[Updated: March 13th] Coronavirus outbreak: Information on Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances policy coverage

Airbnb
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[Updated: March 13th] Coronavirus outbreak: Information on Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances policy coverage

Last updated: March 13th, 2020

 

As more information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak becomes available, Airbnb continues to prioritize the safety and well-being of our community of hosts, guests and employees around the world. 

 

As this situation evolves, we strongly urge you to review your local government’s travel guidance and health advisories and take necessary precautions to protect yourself and your guests when hosting or traveling. 

 

Following governmental and health authorities guidance and recommendations, Airbnb is offering impacted hosts and guests with eligible reservations the option to cancel their reservations without charges through our extenuating circumstances policy. We’ll continue to evaluate and update this policy in line with official guidance. 

 

Airbnb understands that you may have concerns, and we’d like to encourage impacted hosts and guests to reach out to our customer support team (https://www.airbnb.com/help/home) with questions or to get help with canceling reservations.


More details about our extenuating circumstances policy can be found here

 

Read the FAQs here: Answers to your hosting questions about coronavirus

306 Replies 306

This anger is totally justified @Airbnb 

James2319
Level 4
London, GB

@Airbnb  Are you going to talk directly to hosts about this? 
you haven’t consulted us before offering a full discount for these circumstances. 
what exactly are you going to do to help us (you’ve admirably given the guests our potential earnings) surely 50% would have been fairer. 

these (now empty) dates are not likely to be filled. 
help out the most important figures in your network, the hosts. 

Donald194
Level 6
Onich, United Kingdom

I'm not at all comfortable doing business with an organisation which treats its partners, as they like to call us, as atrociously as this.  I need to look at the numbers and talk to Booking.com, Expedia, HomeAway etc, before cancelling all dealings with AirBnB.   Who is to say that they won't do the same to us once the present period of grief is over.  This could go on all summer long and wipe many of us out.   I know for sure the other OTAs will treat their hosts better than this.  Just about all my reservations which meet AirBnB’s unilateral and self-imposed criteria have been cancelled.   

 

Frankly, I don't think AirBnB will survive this.  All their hosts will walk and transfer to other agencies.  What really galls me us that almost all guests will have travel insurance which they can claim against, but hosts, almost certainly, will not, yet AirBnB choose to screw us over!

 

Disgraceful!

Willy92
Level 2
Amsterdam, NL

OK, got so angry, suddenly have so much cancelations without having any cancelation refund. Even bookings that were coming in couple of days. 

 

I wonder if this is even legal to do. We have cleanup lady services that cannot be canceled anymore. So we will still make costs without having any type of income anymore. 

 

Airbnb canceled multiple reservations for free without even contacting us if we are comfortable with that. 

 

We have also many booking.com reservations that are getting canceled and all guests seems more that fine with having a 50% refund. Then we can at least survive during this time. 

Donald194
Level 6
Onich, United Kingdom

Everyone feels the same, but who is going to commence legal action against AirBnB.  An effective Social Media campaign might be the answer, but that's not a thing I know anything about.  Some good press coverage might help.

Dear Donald, 

 

Indeed it is frightfully silent on Airbnb's part. Injustice has been done, and we need to influence this unfair situation and hopefully we can reach a fair solution which will equally affect all parties involved. 

 

Press coverage might certainly help, I am not a hero as well on this matter. Who can help? 

Donald194
Level 6
Onich, United Kingdom

Kris’s idea of asking AirBnB to give a voucher for a future trip is a good one.  They could also offer to help guests with their insurance claims.   Instead of proposing these honourable solutions, they choose to screw their so-called  ”partners”.

Jane1049
Level 5
London, United Kingdom

Travel insurance should be the 1st port of call. 

No other budget business model refunds the ‘strict’ advance purchase. It is a risk that the customer signs up to. 

In the meantime AIRBNB hosts and the ancillary people who

support them

been hung out to dry.

 

Advance Purchase / Cheapest / Strict = Value purchase with personal risk accepted by customer

 

Fully Flexible - Expensive: risk taken by provider. The risk ameliorated by the higher price. 

this is the same for BUDGET VS Premier TRAVEL be it by airplane, rail, car hire or budget hotel.

 

Without considering this AIRBNB  itself could fail.

 

Jane1049
Level 5
London, United Kingdom

It also begs the question of mass insurance fraud too.

Guen0
Level 2
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Travel insurance fraud has been a big problem for years- at least since the 90s.  The insurers have a common database and talk to each other to check for multiple claims.  It's a while since I worked in insurance, but I believe it's still a very effective check.

Guen0
Level 2
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

I have a booking made on 12th Feb, check  in date 12th April - so as I understand it, the reservation should be showin as cancellable by me (host) without penalty.  There's nothing showing against the reservation - it's still "live". Can anyone clarify?

Andrea2154
Level 2
Lake Arrowhead, CA

As a host, I'm affected greatly because this is how I pay my mortgage and bills. If Aidbnb is a true "community" and since this decision was made without the input of hosts (your direct source of business) why can't Airbnb share in this cost? I have a strict cancellation policy so if Airbnb has made the decision (which VRBO has not by the way hosts!) to refund in full, at least pay us our portion. Im sure you have the proper insurance and funds to cover this. We as homeowners do not. This is putting your entire business at risk!  This just sounds like an angle for your PR since you want to go public! 

Reggie27
Level 1
London, GB

Airbnb MUST interfere and do all efforts to save all hosts from bankruptcy  

Katie157
Level 7
Lincoln, NE

BOO AIRBNB SHAME ON YOU! 

Bea1791
Level 3
Geneva, CH

On March 14, 2020, Airbnb changed policy to allow guests full compensation for cancelled bookings as a result of the current COVID-19 health crisis. This policy overrides existing policies hosts have in place to protect their homes and livelihoods, placing the responsibility of an entire global health pandemic on their shoulders.

Brian, you say your hosts are “heroes”, but everyday heroism can take many forms, and among these is corporate social responsibility. You tweet that Airbnb is concocting “big ideas” to help hosts, but we cannot pay our mortgages, rent, staff and bills with big ideas.

The impact of your March 14 policy change will be rapid and far-reaching. The diverse individuals who comprise your host community will face the very real prospect of eviction. This impacts individuals who may not have another source of income. Or, they may have a hosting income, but are also active participants in creative industries. They are poets, painters, artists, writers, academics, musicians, dancers, ceramicists, bloggers and others who balance the economic precarity of creative work with hosting as a matter of necessity, not luxury. They are the same individuals who, reliant on a gig economy, do not have access to health insurance, nor the protection of employer benefits and sick leave.

Your guests have a refund at stake: your hosts, their homes and livelihoods. We ask you to protect hosts as well as guests. We urge you to reimburse hosts for cancelled reservations according to their cancellation policies. We as a host community do not believe that guests should be traveling in the current health crisis. We also do not think that hosts should suffer crippling losses. We ask you to acknowledge the loyalty – and the revenue – of the hosts who built you. And we ask you to consider how to best support your most precarious hosts, those who will soon be on the verge of eviction.