Holy crap!! Hahah, yes I did mean miles.
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well when you put it that way…
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@PitonView wow you sent me scurrying to my card’s policy information, looks like it does cover lodging:
You will be reimbursed for the following eligible amounts resulting
from the cancellation, interruption or extension of the Covered
Traveler’s Trip due to a covered reason:
The value of the Covered Traveler’s unused transportation
tickets or forfeited deposits, minus any refund or credit received
from the airline or other travel supplier(s).
Change fees charged by the airline or other travel supplier(s).
A credit/voucher that is not used by its expiration date or within
12 months of the issuance date, whichever is sooner.
Other unused, nonrefundable travel expenses, such as lodging,
tour fees or activity fees.
I would guess “lodging” is an umbrella term to cover vacation rentals, no?
@TotalAirHead - you may very well be right. My credit card says “hotel”, not lodging, but also says “includes, but not limited to” when describing what it covers. I do notice that “change of plans” is explicitly not covered. I might start putting it in the contract that the guest should call their credit card company to check if they have any questions. Thanks!
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And in the most odd thing category, AMEX has no travel insurance.
You are welcome. I have some verbiage in my house manual much as you describe – something like “check if you are covered by your credit card.”
Bingo. And that’s exactly what was driving my whole strategy - of humanizing us so she’d realize she’s actually hurting somebody by doing this. And by making her see she didn’t choose to be responsible and get trip cancellation insurance, I was hoping it would take away her motivation to contact Airbnb and beg them for a refund… which they would probably give.
So, my main goal was to lessen the chances that she would contact Airbnb.
Yes, that’s definitely a big consideration K9. You have to weigh a lot of things before you decide what to do when a cancellation comes in. In this case, with it being just 3 days before her arrival and with it being an over $500 reservation - we knew the whole $500 would be totally lost. It wasn’t likely we get any of those days rebooked.
I have to tell you - even though I’ve heard from you that it’s a tiny part of the island that’s affected - after watching a ton of media - I absolutely have a picture in my mind that’s like the graphic you showed… the one on the left! The media has “propagandized” this so well that they’ve wiped out what I know from you the truth really is.
Yep, that’s something you definitely have to consider. In this case, I really wasn’t expecting her to end up coming, so I didn’t really consider the potential for a negative review. But now that she is coming… we will just shower her with kindness and warmth and do our best job possible and hopefully that will change her mind if her intention now is to leave us a bad review. We’ve done that in the past and it has always worked out.
You’re right Helsi. “Stupid” was not the most accurate word. What is more accurate is that I wanted to make her feel like it was her fault for not purchasing the trip insurance.
We do have other sources of income. Airbnb is a nice part of our it though, but I exaggerated a bit… on purpose. You have to make them understand that they are hurting you. That you’re not some corporate goliath that can easily absorb a cancellation here and there. You have to help them understand that it stings and that they’re really putting you out by making it impossible to rent to anyone else.
That was my way of putting a human face on us so she would realize that whatever bad situation she’s in, she’s creating another bad situaiton now for us, with her 3-day cancellation notice.
It’s certainly possible. But like I said above, in the past when this has happened, we’ve been so nice to the guests and made everything so perfect for them while they were here that they quickly forget any bad feelings they may have had.
Plus, I’ll tell you something else. I really think these people, when they reflect on it, are happy when we force the issue by refusing to give a refund. Whatever her so-called emergency was - she was easily able to get out of it when she told them she was going to lose a lot of money. And I have a feeling she was glad to get out of so she could continue on with her vacation plans. No doubt she had really been looking forward to coming to New York and probably in her heart didn’t want to cancel. I believe she’s going to have a great vacation here and in the end she’ll be we helped her keep her plans.
At first, I thought that was a great suggestion! But the more I thought about it - I’m not so sure. Because if her card didn’t offer insurance, she could then claim to be a victim yet again - first to her “emergency” now to her bank. Then she might feel justified in insisiting even more that I help her out. By asking her if she got trip cancellation insurance, I put the full responsibility on her. It makes her realize there was something she could have done but she didn’t. Therefore, it’s totally her fault - so leave me alone about it.
Although, you could position it like ‘check with them and see’ - then if they don’t cover it she would tend to blame them instead of us. So, that might work actually.
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I had a cancellation today but it is for July so no real issue, I seems to have more cancellations now than before.
My view is that I can not rely on AirBnB upholding my policy, there are far too many get outs and even if they do not apply you can get a new CSR who just gives it and you have no way of appealing.
So the only solution that comes to mind is not to take any bookings through AirBnB where a cancellation would financially hurt you. I have had a few that annoy me but I do not take longer term bookings so nothing that hurts.
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I have more and I was frustrated until I realized I also have more bookings. As a percentage I don’t think it’s increased.
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As a percentage, it has definitely increased here, and with some substantial and longer bookings. My market is not people driving through, deciding at the last moment so these cancelations generally result in less income.
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That is unfortunate.
Ahh, the gaslighting by them has worked! Even though I guarantee you that every single person in the media pool goes after work back to their Hilo hotel on banyan drive and enjoys a drink on their lanai overlooking the bay and its clear beautiful skies in absolutely ZERO danger from any lava flows.
Our volcano has been erupting continuously since 1983, and yes, has flowed into the East Rift Zone before in the early 90s when 180 homes in Kalapana were lost. There was not the same media frenzy then. In fact, the event drew even more tourists over. The volcano flows were slow and gentle. But that was a vent eruption and did not have the fissures then either (although fissures in 1955 followed almost the identical contours that they are following now.)
I think only previous visitors to the island or the adventurous are going to venture over now that they have trashed our tourism industry hard.
I got a light dusting of volcanic ash last night. Check it out. I’m really really far from the boundary where the ash has fallen.
And the ash is not from the lava, it is from the subsiding of the summit crater conduit as lava has left the building. 
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That would be because in 1983 the media was focused on the Middle East, after much sabre rattling between Saudi, Iran and Iraq. No internet then, and zillions of journalists based themselves on Bahrain, a less constrained state than the rest of the Gulf. The partying got boring after a while, and stories had to be found, as there were none. A picture appeared on the front page of The Daily Telegraph in the UK, with the headline “Bread Shortage in Bahrain”., depicting a long queue outside a supermarket called the Bahrain Bakery. At the rear was another warehouse, legally selling alcohol but without signage, and windows obscured. The reality was that it was a few days before the beginning of Ramadan, when alcohol is not sold. It was normal for “guest” workers to stock up for the duration.
The Daily Telegraph was banned by the government for six months or so.
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On Refunds.
Guests rarely ask us for a refund. We mention Cancellation Policy 2Xs in writing. 1st in “Additional Rules” then we send Confirmation within AirBnN System. Excerpt below
Then, Upon check-in, they sign-in on 1 Pager including House Rules + “Cancellation Info” at bottom”. We mention “same Policies you already saw” are posted on Fridge.
We ask Guests, booking more than 2 weeks, to sign a Lease, including 1) proof of cancellation insurance or 2) decision to waive it w understanding of No Refund Policy.
Our CBIZ Ins Company refunded to Booked Guests, when we were closed due to flood & lightening damage. They also paid us for Loss of Income during our closure.
I love the idea of suggesting Guest check w their own CC company to see if they are covered there.
Excerpt Cancellation…Our policy is intended to be fair to our guests, yet prevent the loss of income to our business. Due to our small size, cancellations do affect us significantly. Once we reserve room(s) for you, we remove it from the market, refusing all other requests. …
NOTE: Consider purchasing travelers insurance to protect against the unforeseen. IE: tripinsurancezone.com/csa.html insuremytrip.com
I hope this helps. Kathy
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I’m not interested in trying to make people feel stupid. But i am interested in win-win strategies in this situation. Including: book another non-cancellable date with us in the next 3 months and we’ll consider it. Or if they are hosts and we like their place we can swap.
Cliff
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PitonView - Totally agree with you. Am also in the Caribbean and a cancellation here really needs to be at least 3 weeks in advance of reservation to have a chance of another booking.
I run an Air BnB but before that we owned a resort in the south pacific for 10 years and before that managed one. My suggestion is not to “humanize” it by spelling out all your woes. To me, that is not professional. I always refer back to policy and Air Bnb. Basically “because we work exclusively through Air Bnb, all bookings and cancellations go through them directly. And because you cancelled your booking outside of the refund period, as described in our cancellation policy on Air BnB, we can’t refund your trip. However, we can write a letter for you to your trip insurance company, which will help you recoup your travel investment.”
This is what we did for the resort (as most bookings came though 2nd party - e.g. travel agents and wholesalers) and then followed up with “we would be happy to rebook your trip at a discounted rate” - if you wanted to add that.
I always think the professional approach is better. But that’s just my take on it. Telling people about your problems is not really their problem. Just like their emergency is not yours.
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