I have two guests who have cancelled their reservations and have requested a full refund. Their reservations don’t fall between the March 14th - April 14 CoVid 19 period. I have a moderate cancellation policy which I understand allows them to cancel their reservation and get a full refund if they do this 5 days prior to their visit. Both of their reservations exceed the 5 day period. Why am I being asked to give them a full refund when they should be getting this as a matter of course? Also why are their reservations still on my calendar? Thanks for your help with this!
They are giving full refunds regardless of how much time it is between the cancellation and the stay. I have a strict cancellation and my guest who was 2-days from arrival got a full refund. It was removed from my calendar. I am not happy about my business being destroyed, or about the fact that the policy wasn’t enforced, but you have to look at the bigger picture here. People can’t even go to work. They certainly can’t travel for pleasure. I know it’s not our fault, and we are getting the shit end of the stick, but seems like there’s no way around that.
That’s not her problem or question. They are entitled to refunds anyway. She is asking why she is being consulted. That’s ironic since most hosts are wondering why they aren’t being consulted.
@Eileenmc, I’m not sure but I think you should just message that you agree with the refunds. Airbnb must not have processed the cancellations yet. You could also try messaging Airbnb about their cases. I got a reply within an hour to a message I sent this morning at 7am mountain time in the US
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Uggg. Seems like the only time they consult with the host is when they want to take the guest’s refund from the host now and then return it to the host after the guests original check-in date.
Thanks hostess11 and KKC for weighing in on this. I called Airbnb and discovered that the way a moderation cancellation policy works is that my guests can get a full refund only if they cancel 48 hours after they made the reservation AND are arriving in 14 days. Otherwise they only get a 50% refund - excluding the cleaning fee of course. This is a huge relief for me because I’m pretty booked from now until August. Retaining 50% of their stay will allow me to keep the unit on airbnb. As I doubt that anyone will book between now and May 1st I have the piece of mind of knowing that the unit is producing some income. I’m planning on e-mailing the guests who requested a refund and informing them about how the moderate policy works and letting them know that I can’t give them a full refund. Once COvid 19 is no longer a threat I might be in a position to give them a full refund.
The best approach at this time is to assume that people are going to cancel, Airbnb is going to refund and your business is going to collapse. If something else happens you will be happy.
Do not, in any way shape or form, depend on Airbnb. I’m just hoping they can stay in business through this.
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KKC just to clarify is it that you expect that Airbnb will expand their current CoVid 19 policy until the pandemic is over which could be sometime in July or August?
Honestly, @Eileenmc, I expect this situation and Airbnb’s policy (if they continue to exist) to be expanded for many months. Possibly more than a year. I really do.
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That’s interesting. I wasn’t able to keep 50%. It was automatically refunded to my renters.
I’m not sure. Right now they seem to be taking the stance that reservations made before the world acknowledged the seriousness of the virus can be cancelled penalty-free, because people did not know how bad it was going to be.
But guests making future reservations are coming in to it with their eyes open, so they say they are not refunding those unless someone involved actually has COVID-19. This would probably fall under their usual EC anyway.
This actually seems quite fair to me. We’ll see if they stick to this plan.
Reservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences made after March 14, 2020 will not be covered under our extenuating circumstances policy except where the guest or host has contracted COVID-19. The host’s cancellation policy will apply as usual.
I don’t know if they can afford to do that, I don’t think they can. I think they will be forced to recalibrate. Maybe they can scale down and still be viable. I agree with @georgiahost that full refunds might be a temporary policy and for exactly the reason she stated. People who book now, knowing what we know are in a completely different category than everyone who booked prior to say, 1 March.
To be clear my advice with regard to Airbnb: Don’t expect anything and you won’t be disappointed.
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Not sure why you think the pandemic will be over by July or August. Just because they have said the virus has a hard time surviving in high temps? This is uncharted territory. Also, when it’s hot in half the world, it’s cold in the other half. So the virus isn’t going to die where it’s cold and then people could come from those places and reintroduce it in the areas where it might have slowed down.
It isn’t going to be over until it’s over. No one can predict that right now.
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The amount of misinformation being spread is just amazing. I had a coworker “inform” me today that blowing a hairdryer up your nose would cure the coronavirus. Another asked me last week if smoking would prevent you catching it. 
To be clear: No. And No. To repeat: Please don’t smoke or blow hairdryers up your nose. You will hurt yourself.
Keep washing your hands folks!
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The pandemic in China started in the third week of Dec. 2020 and as of today only 1 new case is being reported. It took them 3 months to end it. Given the fact that the US has learned a lot from China, Korea, and Italy I think 5 months is a reasonable time frame.
I’ve seen scientists speculate that smoking and vaping are contributors. One thing they were trying to figure out was why the male fatality rate was worse and males, esp in places like China are more likely to smoke.
I think you need some new sources of information. Even our Dear Leader in the US has said it might not be over until the end of summer and he’s the most idiotic or optimistic person on the planet (depending on political views).
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On that vein, masks helped China end CoVid 19. I’m making a bunch of my own and handing them out to friends and family members. You can find tons of videos on youtube if you want to do the same.
No thanks. Best of luck to you.
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Actually it’s been widely reported in US and foreign news papers that the pandemic is over in China - just 3 months from when it started.