Just an fyi the "new Covid EC policy" is more of the same

I’d love to hear what the results are when you have some!

There was a thing from Catherine on the community forum, and the “new policy will be released soon”. You are looking at the current one.
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The ONLY difference is the new one is 14 days from check-in not 30 days, as if that helps anyone at all.
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Bottom line, any guest can EC if they merely claim that they or a member of the booking party is infected or exposed. Proof is not required.

Good Grief!

So this is not new? " * You’ve had close, sustained contact with an individual confirmed or suspected to be infected with COVID-19, within the last 14 days*"

And they’ve added exposure to the EC now? I don’t even see it there at all for 30 days on the EC link. You’d think something this big would be more widely broadcast to hosts. They send me all kinds of ridiculous, useless info, but not this? Sigh.

Here is the article, updated Oct 7th.
https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes/a/extenuating-circumstances-policy-update-and-more-news-450
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The key points and translation are provided below:
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@Jefferson, your notations - :joy:.

Okay, but this says infected vs. exposed. Someone being exposed is told not to travel w/i 14 days under the current policy but it doesn’t say in the current EC policy or here (unless I misread/missed, I’m sorry) that they cancel due to exposure (vs. infection). Did I misread it?

Does anyone know where it’s legal to ask for supporting documentation? I’d guess it is not in my country, Texas.

Legal? USA = HIPPA = F-off Air Customer Service. They are NOT going to give themselves any more work.
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Exposure , Infection … may we please just agree that Air agents are not going to distinguish, assuming their English is good enough to understand the terms? :slight_smile:

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@Jefferson You have to stop. I’m crying and I don’t know if it’s because I’m laughing so hard or I’m sad over this state of affairs. I guess a little bit of both :wink:

Ok ok, shall I go on more about the benefits of Arc Fault breakers? (blink, blink)?

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I saw that. Thank you. I like to know what’s up. I don’t turn down hard-earned, legit wisdom!

Sorry, not Sorry. I just had to:
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or perhaps this?
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Arc Fault breakers. Technically, it is USA CODE anytime you add or modify a circuit (lighting or outlets). In practice, it is BEYOND silly to use them on lighting circuits (think ceiling lighting or wall sconces).
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They are really good for outlet circuits where we find table or floor lamps or cheap extension cords. Cords can be damaged by accident or by idiot. So yeah they really DO prevent electrical fires. But you can also find out the hard way that you might need to spend many hours fixing each circuit that you want protected this way. God help you if the circuits are connected in odd ways behind a wall (no code) and the breaker never stays.
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BUT - having ONE arc fault breaker and moving it around to “test” the quality of the key outlet circuits is worth thinking about. If a current circuit holds properly without tripping when you simply install an arc fault breaker then it was wired really well, and all connections are tight.

So we changed to moderate yesterday and today I noticed this while testing with an incognito browser for Oct 29-31. The Free Cancellation filter SHOULD work until 259pm on Sunday the 24th (5 days before check-in). Unfortunately it does not.
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And yeah, I would complain to Air but since they won’t care or try to fix it I won’t bother. Heck, it’s probably intentional, to coerce hosts to choose flexible.

Just make all the outlets GFCIs. At least when it trips you know pretty much where.

GFI outlets are entirely different (ground fault). Ergo “Arc Fault breaker”. One arc fault breaker can protect an entire circuit. Same goes for gfi breakers - but they have different purposes.

I use moderate. I rarely have cancellations.

I’ve used different cancellation policies over the years.

Based upon my limited experience:

  1. I had bookings for summer season earlier with flexible & moderate than strict.
  2. I rarely have cancellations during the off-season. (2020 was an exception). Summer 2021, my two cancellations (out of 18 bookings) were re-booked within hours.
  3. Flexible & moderate didn’t get more bookings, but did get earlier bookings.
  4. Area Condos booked via property management companies tend to have refundable cancellations if cancelled 30 or more days before the stay. Moderate is the closest cancellation policy Airbnb offers (not very close at all but I must work with what they offer)

Area Hotels have a 48 hour advance cancellation policy (can cancel up to 2 days prior to reservation start & receive a refund).

I just booked a hotel. I chose the 3 day cancellation option to save $5. LOL. For this particular trip I think 3 days is close enough to the trip, but in these covid times hotel cancel policies have a big advantage over many hosts. I just lost $600 on an Airbnb stay and that stung enough to keep me away from rentals with strict policies for the foreseeable future.

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edit to add: I knew exactly the chance I was taking and took it anyway. My friends did something unexpected and paid their share of the cancel loss. But it’s still the sort of chance I can’t afford to take very often.

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Similar but different. Prepaid trip to Orlando. Booked January 2020. Original “take by” date 12/31/20. Extension to 12/31/21. No refund. No additional extension. I don’t want to go. It was a bargain…oh well.

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I recently cancelled a guest because I was at my cottage with a GF who stayed overnight and was positive within 48hrs. I couldn’t go home to my at-risk husband, so I had to quarantine in the cottage. Airbnb was real snotty about it. Do you have any idea how many guests have cancelled after exposure? A lot! Airbnb threatened to open an investigation to see if my property was safe. I’ve been hosting for over 10 years and have a 4.99 average. I was just in no damn mood for their barely trained support. I said “whatever you feel you need to do.” Never heard from them again.

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That is OUT LOAD LAUGHABLE! Open an investigation. Please, anyone on here, tell us if you have been investigated by AirBnB for Covid safety and how that went?! What were they going to do? Fly someone in from the Philippines to swab the place. :joy: :joy: :joy: Good for you @CatskillsGrrl for calling them on their ridiculousness.

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