Major Disruptive Events Policy

[Jason2881]

//Ranting out loud

My wife and I booked a trip to the Los Angeles area months ago, however, with the current situation in LA (riots, military actions, etc) we felt it would not be safe to travel in or around the LA area. We reached out to the host and asked if we could cancel and get a refund. The host refused.

I then started looking at options and that’s when I came across the Major Disruptive Events Policy. It is a policy from AirBnB which basically states if an area is unsafe, guests can cancel and get a full refund regardless of the host’s cancellation policy. We called AirBnB to explain the situation and they told us they will need to contact the host. I asked why, because per this policy you don’t need to get the host’s permission to process a refund. He said, oh no we are not asking for permission we just need to inform the host of this policy so they can issue the refund. Fine.

Next day we receive a call from AirBnB and stated there would be no refund because the host did not approve it. Annoyed, you told me you don’t need the host’s permission so why does it matter if the host doesn’t approve? The support guy started reading off some 48 hour cancellation policy the hosts has and I stopped him and asked him if he was familiar with the Major Disruptive Events Policy. He had no clue what I was talking about. Asked me to send him screenshots of the policy, which I said just look it up in your own system. This is an AirBnB policy. After reading it he then told me he would need to speak to a supervisor and would call me back. No call back received.

Later that day, we called AirBnB again but this time I framed it as someone just asking for general information. A lady answered and I asked her 3 questions. 1 – Are you familiar with the Major Disruptive Events Policy? (She said yes). 2 – Are you aware of the current situation in the LA area...riots, fires, freeway closures, military presence? (She said yes). 3 – With the area being unsafe, would we be able to cancel and get a full refund based on this policy? (She said yes). Perfect! I then asked her to process our refund for our reservation because the host is refusing to provide us with the refund. Now she starts backtracking. Pretty much reading from the same script as the other 2 people we spoke to. Need to call host, need them to refund, blah blah blah. This is infuriating. She proceeded to say she needs to talk to a supervisor at which point I asked her to just transfer me to the supervisor. She said no, we will have a supervisor call you.

Day 3, received a n update from the supervisor stating no refund will be issued because the riots in LA does has not been declared Major Disruptive Event so it doesn’t fall under that policy. I asked how is that possible? It is like a warzone in LA. How does that not qualify as a Major Disruptive Event? Who declares what qualifies as a Major Disruptive Event? She told me they have a team that monitors issues around the world and that team determines if a current situation in a specific area qualifies as a Major Disruptive Event. Seriously??

That is a very self serving process. AirBnB creates a policy that sounds like it is a way to protect it’s customers but they don’t ever have to honor that policy because they control what falls under that policy. As long as they themselves don’t consider something to be a “Major Disruptive Event” then they don’t ever have to provide any refunds. It is like getting a washing machine with a warranty and when something goes wrong, the company denies that warranty claim because they and only they decide what is considered ‘broken’. Awesome work guys.

I told my wife we need to be done with AirBnB. Usually there isn’t an issue and everything works out fine but the very limited time there is an issue and we have to deal with AirBnB directly, it has always been an incredibly frustrating experience. It is like they train their people to purposefully be difficult. Such a huge contrast to my more recent experience with Hotels.com. Booked a non-refundable room, got to the hotel and there was an issue at the hotel itself. We decided to go someplace else. One quick chat message with the Hotels.com support team and we received a full refund the next day.

Anyways, my wife and I cancelled our reservation and we ate the cost. We decided our safety is more important than money, even if AirBnB doesn’t think so.

//Rant over

[Joan2709]

@Jason2881 

Sorry this happened...it would all depend on where the listing was located and what the conditions are around the actual location and if Airbnb has flagged the location as eligible for Major Disruptive Events cancellations. Since you booked months ago, the Host's calendar was blocked for your trip and it would be difficult for them to re-book these dates. That said, some Hosts would have offered a partial refund, or offered to refund you if they were able to get the dates re-booked.

These days it almost seems necessary to purchase travel insurance for a trip, which probably would have covered you. I don't suggest using Airbnb's travel insurance shown on the booking confirmation, but use some other insurance carrier for that. 

[Kitty-and-Creek0]

@Joan2709 

@Jason2881 has written some excellent points. 

Of course, you are right to be cautious, and stay away from wherever you feel unsafe.

Have a look at the map of LA and keep in mind that Los Angeles is enormous and only a very small spot in the downtown area is where protests are. It is not a residential area and it is entirely possible that your intended stay is nowhere near there. The red circle is where the protest has been taking place, shown on the map of Los Angeles. My many friends who live in Los Angeles are all business as usual, just staying in their own parts of the city, which is what they normally do. Definitely check it out and perhaps better understand why the host doesn't feel a cancellation under that policy is needed. 

Again, not traveling when you feel unsafe is appropriate. I feel for you, and hope to hear how this turns out.

[John5097]

@Jason2881 

This has always been the policy that the situation would need declared an emergency by some government authority. Usually this happens with extreme weather events. For example several years back parts of CA were declared a natural disaster for heavy snow fall between Reno and SF. That area gets a lot a snow anyway, (Donner Pass)  but this was a really heavy snow so all the roads were closed, and the gov declared it a disaster area, so this would have qualified for full refund. However the area usually gets a lot of snow anyway, and have to have snow chains just to use the highway, so normally it wouldn't quality even if some roads were closed and flights had been canceled in some areas.

This happens every year on the east coast and Gulf with hurricanes. 

We have also had riots here in my city when I'm hosting. It was more of a big looting event on one street for about a mile, about a hundred places got robbed and people even went inside restaurants with guns that were full of people eating and fired a few rounds into the ceiling. Anyway I happened to be hosting a police officer and his wife from Charlotte. Although my location is far away from the downtown area and no one felt unsafe and none of the upcoming guest even mentioned it. 

I don't know the exact location of the riots in LA but would think most people would be avoiding places in LA anyway? 

This is also one of the reasons I don't even want to host through hurricane season. Sometimes I would rather have guest cancel for full refund even if there isn't a declared emergency, but hurricane's can be really unpredictable. Every year I have at least 10 guest cancel around hurricanes, usually for about two weeks and I mange to rebook. But honestly a lot of these emergency events are just hard on everyone, and guest really should have travel insurance.

Canceling has just become the norm now.

Just yesterday I had a guest ask if guest could take the beach chairs to the beach. I state in my message to "Feel free to use the beach chairs and parking pass for the county park." I say yes guest can take the beach chairs to the beach. Guest still ends up canceling a week before check in with no message after booking 3 months ago.

I don't care and rebooked the nights but this is pretty standard. I don't think she ever had any intuitions of staying and does this all the time, books a place three months out, starts asking questions a week before their stay then cancels a few days before the cancelation policy. 

I'm sure guest also called customer service and wanted to have their trip canceled for the escaped convects in Louisiana. So you can understand why Airbnb needs to have a policy and it needs to be a declared emergency or natural disaster.