Contesting Extenuating Circumstance Cancellation

[Len8]

Is it possible to contest a cancellation claimed for extenuating circumstance?

I have a strict cancellation policy, but I just found out Airbnb overrode that and refunded a guest less than 24 hours to arrival. The reason given was flight cancellations or delays due to a pending hurricane. However, I know for a fact that the guest was driving, not flying. I also know that the hurricane is not expected to affect either the departure city or the arrival city or the path in between, at least not during the time of their trip.

So the guest apparently mis-represented their cancellation reason and Airbnb just unilaterally cancelled the reservation with a full refund to guest.

It doesn't seem right the guest is allowed to lie about cancellation reasons with no penalty. I've searched the community but I can't tell if Airbnb ever reverses itself on an extenuating circumstance claim. This has me out three days rent with no ability to re-rent at this point.

[Len8]

I no longer take peak season bookings through Airbnb due to their last second, one-sided cancellations with no host support.

Their support for hosts is atrocious and only getting worse.

[Susan868]

VERY very smart.  I will no longer do this either.  

[Sue580]

I too am very much out of pocket due to my guest cancelling due to 'extenuating circumstances' .

In this instance however the guest did not actually show up on the first day of his 10 day reservation so I had to call him to ask what was happening. He informed me he was unwell but would arrive the next day (he was driving) . This exact same scenario happened for the next 4 days and eventually he cancelled completely . 

This was during the height of my summer season and it was obviously too late for me to re-book those dates -  & of course I  still had his dates marked as unavailable on the calendar for the first 5/6 days of his supposed stay anyway.  

It seems in hindsight it would have been financially better for me if I had cancelled his stay, rather than keeping the reservation open for him, as Airbnb decided to issue him a full refund  and, as they had already transferred the funds to me,  informed me that I would have to pay for the full refund and  they would deduct the amount from my next guests payments.

I don't believe I can now afford to accept any more bookings from Airbnb because, as my guests would now be booking with low season rates, I would have to host my guests (and do all the work involved regardless of  the time of year ) without any payments whatsoever for far too long to be finacially viable .

This is all the more annoying because I always strongly advise my guests in all my messages to them to take out holiday/medical insurance to cover any unforseen circumstances as I thought my strict cancellation policy would be honoured .

Very upsetting and disappointing treatment of me from Airbnb - and all the more so as it was through absolutely no fault of my own .

[Jose68]

Apparently it doesn’t matter if a guest cannot prove extenuating circumstances!  In my case I was told the guest canceled due to  extenuating circumstances.  I was referred to the link ....After reviewing extenuating  circumstances  policy. In the policy it clearly states after the reservation was made any extenuating  circumstances needs proof. I asked for proof, the  case manager  sent me a doctors note dated two months before the reservation was initiated.  Case manager decided to refund the full amount. I’m still disputing their decision, but was told  by phone support that ultimately it comes down to a decision on Airbnb‘s behalf.    I understand Airbnb wants to nurture their relationships between guest and host. But why make policies if they’re not going to be followed. 

[Alison387]

Just adding this here to all of the other posts on this issue. I recently found out the hard way that there is no such thing a a ‘strict cancellation’ policy. A guest cancelled on the day of check in because she got altitude sickness, which is totally not my fault! I cannot believe air bnb thinks it’s ok for me to personally foot the bill for this, even though the guest booked a non-fundable booking and took it on their own risk to do this without travel insurance! Since I have to ‘pay’ for the reservation myself and cannot get a refund under any circumstances on the day of travel this is hugely unfair to the host sinc they are powerless to protect against this happening.  I do not know if any other travel, booking, hotel company that refunds guests in full if they cancel on the day of travel. Surely guests should take out travel insurance if they wish to claim against a non-refundable booking? Or Airbnb should stump up the cash if they want to run their business like this and allow such refunds etc that always favour the guest? 

I do do believe this is going to only get worse as guests will realise fairly quickly that air bnb will refund them at their every whim and will take advantage of this! Whenever I travel I have travel insurance to cover against illness or family emergencies that would prevent me from travelling, or I book a refundable booking (which does not exist on the day of travel). I am so unhappy at this injustice and am currently taking my listings down with Airbnb. Theylearly do not value their hosts and have this ludicrous policy of refunding people even though the booking is non-refundable. 

[David-and-Anna1]

Hello, i agree that should be private travel insurance of the guest who reimburse the cost, not the host.

Their policy is not clear, as it is not stipulated that the host is responsible to refund....

Host has contract with airbnb, not with the guest....... so we (host) should not be involved in airbnb decision with guest

[Linda882]

Utterly disgraceful behaviour and one that will one day backfire on airbnb. Yes, they are a monopoly now but the tide will turn and owners will turn to other companies ie Homeaway. I'm disgusted by their behaviour towards the people who make them so much money: us the hosts. No more money from me coming their way, that's for sure!