Just wanted to share what i find an unacceptable policy by AirBNB who seems to trample our own judgement of whether or not to refund in each particular case. In most cases i tend to be very forgiving and if the guests come up with a very believable story i tend to refund them at least partially.
This is the case of a woman wanting to cancel one week before arrival due to "some health issue", our policy with AirBNB is always set to strict meaning i always have 50% "guaranteed", so i though. I had told this lady that if i did manage to find another guest to take that week i would fully refund her less some administrative costs. Well it happened that i couldn't re-book the week and so i was prepared to receive the 50% from AirBNB until i got the following email one day past the arrival date:
Needless to say i am shocked and disappointed. I totally understand she had perfectly good reasons to cancel but this is a business like any other and this has costed me money without me having any fault. I thought this is why companies sell travel insurances and cancellation insurances, if she hasn't bothered having one why do i need to pay for her misfortune? I wonder if she got her money back from the airliners, i don't think so.My name is XXX and I am a member of the Trip Experience team at Airbnb. I am writing in regards to your cancelled reservation XXX with XXX.
XXX has recently suffered of a health condition that does not let her travel. She provided us with official documentation from the hospital.
In the rare instance where extenuating circumstances arise, a guest may need to cancel a confirmed reservation. In this instance, Airbnb may override the host's cancellation policy (flexible, moderate, strict) and make refund decisions. Such cases will be contingent on proper documentation, where valid, and include:
There's a death in the guest's family
The guest has a serious illness or there's a serious illness in their family
There's a natural disaster in the destination country
There's political unrest in the destination country
The guest has jury duty or other similar civil obligations
Since XXX could prove with signed medical documentation that she is suffering from a serious illness we had to apply the extenuating circumstances refund policy to his reservation.
Your guest has been refunded in full. As such, we will not be able to provide you a payout for this reservation.
Be reassured that our extenuating circumstance policy is there to protect both guests and hosts and it works both ways.
In the rare instance where extenuating circumstances arise, a host may need to cancel a confirmed reservation. In such cases, we may elect to forgo the cancellation penalties outlined in our Terms of Service. Such cases will be contingent on proper documentation, where valid, and include:
Death in the family
Serious illness or serious illness in the family
Natural disaster in the country
Political unrest in the country
Property damage
Maintenance issues that affect the ability to host
I hope this information is helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks for your understanding, we apology for any inconvenience this cancellation might have caused.
Wish you a good day,
I am utterly disgusted with this situation and i am considering that next time i need to cancel some guests' booking for whatever reason i can just forge a medical bill saying my uncle is very ill and i need to assist him in the hospital to avoid being penalised. I wonder if it will work my way just as well as it worked for her, i have serious doubts about it.
Anyway, i just wanted to share this so that you all know not to take for granted your AirBNB's refund policy.