They claim she is very sick and want to cancel and rebook. Number one,I have the strictest cancellation policy. They booked a long time ago and are due to arrive in a couple of days.Its during the week;a harder time to rebook so close. Number 2, I cannot reschedule because I am booked out;I have one more reservation and then I am taking a much needed break from Airbnb,I have a returning airbnb client that wants to just rent the place indefinitely and will be doing all his own cleaning etc…so they cannot even rebook with me.Now Airbnb says,”If its extenuating circumstances you have to give them their money back regardless,no matter how much notice they give you.” So I’m out 5 days of Airbnb money,what good is their cancellation policy if they wont honor it and allow me to get paid?
Yes in other circumstances guests would have their own insurance.
All you can do is tell the guest that you can’t reschedule due to lack of availability, so sadly if they need to cancel and apply for a refund because of illness, they will need to do this through Airbnb’s Extenuating Circumstances policy and provide the necessary evidence.
And yes it is frustrating but it is one of the T&C we sign up to as hosts when we agree to list through Airbnb.
What @Helsi said – THEY have to cancel – not you. THEY have to contact Air and play the Extenuating Circumstances card, not you.
Where are you that “rent(ing) the place indefinitely…” won’t come back to bite you? Most locations in the US have laws saying that anyone renting after 29 days has gained a whole new status – renters right. You can’t just kick them out if they mess things up or refuse to pay. Eviction is now a complicated legal process that can cost you serious money.
Personally I would never rent “indefinitely”. I would rent the space in 29 day blocks. The “guest” would have to re-book for each segment.
Well, I have rented to him before, he was great.Super quiet,left place clean.Im good with him. I am a landlord on the side and I own rental houses in California I have 30 yrs experience doing it. As long as you are very careful who you rent to it will be ok. I am just done w airbnb now. I’m tired of turning the room.I did it 300 times in 3 years while I also held down a regular job.I also dont like all the rules and also there are more and more bs rule w Airbnb in calif., I’m done! I also dont like how if someone gets injured, your HO insurance will not cover a guest,you must buy super expensive insurance that basically erodes your profit tremendously.Not worth it for me.
Yes, I am the host with that AC problem.Sooo burned out,especially my husband. He’s chronically disabled but tries to help, its really hard on him,one reason why I’m shutting down for now.I hope I wont have to reopen…After 300 guests, I dont remember anybody’s name but I DO remember which guest left a nasty stains, I only remember which guests left what stains:joy:
Isnt that a funny thing…and too true! I know .when thinking of my guests, I remember the bad ones more clearly than the great ones. Sad!
Ok. So I called Airbnb to follow up to see if the guest canceled. The man who answered my called told me;it was too late for them to get a refund and no matter what I would be getting my money back despite their sickness,period! So I think cool!! Then I get an email from Airbnb telling me that if the guest sends in a drs note I will not get pd! So my plan is to call once I know for sure they are not going to pay me, then I am going to complain because I was told yesterday that no matter what airbnb would pay me in full minus the cleaning fee and if thats what I was told, they should honor it.If worse comes to worse,they should pay me half!
Good luck. Let us know what they say
Yes, do follow up here. Is there someway you can document the first conversation where they said you would be paid no matter what? I need to learn how to ‘voice record’ phone calls…Employee name/number? did you get that info from the rep?
No I didn’t get his name but I think all the calls it taped anyway and that’s always a record of the conversation that they keep. At least it’s worth a shot and I’m going to fight for it! Why should I have to take the loss? If Airbnb is in business with us they need to take the hit too
I wish you the best of luck!!!
Airbnb might make money out of this if they sold your place for a discount in exchange for no refunds. Weren’t they offering this to renters? Are they still?
I’m not interested even in rerenting.I have one more reservation to honor with Airbnb,after that I am done! I will have it rented as an apartment,no more scrubbing toilets for me. It will be so much easier for me,I am still getting a very tidy sum for rent,so I am good. Hope I never have to go back to Airbnb.
Well they were due to arrive Monday,and of course no one is going to book the 5 day block this close to the date, I really dont care what their policy is, I am going to fight it anyway. You know when a guest has canceled before NOT due to illness, I got paid but geuss what!!! They have still given the guest a full refund even though they weren’t sick! They wanted to keep the guest happy.(but the host with over 200 five star reviews can go F themselves!)
I can empathize with the hosting burnout. I usually get that feeling by the end of my summer rental season. As I’ve said before, everyone should run a STR for awhile. Most people have no idea of the work involved.
Many hosts on this forum have felt the sting of a extenuating circumstances cancellation.
When we accept the Airbnb Terms of Service including the extenuating circumstances cancellation policy, it leaves us little recourse for appeal. However occasionally Airbnb will surprise us. I wish you luck.
Food for thought–I had to cancel a guest visit during a holiday weekend due to broken AC & temperatures over 95 degrees. They re-homed my guests in a unit that was vacant due to a last minute cancellation. I don’t know if that host asked for Airbnb to help fill the gap, but you may wish to mention to Airbnb that you would welcome a “replacement/fill-in reservation”. Who knows you may get lucky and get better guests!
Well, believe it or not somebody rebooked the canceled spot! So looks like I will at least make money.However, I sent an invoice for the second person fee since she said there were 2 of them and she only paid for one.She has not paid the invoice yet and she is due to come tommorrow.I called Airbnb and they were going to email her and ask her to take care of the invoice before arriving.What do I do if they dont pay?Thats awkward.I dont want to have to ask again,she knows she owes it. Can I have Airbnb take the fee out of their security deposit when they leave? So aggravating!