When a guest wants to cancel due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and asking for a full refund when you have a STRICT policy!

[ToniMarie0]

I'm a host and have a STRICT policy set in place for all my properties.  I have compassion and understand that guests might want to cancel based on what they hear... especially since my properties are located in Seattle, WA.  By the way, it more hype than reality.   Here is what I send the guest and it seems to work. 

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Dear (Guests Name),

Thank you for your message. I understand you want to cancel your reservation.

As you know we have a “Strict” Cancellation policy.

However, I would be happy to give you a one-time, “Special Offer”, so it’s not a complete loss on your end or ours.

We would be happy to apply the cancellation funds from your reservation sent to us by Airbnb, minus any taxes and fees, toward a future booking at our property.

You will have six months to use these funds towards a booking. After which you will forfeit the funds.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

I hope this helps!

Thank you,
Toni Marie ** - Host

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I hope this helps all you host.  I did find out that the guests can still leave a review, after they cancel their reservation. 

😕

[Personal details hidden]

[Susan1188]

@Mike-And-Jane0 , @Penelope50 

Mike. and Jane are absolutely right.

Don't insist or mention travel insurance.

The first thing the travel insurance will do, is look at airbnb TOS.  If the guest is ill or has another extenuating circumstance, the. travel insurance will CERTAINLY not cover it.  It is covered by the ABB host.  Period.

If the guest is just disinclined to travel and takes a personal decision because they are scared something might happen in the airplane, like catching a virus or a terrorist attack for that matter, the travel insurance also will CERTAINLY not cover that either!

So be careful how you refer to travel insurance.  The only advantage I see is if they DID take insurance, then they will have the fight with the insurance company instead of you.  And if they DIDNT take insurance, they might not know all of the above.

[Stephanie6]

Looks like a policy specific for Coronavirus is being used by airbnb.  In San Francisco, I have had 2 cancellations, but also got a new booking.  

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/05/coronavirus-whats-airbnbs-cancellation-policy.html

[Jude9]

I had two cancellations this week. In fact, I wrote to both guests ahead of time and "invited" them to ignore my strict cancellation policy and promised them a full refund (minus the airbnb fee, which I have no control over). Both thought it over for a couple days and then cancelled. I feel so much better knowing that these potential guests feel safer and pleased with the outcome (not that they wanted to cancel their trips, but they both knew it was best).

[Dietrich8]

I agree 100%. Some cancellation are "justified" (business conventions canceled). Others may just be because people are nervous about travel. Either way,  I try to treat my guests as I want to be treated and I've struggled with my own travel plans so completely understand if folks are hesitant to travel right now. 

[Shene3]

Wish I had decided to go to Berkeley and booked your place for my first vacation in 3 years. Instead I opted for Austin and my hosts have refused to refund me in full (despite having tried to cancel more than a month in advance). No insurance coverage - just a loss on 50%, on top of other costs incurred and lost. Needless to say, won't be booking another vacation again for a while.

Thanks for being so conscientious and caring for the health and well-being of your guests during these unfortunate times, @Jude9  ❤️

[Jennifer2682]

It's an unfortunate spot for guests and hosts alike, that's for sure.  The impact of cancellations is really tough.  I appreciate that Airbnb offers up several different cancellation policy options to suit everybody's level of comfort.  A guest can book at a place with a Flexible policy and have that ability to cancellation and receive a refund.  And a host can choose a Strict policy if they are more comfortable sharing the risk of cancellation.  To me, if a guest books a vacation during such an uncertain time, bearing 50% of the risk of cancellation seems reasonable to me.  For other reasons, extenuating circumstances, the host may want and need to be a little more forgiving.  Having those different cancellation policy options for both hosts and guests to choose from seems like the most fair way to go about it.  

[Alexander972]

Bravo @Jude9 , really how it ought to be done!
From the customer's view, believe me that they will think about you next time they travel. Maybe you can even contact them in the future and ask them how they are doing?

As a person who had to cancel his honeymoon and many more things due to this virus, time and flexibility is really appreciated by customers. Our honeymoon was cancelled due to the flight being cancelled but on airbnb it was not yet possible to ask for a full refund back in the time (now the cancellation on airbnb have been put forward to the 31st of May). We asked five of our hosts to cancel with full refund and an oral promise that they will see us back when the dust settles. Four of them agreed, one didn't, you can guess who won't be seeing us now that the airbnb policy has changed. 

I truly believe that anybody who is only thinking about dollars and forces people to travel by adhering to 'strict' cancellation policies is behaving unethically. With 50k deaths (probably much more if it all were counted) you will have a death on your conscience. 

If I read this forum, i truly believe that some hosts are lucky that the customer cannot leave a review on how this crisis is handled. Some should be outright be ashamed of themselves claiming the virus is a 'hype'. 

Believe me that everybody would rather be travelling than sitting at home, everybody understands it hurts businesses but you cannot blame your customer for not being able to travel, for being afraid to travel and you certainly cannot force your customer to travel in such dangerous times. 

[Jude9]

Thanks @Alexander972! And sorry about your honeymoon!!

In fact, all the guests I fully refunded at that point expressed the desire to rebook in the future. Some may, and others may not because they were coming for an event that won't recur. But it doesn't matter. I just feel I did the right thing.

Ironically, I had a trip booked as a guest during the same time, and that host denied me a refund because he said the virus was "over-hyped". I may eventually go back to his place, which is not a "home," but only because it is a specific location that works for me.

[Ana309]

I couldn’t agreed with you more @Alexander972, who cares about money and policy at this time when the entire world is being affected by this pandemic! That’s the right and ethical thing to do!

[Julie1235]

I had a guest contact me this morning saying their flights in June have been cancelled because of COVID 19, therefore they want to cancel their stay.  I cannot find anything where future flights are being cancelled by airlines. These guests live in the US and my rental is in Northern California, so there's no international travel involved.  I'm finding it hard to believe their flights have actually been cancelled by the airline - more likely the guests cancelled them out of fear.  Does anyone know if airlines are cancelling flights months ahead?

[Rio3720]

that is correct

[Jude9]

If you google, you will see that airlines are cancelling thousands of flights through  April and May, including domestic routes. I saw an article on CNN about Delta and United. You would have to get the specific itinerary to know more.

[Kelly149]

All hosts should be aware that if you agree to waive your cancellation policy then you will immediately pay the guest their refund above 50% yourself then abb will pay you back that money AFTER the checkin date. You will be loaning money to abb for those days. 
meanwhile abb will also keep the service fee to themselves. Completely lopsided bass ackward system. 

[Julie1235]

what if they don't book right away?  If they leave the option open, then wouldn't I be able to apply it towards a special offer once they make a new reservation?