Regardless of proof, you don’t need to refund.
Going down the ‘proof’ road begs for the proof, which can mislead the Airbnb CS. Proof is irrelevant as covid is not an EC.
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Agreed.
A host I assist recently refunded a strict 30 day reservation for January because one of the guests reported the need for chemotherapy to occur that month. We didn’t ask for proof.
Decide what you want to do & go with it. Yes they may be lying but you really can’t get solid proof so just roll with your heart.
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I would not recommend you ask for notarized copies, or proof of domestic relationship. Imho this is definitely going too far, and I would be very unhappy as the guest. I think you need to decide whether to accept the story regardless of these.
I understand but my bank account will be very unhappy if I give out refund to a scammer.
What would you recommend that I do to ensure I’m not being scammed?
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I think you misunderstood. I think he was referring to the guest being very unhappy to be asked for such personal information as relationship “proof”.
No one here has told you they think you should refund, and many have said you shouldn’t feel you need to.
You can never “ensure” that you’re not being scammed when a guest gives you some story about why they need to cancel and expects a refund, unless they volunteer some sort of documentation. Like if they claimed they were in an accident, they could send a police or hospital report instead of just expecting hosts to take their word for it.
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What @muddy said above ^. Good luck!
Airbnb absolutely asked for evidence of positive Covid results for guest to be able to have a full refund under their EC policy.
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To add to this conversation: I have had 3 covid deniers who booked and then sent me either patently fake cards (a photo with their thumb on the name area, and a surly message about ‘freedom’ when I asked that the photo be retaken) or righteous indignation when asked a second time for their proof (it is a house rule for me). Airbnb immediately cancelled their reservations.
These are scary times when people watch Faux News and think they are getting facts… and are comfortable in their denying that their answer to truth is “well, yes, but…”
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I was able to confirm that once when guests cancelled because their house was flooded by a hurricane two weeks before the stay was to start. I found a picture online (their local news website) that showed her husband in a hardware store with a caption about how their house was flooded. I’m not cynical enough to think she planted it to get a refund!
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Before home tests became available, we had to go to the testing center & get result reports to give employers & people around us requiring isolation. Things have changed with home tests. The only verification you get are the stripes on the test results. Those are easily falsified by ripping photos off the internet.
The reality is you can’t get proof any longer. You have to trust your your heart.
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But in their new feature to request a covid refund from hosts, they require no proof from a guest. What a surprise!
As I said in my earlier post @Annet3176 in the UK it’s different as you need to upload your test results into an NHS app linked to your national health number, so the reality is you absolutely can ask for proof.
Of course if someone is determined to falsify their results, they could find someone who is positive and upload their test results in they really wanted to scam someone.
So what did you decide to do @house_plants
Turns out she is a lawyer.
She argued a lot for me to provide a refund. All I kept saying was please contact Airbnb for a refund. She said Airbnb told her to contact host for refund as a covid exception.
She eventually got frustrated and realized she couldn’t scam me. She cancelled on her own so she could get a refund of the cleaning fee and taxes. Never provided any proof of covid. And I didn’t ask her as I don’t know the legal implications, and I’m dealing with a lawyer here.
Since she is a big-shot lawyer earning big bucks, she should be able to understand that as per the contract she signed with me on Airbnb, I don’t have to provide her any refund.
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Did she just tell you she is a lawyer, or were you able to independently confirm that? I think it’s a tactic some refund seekers use, thinking it will cause the host to quake in their boots.
She did not tell me she’s a lawyer.
Her identity is verified on Airbnb. I looked up her name on Google, and her profile shows up on the website of a law firm which matches the city on her Airbnb profile.
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I would chat a little, “oh, I hope he doesn’t have it too bad. How are his symptoms?” “I haven’t had it yet, is it very bad?” Get a little more for my intuition to go by.
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@Lynnie
I love this subtle bit of “social engineering!” One could even toss in something like, “Did he get it from someone at work? That’s how my brother got it last year.”
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While it is sometimes possible for experienced hosts to ferret out bad intentions in a case like suspecting the guest is planning a party, or sneaking in extra guests, I can’t imagine that asking a guest who is lying about having Covid those kinds of questions would be at all productive. They would just say, “Yeah, someone came to work knowing they were positive and half the office came down with it. My boyfriend’s been really sick.”
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