • Photos of the damage

Airport and road closures that make it impossible to travel to your destination. This includes closures caused by natural disasters like earthquakes or severe storms. You’ll be asked to provide a notice of the road closure, or notice of the airport closure and proof that the flight was canceled.

 
 Circumstances that require special review

 

There’s no required documentation for these circumstances, but our specialized team will review each case to confirm that you’re directly affected.

Severe security advisories for political or civil unrest in the area that the guest is travelling from, travelling to, or that the host’s home is located in. Examples include:

  • Violence
  • Increased military presence
  • Severe damage to the area’s infrastructure

Changes to visa or passport requirements that make it impossible to travel to the destination. This doesn’t include lost or expired travel documents.

 

Natural disasters that prevent the guest from travelling to or from the destination, or that make it unsafe to host guests. Examples include:

  • Severe storms
  • Earthquakes
  • Flooding
  • Tornados
  • Tsunamis
  • Wildfires
  • Blizzards or severe winter storms

Endemic disease or illness that suddenly affects a region or an entire group of people. This doesn’t include existing diseases that are associated with an area, for example Malaria in Thailand or Dengue Fever in Hawaii. Examples of endemic disease include:

  • Ebola
  • Zika
  • Chagas disease

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1320/what-if-i-need-to-cancel-because-of-an-emergency-or-unavoida...

View Best Answer in original post

14 Replies 14
Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Brynja0  I would get on the phone to AirBnB immediately like right now. Did she document in the AirBnB messaging system her flight got canceled? I hope so. A flight being canceled is not part of the extinuating circumstances policy only an ACTUAL airport closure which was not the case here other flights were available. The AirBnB customer support person was wrong to refund her! AirBnB owes you the money. Call and demand an investigation and ask that it be escalated as it was just a canceled flight, not an airport closure, so there could not have been documentation of that which is needed with proof of the canceled flight also. Quote them their own policy and demand to be paid as you should have, it is not your fault that some customer service rep did not read the full policy or did not understand it. I would also cut and paste from the policy below the underline section and reply to that idiot customer service rep that there was no airport closure other flights were available, what you did was against policy. 

 

What if I need to cancel because of an emergency or unavoidable circumstance?

 

We may be able to give you a refund or waive the penalties if you have to cancel because of an unexpected circumstance that’s out of your control. Below is a list of circumstances covered by our Extenuating Circumstances Policy. Before you cancel, check that your circumstance is included in the list below and that you can provide the required documentation.

 
Circumstances that require documentation

 

Death of a host, guest, or their immediate family member. You’ll be asked to provide one of these documents:

  • Death certificate
  • Obituary
  • News article naming the deceased

Serious illness of a host, guest, or any member of the travelling party. You’ll be asked to provide a general statement from a physician confirming that the person can't travel. The statement must be dated after the reservation was booked.

 

Government-mandated obligations including jury duty, travel restrictions, court appearances, and military deployment. You'll be asked to provide a copy of the official notice dated after the reservation was booked, including the name of the person fulfilling the obligation.

 

Severe damage to the home that makes it unsafe to host guests, or that prevents guests from accessing basic amenities like running water. This doesn’t include planned renovations. You’ll be asked to provide all of the following documents:

  • Proof that the issue is being fixed
  • An estimate of when it will be fixed
  • An invoice for the repairs being done
  • Photos of the damage

Airport and road closures that make it impossible to travel to your destination. This includes closures caused by natural disasters like earthquakes or severe storms. You’ll be asked to provide a notice of the road closure, or notice of the airport closure and proof that the flight was canceled.

 
 Circumstances that require special review

 

There’s no required documentation for these circumstances, but our specialized team will review each case to confirm that you’re directly affected.

Severe security advisories for political or civil unrest in the area that the guest is travelling from, travelling to, or that the host’s home is located in. Examples include:

  • Violence
  • Increased military presence
  • Severe damage to the area’s infrastructure

Changes to visa or passport requirements that make it impossible to travel to the destination. This doesn’t include lost or expired travel documents.

 

Natural disasters that prevent the guest from travelling to or from the destination, or that make it unsafe to host guests. Examples include:

  • Severe storms
  • Earthquakes
  • Flooding
  • Tornados
  • Tsunamis
  • Wildfires
  • Blizzards or severe winter storms

Endemic disease or illness that suddenly affects a region or an entire group of people. This doesn’t include existing diseases that are associated with an area, for example Malaria in Thailand or Dengue Fever in Hawaii. Examples of endemic disease include:

  • Ebola
  • Zika
  • Chagas disease

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1320/what-if-i-need-to-cancel-because-of-an-emergency-or-unavoida...

Hello Letti and thank you for your reply. Yes, she did mention her reason for cancelling in Airbnb message so they should have been able to see it. It seems that Airbnb is always ready to give full refund to the guests even though you have a strict cancellation policy and the reasons for cancelling are not valid. 

I totally agree with you for the statement that Airbnb is always ready to give full refund to the guests even though you have a strict cancellation policy and the reasons for cancelling are not valid.

Recently a guest cancelled her booking because her sister did not like to take an AirBnb accommodation and wanted to book a hotel instead. AirBnb received her phone call and called me and tried to pursuade me to provide her with a full refund. 

If AirBnb set up the option of strict cancellation policy, a guest should follow the cancellation rule when strict cancellation policy is on the listing. AirBnb support should immediately deny the guest request for a full refund. It seems that AirBnb support just tries to please the guest and let the host to take the blame from guests who wants to cancel. It is unfair to the host.

Definitely right. i had same situation, with unhappy guests who didn't liked accomodation and wanted to bail out with accusing me to threatened them  with violence. No prove from thier side was given, i remained superhost but they gave full refound. when i asked what is result of investigation they said they are not obligated to provide it to me - which outraged me with their trreatment of partners and superhosts.

Hello Letti and thank you for your reply. Yes, she did mention her reason for cancelling in Airbnb message so they should have been able to see it. It seems that Airbnb is always ready to give full refund to the guests even though you have a strict cancellation policy and the reasons for cancelling are not valid. 

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Brynja0  Fight it you will win. Contact them every other day to escalate the case and fight this, they will pay it may take a few weeks to a month, but you are the injuried party because of an idiot or not properly trained customer service rep. 

Ute42
Level 10
Germany

.

Hi @Brynja0 ,

 

@Letti0  is right.

 

Pls read the referring section of the flight cancel regulation thoroughly. Your guest needs 2 occurences at the same time to qualify for extenuating circumstances:

 

  1. notice of the airport closure

    and

  2. proof that the flight was canceled

 

 

The flight cancelation alone is not sufficiant.

 

 Airbnb is breaking their own rules.

 

Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Ute42 is right they need both. Say a winter storm in Chicago closes the airport all flights are canceled because of 24" of snow being dropped yes they qualify, but an airline canceling a single flight NO! 

Brynja0
Level 4
Akranes, Iceland

Thank you Ute and Letti. Yesterday I was told that Christine S would be at work this morning and that she would call me. When I didn´t get a call I phoned and was told that she would not be in for the next two days. I could not get through to other employees that could assist me with my case, only Christine S could handle it. I asked to speak to her supervisor but was denied that which I find so strange. I have a master in business and have been branch manager in a service company and we would never let customer wait until someone came back from holiday.  Another thing, the person I spoke to said that maybe the guest could not afford another low cost ticket to be able to come! She gets of course refunded her first ticket and she can´t afford another low cost ticket? That seemed to be a reason for the full refund along with the cancelled flight.

Same thing just happened to me.  I even have a string of several different lies he made up to to try and get out of paying that he wrote in the messages. At first, the Airbnb rep read them and said it was up to me to give him a refund because it was clear his reasons were unacceptable and he lied. (One of his excuses was "he just wasn't into it". )

 

Then the next day they refunded his money and I noticed they removed all of his lies but LUCKILY  for me I took screenshots of his lies and unacceptable reasons such as (we just were't into it).  They still refunded his money after I called them out on that.  They claimed he wasn't authorized to use payment.  

2 things

 

1) Then how did they collect payment to begin with - regardless that should be on Airbnb. so guess what everyone.  I guess if someone stays at your place and Airbnb collected payment but later claims the guest wasn't authorized to YOU JUST WON'T GET PAID and Airbnb will refund the guest.  

 

2) Then I'm pretty sure they just block that guest from your listing so you "think" they removed them. Either way, the host should get payed. 

 

It doesn't matter which cancellation policy you choose Airbnb will give them their money back at your expense.  The scariest thing is that they seemed to have removed his messages stating why he wanted to cancel, which I have screen shots of.  

 

Also, Airbnb makes more money on the guest end then on the host end so they clearly don't care about their hosts.

 

 

I agree with you. However, AirBnb should know that they rely on hosts providing the short-term rental place.

Stefan243
Level 2
Liège, Belgium

I HAVE THE SAME ISSUE !! ;


Wow. I was just desperately looking for someone being in the same situation as me.
I'm feeling helpless. 

My guest claimed a full refund to Airbnb after her flight was canceled due to some meeting happening in France. But the Airport didn't close .

Airbnb decided anyway to process a full refund to the guest. Even though I had a different policy applying concerning this exact cancelation.

This  situation is not going under Airbnb's guideline since it was mentioned that the airport has to be closed. It was one of the conditions.

My calendar was booked 1 month ahead for those dates.
I am not the guest's travel insurance, and Airbnb has absolutely no rights to take this money away from me. 

I think we need to get a petition together to stop Airbnb from providing our money for full refunds without our consent.  I have no issue providing a refund but if they want to refund someones money without my agreement then they should be providing the money.  I am a single owner.  I had a 15 day rental in February in Florida and they want to refund the money when the person cancelled 3 days before they were due to arrive.  I am livid.  The same thing happened last month.  What is the point of having a strict cancellation policy if Airbnb can override it.  Why do they care they aren't losing any money only we are.  I want them to foot half the bill if they are making the decision for me. Then lets see how many cancellation take place if half the money is coming out of their pockets.  I guarantee it would be a different story

Maria-AirBnB0
Level 2
San Jose, CA

I agreed we need to send a petition . Airbnb has no rights to take our money without our permission and refund non-refundable bookings.  That is so unfair!  I have 4 listing and 4 mortgages. I had bookings 3 months ahead and now they all cancelled.  How I will pay $15k per month and probably 45K in 3 month if it will continue?  Guests out of $100-200 , but we are crushed! Airbnb schult use their insurance money they are raving about $1mil policy protection. How come they are not using it and just go to our pockets and take our money?  I spent hours on communications with guests when they reserved, and during and then before cancellation. Who will pay my time?  So unfair business! BTW,  Booking.com does NOT do this. It is up to us, hosts to refund or not even during this month of March.  As it supposed to be.

 

Airbnb refunded All, in policy, out of policy, just without any calls to us,  or any hosts side considerations. 

That is not right!