Airbnb paying 25% based on your cancellation policy?

The global Spanish Flu pandemic took 1,000,000 lives world-wide (including my great grandfather). This could easily eclipse that number in the US alone.

You’re 2 orders of magnitude off. The death toll from the Spanish Flu of 1918 is estimated to be as high as 100,000,000. (as much as 5% of the population of Earth at the time).

Edit, looks like the 1,000,000 number is actually the high estimate for only the US (the CDC says it was 675,000). COVID-19 deaths in the US certainly could surpass that number.

I blame the article I was reading. So much for BBC News…

This is going to suck unless people stay the fuck home and had done that in January. Stay home for the long, after holiday parties, no drinking month. The entire world. We’d be done by now.

No. Airbnb already gave 100% of the refund to the guest, including their service fees. They are paying you that 25% out of their own pockets.

No. The vouchers are optional for refunding just Airbnb’s guest service fees (about 15% of what the guest pays). I doubt any guest will take that option if they have a choice.

Edit: BTW, I consider 1-year vouchers to be complete garbage (this is what many VRBO host are doing). If the pandemic lasts 6 months, then they’ll only be good for 6 months, and everybody with voucher will be vying for the remaining bookings and few will get dates they want.

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This depends on the reservation dates. Basically, the guest cancelled a reservation that fell outside of the EC policy at the time.

To be very clear, you authorized the cancellation and refund in that case, so I’m not sure you’ll actually get the 25% from that particular reservation.

Right, the way I’m reading it, I would get zero if I’m the one who cancels the reservation. I’m debating whether or not it’s worth it to everyone for me to get $0 and the guests get a full refund, or for me to get the 25% pittance, and the guests to get travel vouchers.

Ask your guest what they actually got as refund and voucher.

Based on what you’ve said, they would’ve only paid for 50% of the reservation (they hadn’t actually paid the other half, yet) by the time they cancelled. So, what they got back should’ve been ~42% refund and $8% voucher and they never actually paid the other 50%

I asked them - we actually spoke on the phone. You are correct as to what they’ll get. I never knew this before, as I’m only a host and can’t actually afford to travel :slight_smile:

I’m 62 and I’d be selling because my timeline is short. It’s not business I want to be in for the short term. I’d take any bounce or apparent recovery as an opportunity. But don’t listen to what the 1% says, watch what they do.

Wasn’t asking for more, anything would of been better than nothing. So you say because I have more listings I should get nothing so someone with 1 listing can receive something. Dumb is dumber.

No, I didn’t say that. Please read.

You asked how “they come up with this criteria.” We don’t know, we are fellow hosts like yourself although most of us have fewer than 4 listings.

  1. There is a limited pool of money. No matter how big they made the pool it wouldn’t have been enough to make whole all the hosts who lost money. Even if they gave away every dime they had and closed shop forever.

  2. It can be distributed however Airbnb wants. It’s going to be subjective and arbitrary. It’s impossible for it to be any other way. No matter where they draw the line, someone will be unhappy. If they say anyone with 4 or less listings it will piss off the 5 and ups. Or maybe anything above 1 pisses off all the one host, one home folks like myself who now can only get $10 instead of $100. Regardless, it’s just symbolic, it’s not enough money to really change any airbnb host’s life.

I and others have said all this so I can only assume you refuse to read the entire thread, don’t care about anyone’s interpretation aside from your own or…

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Some FEEL GOOD for the day. let’s hope “Doing the right thing” is what becomes contagious.

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So much love for this. Wouldn’t it be great if your post inspired someone here?

What does that have to do w what I posted? Are you just trying to incite?

The 2-listing max applies to the Superhost relief fund, so…

If you divide the $10M equally among Superhosts, each host would get about $150. If you divide the $10M equally per-listing hosted by a Superhost, then each Superhost would get about $15 per listing. Either way, being “fair” helps less hosts overall.

It’s hard to say exactly why they did what they did. Maybe they think that somehow host with 1 or 2 listings will have lower income and are less likely to have other sources of income, but it probably was mostly just a line that they drew to reduce the number of grant applications they receive. I imagine that the grant application is intended to screen out most of the 1 and 2 listing hosts as well since they will need to get the list down to just a few thousand worldwide.

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FYI-1 (red circle) when you reply to me (as you did) I interpret that you are making it about me.

FYI-2 (yellow circle) when you want to participate in general you reply to the topic and not the individual

I’m not expecting anything. But I’d be happily and pleasantly surprised if I get the amount for a couple of bottles of wine, a nice night out, or even paying a bill.

But since blue isn’t my color, I won’t be holding my breath.

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First, this policy won’t impact us at all. We’ve always had a flexible policy because, as travelers ourselves, we know that plans can change. We’ve had guests snowbound (hard to explain when you are in Texas), flooded out or hurricane-challenged, sick parents/kids/spouses/other, etc. That said, we aren’t entirely reliant on AirBnB for a living; it is one of our income streams. And Spring Break makes March our best month next to December. But I can’t expect a guest to show up out here when everyone and everything is sheltering in place. All being said, we are on several platforms. By far and away, the responses from AirBnB throughout this event, from handling cancellations to informing hosts, has been far above any of the other platforms. We’ll stay right here when this is over - while we will never make up the lost revenue days, we are happy to host on AirBnB.

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@AgaritaFarm Where are you in TX? If you would PM me your listing I’d like to bookmark it.

Below message sent to Brian Chetsky and Airbnb Help - a moral dilemma! Would appreciate comments:

I appreciate your recent video message and thank you for thinking of hosts.

I am retired and have three listings, earnings from which form a substantial amount of my household income. I am a Superhost who has been with Airbnb since 2016. I have already lost $8,224 worth of bookings due to Covid 19 up to the end of May and, thanks to the Moderate cancellation policy I switched to some time back at the urging of Airbnb, I will almost certainly reap no benefit from your offer of 25% refund dependent on cancellation policy.

I have just also had another Covid 19 cancellation for JUNE/JULY for my 9858573 due to a Summer Program at the University School of the Arts being cancelled because of Covid 19. This booking was from xxx for June 20 - July 25 and, as a booking of 35 nights, is covered by the Strict Cancellation Policy, so my payout should still be $2872.02. However, this is the message I got from xxx, which makes it very difficult for me to keep to my strict policy, BUT I feel I am getting no help from Airbnb as the cut off 25% refund for cancellations due to Covid 19 is end May 2020:

Hello Patricia,
I am so sorry for the loss of your reservation and I do understand that this is very difficult for you. I wish the circumstances were different. I am currently out of work and have been for the past 3 weeks. My facility is closed through May 4th and may be extended due to the virus. I work in an adult day center and the clients are elderly and it is safer for them to remain in their homes with their families. My husband is currently home as well and is using sick time pay for us to manage our mortgage payment. This trip was being covered by our tax return and now I am not sure if we will be able to cover our mortgage of our own home with the loss of work. I am collecting unemployment but it is a very small amount. We have 6 children, 4 of who still live at home with us. I would greatly appreciate your refund at this time. I do not tell you these things to put pressure on you. I just wanted you to know the whole story. My daughter was so excited to go as was I. I am very sorry.
Thank you so much for your consideration,
xxx

I anticipate getting a second cancellation for the same reason as one of my other guests, who was also part of the UNCSA Summer Program, has a reservation for 42 nights from June 13- July 25 at 15301305, and she has already texted me to say it will probably be cancelled.

I feel your recent offer does not go far enough to help us hosts and really only benefits those hosts who have, against Airbnb advice, kept a strict cancellation policy. Before I make a decision about what to do about xxx, I look forward to your comments and hopefully a change of heart regarding your refund policy. I would urge you to contact me without delay as xxx is anxious to hear from me.