25% refund discriminates flexible and moderate policies

[Mark3205]

I’m probably very late to the party here as i have only just heard about the 25% refund scheme, however how can this possibly work with most hosts. ALL of my booking post March 14th, April and May have been cancelled due to covid-19. Of course they have, guests rightly need to plan ahead. My diary is now empty but it seems i won’t receive a penny of the refund as my cancellation policy states i am only refunded if the cancellation is within 5 days

this is ludicrous (if true)... i’m in central London, all of my guests are international travellers and tourists, so of course in these horrific circumstances they are going to cancel well in advance as they will have flights etc that will also need to be dealt with

surely the solution is very simple, the 25% refund should apply to all covid-19 cancellations that aren’t re-booked?

i sincerely hope this is an oversight by airbnb and not a cynical trick to severely limit the refunds they are going to make

[Susann2]

I was pleasantly surprised when AirBnB announced their $250M Support Initiative. I thought, here is a self-made multi-million dollar company who has made a lot of money from scratch and is willing to sacrifice and give back to the hosting community it had created. It was not until I received an e-mail today from AirBnB encouraging us to cancel our June reservations that I recalled the initiative and had wondered why I had not heard anything or received any payment. Now I understand why. We, (probably like most hosts) choose the "Moderate Cancellation Policy" to be fair to guests because issues arise. Let's be honest, life happens. However it was on the premise that our listing would be immediately available for other guest(s) to reserve, which on average usually happened. This is obviously not the case since 14th March. No one has or is booking our available listing between 14th March through 31st May, which usually occurs because tourist season officially starts 1st April and ends 1st November. However our one International Airport is closed to commercial flights since 21st March. Only very few charter flights or private jets are bringing stranded persons home or repatriating to other countries those who want to go when these airplanes leave. We signed up our listing to assist health workers, but no one has even enquired. How are we any different from those hosts who chose a "Strict Cancellation Policy"? The chosen policy is not an indicator of a host(s) economic status. Some hosts may be millionaires and getting funds because they chose a "Strict Policy" whereas some hosts who rely solely on AirBnB for their income will get nothing because they chose a "Moderate" or "Flexible Policy". So what is AirBnB's real motivation/reason for the $250M Support Initiative? A tiered incentive given to hosts with differing policies (e.g. 25% Strict, 20% Moderate, 15% Flexible) or no compensation to any host would be more fair than just paying 25% to those with "Strict Refund Policies" in my opinion. Anyway, it is what it is I guess and everyone is being impacted if not economically, then their freedom to move about or God forbid their health or very life. God help us in Jesus' name!! Persons will reserve with AirBnB again when borders reopen. The question is when? 

[Nikolai36]

I completely agree, as much as I appreciate the attempt, I just wrote a very stern feedback letter after hearing about this scheme this morning from one of their support agents. They are 100% discriminating us, using the graciousness and flexibility policy we've set in our attempt to be great hosts against us. I too am experiencing "extenuating circumstances." Twice now Ive lost this money, first from Covid, then people started booking again, now to cancel again with LA curfew and looting. Airbnb claiming my pre-covid policy overrides their ability to help me as a loyal host is simply bureaucratic blasphemy. Instead they choose to reward the inflexible and money forward hosts. I lost almost $10,000, months of reservations, over a dozen cancellations due to Covid and all I got was a mere $180 from one qualifying cancellation. There is simply no argument that most if not all of these bookings would have been fulfilled had Covid not hit. Ive been a superhost almost since day one, and have made them ten's of thousands of dollars in fees over the years, if not more, and this is what I get when crap hits the fan. It's a BS travesty.  I really hope they find it in their hearts to include us, or they are at risk of loosing their most loyal and dedicated (Super)hosts, the core of their biz.