Will we get to keep our future reservations?

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

Will we get to keep our future reservations?

In light of @Lizzie  and crew keeping track of our comments, I would like to start a new thread on this particular subject. We were all robbed blind by Airbnb. That is old news now. What I would really really like to know, NEED to know if they are going to continue refunding beyond April 14. Then I can plan. Nothing all of us say here can change what they decide, I get that. But at least if I know what Airbnb is planning, I can plan. 

I will explain why this is so important to me. I already have my summer calendar half full. I have strict policy. If no more money is taken away, even if I do not get a single new reservation, I can survive.

If they will continue with refunds and I know it now, I can regroup now- rent long term, get out of leases, etc. I will be more likely to come back as a host when this is over vs defaulting on properties and being evicted out of rentals. Allowing me to plan is in Airbnb's own interest. 
I understand that I’m not the most favorite or common type of host on this community board – meaning I have multiple properties. But I hope you all agree that we need to have this information in order how to plan for the future.

 

74 Replies 74
Pat271
Level 10
Greenville, SC

@Inna22  I don’t think anyone knows the answers to your questions, not even Airbnb. Things are changing every day - businesses are being shut down all over the world, travel is being discouraged or outright forbidden, and end dates keep moving farther and farther out.  Even schools are considering keeping students home for the rest of the school year.  If I were a betting person, here’s what I would bet:

 

- Airbnb will continue 100% guest refunds for cancellations at least through May

- Taking advantage of the full refund, guests will continue to cancel through the same time period

 

Again, this is pure speculation. You are correct that if we knew these answers, we could plan more effectively.  But these are unprecedented times, and right now, we will not be able to plan our Airbnb businesses with any level of certainty.

Paul1255
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

Hey @Inna22  I hope you are well.

 

Yes you're right, we do need to know Airbnb's plan for beyond next month so everyone can take stock and work out their own plans of action.  I fear we may just have to plan for a worst-case scenario.

 

Let's hope this gets fed back by the CC team to those who make the decisions at Airbnb.

 

I fully agree- everyone needs this information if they want it- private room listing hosts, multiple-listing hosts, whoever is affected by the changes and difficulties that we are currently facing.

 

We are all hosts regardless of how we choose to host- and as soon as everyone starts seeing that we will be better placed to support eachother rather than bring each other down.

 

 

 

 

Ian-And-Anne-Marie0
Level 10
Kendal, United Kingdom

@Inna22 

Airbnb wrote their Extenuating Circumstances rules before this mayhem happened. Exactly the same as Insurance Company's write their policies. Like Insurance Companies, Airbnb should stick to their rules, regardless. At most, guests would receive 50% refunds which they knowingly agreed to and hosts would receive that which they speculated to obtain.

 

I believe we're just sat in the queue for the next level of mincing.

Airbnb have other policies that have not been communicated to hosts to give guests further refunds beyond the publicised extenuating circumstancs policy at Airbnb hosts' expense. I have posted this on the Coronavirus page.  They're making it up as they go and will claim we hosts agreed to those terms and conditions (probably correctly) so we have to accept it.  Unfortunately, we will have all given up any rights by accepting Airbnb's terms and conditions regardless.  Until Airbnb have a real competitor that hosts can switch too then this will continue.

@Inna22  I can sympathize with your dilemma here, but it's pretty clear that Airbnb (and most other businesses that have been blindsided by the scope of this crisis) do not have a long-range plan in place that would give you a satisfactory answer. And even if they did, there are just too many unknowns involved - we're in a whole different world now than we were a week ago, and we're nowhere near the top of this acceleration curve.

 

Here's what I would deduce regarding your post-April 14 bookings. Even if Airbnb were to overhaul the EC cancellation clause in the future, it would still apply to pre-existing bookings made up until that point. Without question, they will continue to refund guests who are restricted from travel and unable to complete their journey. The number of people that encompasses increases dramatically by the day, every time more government restrictions are announced, flights are canceled, and freedom of movement curtailed. Some localities in Europe are already implementing measures to ban the rental of short-term accommodation for non-essential purposes. By the time the spread of this pandemic catches up in the US (as it inevitably will in a matter of weeks) you could be looking at this or even stricter measures. By the time April 14 rolls around, my prediction is that all of your bookings will be eligible for EC cancellations even under the terms that were in place before the COVID-19 amendments.

 

The harder thing to guess is how far-reaching the effects on travel will be after restrictions are lifted. Even if the infection curve has flattened by June, the economic and psychological effects of the crisis will still be reverberating for a much longer time to come, and a new set of laws and norms affecting borders and transit might be in place in perpetuity (for Americans, the aftermath of 9/11 is a closer reference point than any modern pandemic).

 

If shifting at least some of your units into long-term housing is what it takes to protect your livelihood from these devastating uncertainties, that is what I hope that you do. Perhaps there are ways to split the difference and still keep one foot in the hosting game.

.

Hi @Anonymous 

 

what escactly do You mean with "EC cancellation clause"?

Could You provide a link to it?

 

@Ute42   Extenuating Circumstances

.

@Anonymous 

 

Thank You. I thought You were talking about some "European Community cancellation clause".

That's why I've asked.

 

@Inna22 Right now where I live there are new announcements and changes made by all levels of government (civic, provincial and federal) daily. Businesses are following suit and making changes to operations daily. I don’t see a way to predict what changes will be implemented in the future for government, business or Airbnb. It’s best for all of us to come up with our own plan to handle things and try to mitigate any damages and loss of income. Temporarily, I’m happy to break even or settle for a small loss if I can’t cover costs. 

@Katrina79 yes, it is a moving target. But can Airbnb envision continuing to refund guests in full for months? If so, I would like to know. Ideally, they should re-vamp the extenuating circumstances policy right now.

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Anonymous your comments are always very thoughtful. The problem is that to turn into long term rental I will need to cancel scores of reservations- I have almost all of summer weekends booked. 

Marie82
Level 10
New South Wales, Australia

@Inna22 can you not offer 2/3 months rental and keep summer open for Airbnb.? I have started switching my listings and trying to find short term tenants for time being as I cannot rely on Airbnb, and if I need to cancel Airbnb guests, to be honest, I will not hesitate, as they never hesitate to kick us financially when they need to. The whole situation is too uncertain to count on Airbnb giving you a straight answer.

Inna22
Level 10
Chicago, IL

@Marie82 I have almost every weekend booked till end of summer. I would need to kick those people out. If airbnb is going to refund then anyway, that's what I will have to do. But I am hesitant to do it preemptively .

@Inna22  Have you reached out to your summer guests to see if they still intend to travel or by what general date do they expect to make the decision?  The majority of our guests get her by airplane not by car so we are basically done for the year at this point.  We have already listed the unit as a long term fully rented unit but so far no bites on that either. We just had someone cancel their reservation for the end of June, but they were from Europe.