I thought unexpected injury wasn't a cancellable event

Leslie576
Level 4
Moody, TX

I thought unexpected injury wasn't a cancellable event

Just had AirBnB cancel and 100% refund a guest with a reservation a week away from check in because their "boyfriend" had an accident.  Is it just me or did I read the cancellation policy wrong when it said "UNEXPECTED INJURY IS NOT A CANCELLABLE EVENT"?  

Are any hosts coming together to fight this type of breach of contract with AirBnB?

7 Replies 7

@Leslie576  If the booking was placed after January 20, when the current Extenuating Circumstances policy came into effect, an injury shouldn't have been treated as an exception to your cancellation policy. If it was placed before that, the old policy would have been baked into the terms, and the injury would have been refund eligible.

 

Hosts coming together to fight Airbnb? Nice thought, but they don't care. The only real recourse you have is to choose a different listing service. But if the refund was in contravention of the terms, by all means keep on opening service tickets to fight it - Airbnb should pay you out of pocket if a service operator breached the contract. 

I agree with you completely.  I took my listing down for almost a year over their horrible policies and treatment of hosts but thought maybe it would be better this time.  

The booking was in April 2021 - far past the January deadline.

 

You're right.  Maybe I'll see you at a better listing 🙂  Best wishes and thanks for making me feel better knowing I'm not the only one who knows this about AirBnB.

@Leslie576   It's disappointing that the new policy hasn't been consistently applied, and that hosts are still expected to be their guests' de facto insurance policy. Disappointing, but not surprising. Inconsistency around refunds has been Airbnb's baseline since last April and thousands of hosts have suffered huge losses as a result.

 

In the past, I have successfully fought an illegitimate Extenuating Circumstances claim (in the end, Airbnb both refunded the guest and restored my payout). This was in pre-pandemic times, though. At the moment, all a guest really has to do to get out of a booking is say they caught Covid, so until that changes, no host can feel safe that their cancellation policy will be honored.

 

 

Sam397
Level 10
Reno, NV

@Leslie576 , one thing I've learned with AirBnB is that they can use the extenuating circumstance for any reason. The customer service rep handling the case decides whether or not it falls under the extenuating circumstances  and from what they have told me there is no guidelines for them to follow its just a judgement call on their part. I have had guest cancel for the exact same reason and one rep would say it fell under the extenuating circumstance and another said it didnt.. I have found that its best to just tell them you want to speak to their boss, they will tell you there isnt anybody they can put you in contact with but if you push the matter they will start to compromise and then you can get it where you split the refund, which is what I think is fair no matter why or when a stay is cancelled.

@Leslie576  I've always had a moderate cancel policy and its worked well 99% of the time, giving guests the option to cancel up to 5 days for full refund, very few cancellations. 

But a few try to abuse it with literally last minute excuses same day or day before their check in, asking to cancel or change due to some excuse and its ALWAYS a boyfriend who got sick or broke their leg.  I love the way people lie right?  "Its not me it's my boyfriend!!"   Like they are not able to travel with another friend or even get a new boyfriend.  I might suggest that next time.

And if you do let them change to future date say a few weeks out, they can cancel a few days later and then get a full refund (moderate cancel policy).   Sleazy loophole but airbnb allows it.  In any case, I've found not worth it to fight airbnb CS, like pulling teeth and it will ruin your day trying.  Best to move on.

Leslie576
Level 4
Moody, TX

Hi and thanks for your response.  We get 80% more bookings on other listing sites and never have to deal with the listing agency taking the fees due to us the way we do with AirBnB.  I'll continue to try and help guide others to these listing sites when they have this same issue.  We are done with AirBnB except to try and help other hosts find better listing companies.

Hi Leslie, what other booking sites have you tried and recommend?