Wow! From Jan 20 personal illness/injury is no longer an Extenuating Circumstance

[Susan1188]

I was thrilled - and amazed - that Airbnb has modified their extenuating circumstance policy!

They admit that "personal illness" is the number one reason people cancel and they are - allegedly- putting the power back in the hands of the host as to how to handle these issues?

The host should be allowed to judge, and through your correspondence with the guest you know which ones are cancelling because of a true - and surprise - issue, or just because they changed their minds, it's raining or there is no fresh snow on the slopes.

This was the number one reason I no longer open my reservation window over 3 months ahead or took bookings for high season on airbnb.  Guest could book without taking insurance, block my high season, and cancel last minute for full refund basically regardless of my terms. 

No other operator in the travel industry operated this way to my knowledge.

However, they are giving free refund for any new travel restriction in place.  Which I was doing anyway!  While not "fair", it is the way we have to work this year.  

I found myself refunding for travel bans (not refunded by Airbnb, then dealing with upset guests who still had to pay Airbnb fees) and then having Airbnb refund for anything anyone can get a doctors certificate for.  I'm so glad that they noticed and changed this.

But now, if this is true, I can start renting my high season dates in advance on Airbnb.

What do you think?

[Anthony223]

@Susan1188     Hello Susan. This is really interesting.  I've often thought that cancellation reasons have been excuses and untrue, like 'my mother had to have an urgent operation'.  But even then, these last minute incidents are misfortunes for the guests and us hosts should not be penalised for them.

Have a good Christmas and New Year, Susan. 

[Cave0]

All well and good, however, I still question why the host should be expected to act as the underwriter for any event that might cause travel disruption.  Any traveller ought know that, from time to time, disruptions arise for whatever reason and in order to protect against this, travel insurance is widely available.  As Airbnb is clearly moving away from airbeds on lounge floors, it ought grow up and treat the hosts in a manner conducive to providing accommodation of a standard befitting its image.  Hostels and such like are still available for travellers who want that kind of thing, however, expectations of hosting standards are ever increasing and therefore host have the not unreasonable expectation of being paid for reservations they take.  Unfortunately hosts can't hold the hands of every traveller and sooth them when there's a problem, that's the job of the insurance company.

[Debra48]

I agree. I had a guest who cancelled (even after we had a few discussions about the necessity to take precautions during Covid) her 3-night booking when Los Angeles did its first lockdown and before the state made guidelines even stricter. She was livid I wouldn’t let her 100% off the hook. I have a strict cancellation policy. We were all forewarned before Thanksgiving that traveling would cause a serious spike. It was inevitable and foreseeable. And Airbnb clearly states that Covid is no longer an unknown (extenuating) thing and therefore guests book knowing it is a wild card and consequently strict cancellation policies are enforced. Personally, I felt a 50/50 loss was fair and reasonable. She didn’t. However, I stuck to my guns. And then she sent some poser pretending to be a small claims attorney who threatened to take me to small claims court, then looked up my 25-year-old arrest record, then claimed to be a journalist as well and planned to run an article exposing me as a “greedy” Airbnb host operating during Covid, and then threatened that my guest would use her significant social media presence to spread the word. Still I was undaunted. To date, I don’t know if or what negative PR occurred. I frankly don’t care. Life goes on. And whatever noise they may have made wouldn’t affect my regular guests who know me well. 

[Ute42]

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@Debra48 

Well done.

We have a saying in Germany:  Dogs that bark don't bite.

[Susan1188]

I agree with you - but I have some further comments:

- NO independant travel insurance will ensure people for covid travel disruptions nowadays!
- If we want to get future bookings now, depending on our markets, we probably need to agree to refund people for new travel bans and restrictions

=> What about the problem of reckless or irresponsible people, for example from a faraway country booking your place in high season?  You know they have a huge risk of cancelling.  At least now, you can judge based on publicly available facts (not the person's personal family or other situation).

I put in my listing rules that we are only accepting advance bookings from within the Schengen area, so that I can get cancelled any high season advance booking coming from USA or other areas that have a high risk of not being able to honor their reservation.

[Pat271]

I will believe this when I see it in practice.

[Susan1188]

It's now in practice... let's see what happens.  A small minority of my guests, were savvy guests who milked the most out of this policy.  We'll see how it goes the next time they think they can cancel for whatever personal reason.

[Fred13]

By virtue of its new language it insinuates Airbnb have been indeed allowing people to cancel for practically any reason and worst of all at a moments notice. Namely it has been a policy, allowing for absolute abuse. This of course has played havoc with countless host's economic life, no different than the draconian and capricious decisions many paid-regardless officials have done throughout the world,  using the Covid virus as a sanctimonious shield of 'safety'  justifying even the most absurd (and dumb) decisions drawing from powers they legally may not even have had.

For me Covid 19 is but a reminder how unpredictable society (aka humanity) can be, but I am not  surprised,  for I have never fully trusted it since I became old enough to study its history.

Thankfully, all things do pass, though its lessons shouldn't be forgotten.

[Ali12465]

I’ve decided that I’ve had enough of Airbnb and their fickle policies, I get most of my bookings now on sites that don’t charge anything other than the cost of an advert, I’m happier to be very  clear about our own expectations from guests directly, I always strongly suggest insurance for cancellations etc, which is absolutely available and also it’s cheaper to get than paying service fees on Airbnb .. I’m so fed up with having to type my query, noone answers, it’s plain disrespectful to hosts.. and let’s be clear.. no hosts .. no business.. I will not agree to terms for them then to be changed when it suits without notification or discussion with hosts .. I’m voting with my feet 

[Helen3]

Which sites are you using ? And what is the cost of the advert @Ali12465 

[Jeff761]

This is 100% MARKETING HYPE.  Just like the $1,000,000 Host Guarantee. 

Air's mandate is to enforce capricious Guest Centric Policies - as much as possible, even when they are in direct violation of Host House Rules or Air's own written T&Cs. 

A short list of what Air regularly inflicts on hosts includes: 

 - Good Hosts are suspended for no valid reason, and without warning
 - Hosts are suspended when a Guest throws a party in a "no party" house
 - Hosts are not compensated for damages
 - Guests get to EC for reasons that do Not Meet EC guidelines
 - Air lets Guests get away with rampant abuse of Emotional Animals, etc

The list goes on and on.  Internet forums are full of these, many with corresponding proof. 

We had "some hope" that things might be going in a different direction once they assigned a new role to Catherine Powell.  The reality is things have gotten worse since, and will continue to do so. 

With the IPO complete, hosts will be even more dispensable than ever.  Do what you need to do to safeguard your business.  Build a web page, FB page, and start marketing.  Do it before you learn the hard way when Air decides to take a big chunk of money out of your pocket, or suspend or cancel your account. 

[Andrea4560]

There is a useful tool, largely used in the travel industry for decades. It's called TRAVEL INSURANCE. 

Hosts should never been accounted responsible under any circumstances for guest's problems to travel.

Obviously, insurance companies are far less flexible than Airbnb Customer Service and exceptions apply only to real, backed by evidence, situations.I would say 1% of the requests normally accepted and refunded by Airbnb. Hopefully this time there will be a real change, even though it took a pandemic for Airbnb to finally listen to hosts.

[Susan1188]

No travel insurance will insure people for travel disruptions,  who are reckless enough to book a "strict cancellation policy" booking on another continent during a pandemic!

So, I agree, that should be a reason that hosts would be allowed to refuse a booking request, since, basically, we are the ensurers ourselves on this platform.

Another thing I have discovered but many people don't seem to know:

most travel insurance policies only pay out for package trips or trips booked through a travel agent.  Very few pay out for short term rental agreements between two individuals.  

I wish airbnb would offer travel insurance when booking - just like Ryanair an other websites do - making the guest take a conscious decision not to take it - that will take the onus off the host to have to compensate or airbnb to have to sit as judge in every EC claim.

[John5097]

My first 10 months hosting I've had 63 cancelations and 90 completed stays. Got about $14 credit for canceled nights within cancelation deadline. One thing to keep in mind is that if a host doesn't offer a refund and guest does't cancel expect a 1 star review.