Airbnb\u2019s Refund Policy Due to COVID-19<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nWhen my travel partner and I made the appropriate decision to cancel (not postpone) our trip in early May (we have an international traveler in our group, an essential healthcare worker, and a group over 10 people traveling from five different states) we thought there would be no issue given the company\u2019s statement that our trip dates fell within its current cancellation refund policy<\/a>. And as much as we would have preferred to postpone and taken a credit, it wasn\u2019t an option for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRelated:<\/h3>\nThe Dos and Don\u2019ts of Canceling a Trip Due to COVID-19<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHere\u2019s the policy language updated on April 9, 2020 (the policy prior to this was even vaguer): \u201cReservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences made on or before March 14, 2020, with a check-in date between March 14, 2020 and May 31, 2020, are covered by the policy and may be canceled before check-in. Guests who cancel will have a variety of cancellation and refund options, and hosts can cancel without charge or impact to their Superhost status. Airbnb will either refund, or issue travel credit that includes, all service fees for covered cancellations<\/strong>. In order to cancel under the policy, you will be required to attest to the facts of and\/or provide supporting documentation for your extenuating circumstance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe host\u2019s cancellation policy will apply as usual to reservations made after March 14, 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCancellations will be handled according to the extenuating circumstances coverage in effect at the time of submission, and reservations that were already canceled will not be reconsidered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smartertravel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_2902-690x1024.jpg\")
This was the Airbnb refund policy when we first initiated our cancellation request (prior to April 9)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAt first glance, the refund policy seems reasonable enough. And the actual process for requesting a cancellation because of COVID-19 was easy and well-explained; travelers simply can choose the COVID-19 reason for canceling under their Trips page and request a full refund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Reality of Airbnb\u2019s Refund Policy: Hosts Decide<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHowever, this is where the policy becomes blurred as it turns out it\u2019s actually up to the host<\/em> to make the final decision in accepting or denying the cancellation and refund request, not Airbnb (the company) as the policy makes it seem.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI spoke with two other travelers, one with a late-April booking and another with a mid-June booking (this is even outside of the current policy\u2019s date window), and both hosts accepted their refund request right away, no additional documentation needed. I also spoke with another traveler who even had her late-May booking get canceled by the host. However, we were left with our host declining to accept our cancellation and refund request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I get it, this could be the host\u2019s main form of income, and at the time of writing, Airbnb was only offering hosts 25 percent<\/a> of what they would normally receive through their cancellation policy. What didn\u2019t seem right, though, is that the company makes it seem like Airbnb would be issuing the refunds and travel credit, not the hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor a company that was about to go public pre-pandemic<\/a>, the fact that it\u2019s letting its hundreds and thousands of hosts determine whether a traveler gets a refund for a trip is absurd. There should be a cut-and-dry policy in place like there are with airlines and hotels. At the very least, the company should be automatically refunding the profits it makes from service fees. And while these policies aren\u2019t all perfect, it\u2019s certainly better than leaving things up to the over 650,000 current Airbnb hosts<\/a>, all who will have varying needs and opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat to Do If Your Host Doesn\u2019t Give You a Refund<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAccording to the policy<\/a>, \u201cIf the host doesn\u2019t agree,\u00a0you can still cancel<\/a>\u00a0and your refund will be determined by the host\u2019s standard cancellation policy,\u201d or \u201cIf your reservation doesn\u2019t qualify for either the extenuating circumstances policy or your host doesn\u2019t agree to cancel, you can always message your host to find out if they\u2019re willing to give you a\u00a0larger refund through the Resolution Center<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo, based on this information, our options were to accept a 50 percent refund (if canceled before April 30, according to our specific host\u2019s policy) or message our host and explain our situation again and potentially go through the Resolution Center. But these steps seem to only be necessary if your reservation doesn\u2019t<\/em> qualify for the extenuating circumstances policy. What we couldn\u2019t easily figure out though, was how did our reservation apparently \u201cnot qualify\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen you try to uncover what does qualify as an extenuating circumstance in relation to COVID-19, you\u2019re rerouted around the Airbnb Help center, where there is no clear determination on what circumstances exactly qualify. No wonder our host didn\u2019t want to cancel or give us a refund \u2026 there\u2019s no clear outline on what should qualify as a refund, even though our travel dates and time of booking were within the policy\u2019s time frame for valid cancellation. There is a separate, non-COVID related emergency and unavoidable circumstances page<\/a> that lists travel restrictions and epidemic disease or illness as items that \u201crequire special review.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nInstead of accepting the host\u2019s cancellation policy, we chose to message him and explain that we had a person in our group flying from overseas and that the traveler who made the original booking was an essential healthcare worker in New York City, but he still refused to grant us a refund. Since we couldn\u2019t come to an agreement, the host was adamant that he didn\u2019t want to cancel any of his May bookings (even though Airbnb clearly outlined that these bookings should be canceled or postponed) until the situation with COVID-19 was clearer, we had to go through the Resolution Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Resolution Center is an automated chatbot and calling is discouraged unless you have a booking within 72 hours. Through the chatbot, we received information that we needed to prove our extenuating circumstances with proof of a canceled flight, a doctor\u2019s note, government-mandated travel restrictions, or a signed letter proving that one of us is an essential worker. Finally, we had some sort of answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we started the process, the travel restrictions that applied to us expired before our travel dates, so we weren\u2019t able to use those as proof and we didn\u2019t have proof of canceled flights yet. And while we expected both the stay-at-home orders to be extended and to encounter flight cancellations in our group, we were nervous that if we didn\u2019t start the refund process request before April 30, we might fall under the guest\u2019s normal cancellation policy and only receive 50 percent of our money back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, my travel partner had to get a signed letter from the hospital where she works to process the refund. We were beyond frustrated both that she had to take the time and energy to fight this process and that the hospital she works at, in the epicenter of the U.S.\u2019s COVID-19 cases, had to spend time producing the letter for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Related:<\/h3>\nThe Dos and Don\u2019ts of Canceling a Trip Due to COVID-19<\/a><\/p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHere\u2019s the policy language updated on April 9, 2020 (the policy prior to this was even vaguer): \u201cReservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences made on or before March 14, 2020, with a check-in date between March 14, 2020 and May 31, 2020, are covered by the policy and may be canceled before check-in. Guests who cancel will have a variety of cancellation and refund options, and hosts can cancel without charge or impact to their Superhost status. Airbnb will either refund, or issue travel credit that includes, all service fees for covered cancellations<\/strong>. In order to cancel under the policy, you will be required to attest to the facts of and\/or provide supporting documentation for your extenuating circumstance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe host\u2019s cancellation policy will apply as usual to reservations made after March 14, 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCancellations will be handled according to the extenuating circumstances coverage in effect at the time of submission, and reservations that were already canceled will not be reconsidered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis was the Airbnb refund policy when we first initiated our cancellation request (prior to April 9)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAt first glance, the refund policy seems reasonable enough. And the actual process for requesting a cancellation because of COVID-19 was easy and well-explained; travelers simply can choose the COVID-19 reason for canceling under their Trips page and request a full refund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Reality of Airbnb\u2019s Refund Policy: Hosts Decide<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nHowever, this is where the policy becomes blurred as it turns out it\u2019s actually up to the host<\/em> to make the final decision in accepting or denying the cancellation and refund request, not Airbnb (the company) as the policy makes it seem.<\/p>\n\n\n\nI spoke with two other travelers, one with a late-April booking and another with a mid-June booking (this is even outside of the current policy\u2019s date window), and both hosts accepted their refund request right away, no additional documentation needed. I also spoke with another traveler who even had her late-May booking get canceled by the host. However, we were left with our host declining to accept our cancellation and refund request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I get it, this could be the host\u2019s main form of income, and at the time of writing, Airbnb was only offering hosts 25 percent<\/a> of what they would normally receive through their cancellation policy. What didn\u2019t seem right, though, is that the company makes it seem like Airbnb would be issuing the refunds and travel credit, not the hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor a company that was about to go public pre-pandemic<\/a>, the fact that it\u2019s letting its hundreds and thousands of hosts determine whether a traveler gets a refund for a trip is absurd. There should be a cut-and-dry policy in place like there are with airlines and hotels. At the very least, the company should be automatically refunding the profits it makes from service fees. And while these policies aren\u2019t all perfect, it\u2019s certainly better than leaving things up to the over 650,000 current Airbnb hosts<\/a>, all who will have varying needs and opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat to Do If Your Host Doesn\u2019t Give You a Refund<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nAccording to the policy<\/a>, \u201cIf the host doesn\u2019t agree,\u00a0you can still cancel<\/a>\u00a0and your refund will be determined by the host\u2019s standard cancellation policy,\u201d or \u201cIf your reservation doesn\u2019t qualify for either the extenuating circumstances policy or your host doesn\u2019t agree to cancel, you can always message your host to find out if they\u2019re willing to give you a\u00a0larger refund through the Resolution Center<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nSo, based on this information, our options were to accept a 50 percent refund (if canceled before April 30, according to our specific host\u2019s policy) or message our host and explain our situation again and potentially go through the Resolution Center. But these steps seem to only be necessary if your reservation doesn\u2019t<\/em> qualify for the extenuating circumstances policy. What we couldn\u2019t easily figure out though, was how did our reservation apparently \u201cnot qualify\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen you try to uncover what does qualify as an extenuating circumstance in relation to COVID-19, you\u2019re rerouted around the Airbnb Help center, where there is no clear determination on what circumstances exactly qualify. No wonder our host didn\u2019t want to cancel or give us a refund \u2026 there\u2019s no clear outline on what should qualify as a refund, even though our travel dates and time of booking were within the policy\u2019s time frame for valid cancellation. There is a separate, non-COVID related emergency and unavoidable circumstances page<\/a> that lists travel restrictions and epidemic disease or illness as items that \u201crequire special review.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nInstead of accepting the host\u2019s cancellation policy, we chose to message him and explain that we had a person in our group flying from overseas and that the traveler who made the original booking was an essential healthcare worker in New York City, but he still refused to grant us a refund. Since we couldn\u2019t come to an agreement, the host was adamant that he didn\u2019t want to cancel any of his May bookings (even though Airbnb clearly outlined that these bookings should be canceled or postponed) until the situation with COVID-19 was clearer, we had to go through the Resolution Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Resolution Center is an automated chatbot and calling is discouraged unless you have a booking within 72 hours. Through the chatbot, we received information that we needed to prove our extenuating circumstances with proof of a canceled flight, a doctor\u2019s note, government-mandated travel restrictions, or a signed letter proving that one of us is an essential worker. Finally, we had some sort of answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we started the process, the travel restrictions that applied to us expired before our travel dates, so we weren\u2019t able to use those as proof and we didn\u2019t have proof of canceled flights yet. And while we expected both the stay-at-home orders to be extended and to encounter flight cancellations in our group, we were nervous that if we didn\u2019t start the refund process request before April 30, we might fall under the guest\u2019s normal cancellation policy and only receive 50 percent of our money back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, my travel partner had to get a signed letter from the hospital where she works to process the refund. We were beyond frustrated both that she had to take the time and energy to fight this process and that the hospital she works at, in the epicenter of the U.S.\u2019s COVID-19 cases, had to spend time producing the letter for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Here\u2019s the policy language updated on April 9, 2020 (the policy prior to this was even vaguer): \u201cReservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences made on or before March 14, 2020, with a check-in date between March 14, 2020 and May 31, 2020, are covered by the policy and may be canceled before check-in. Guests who cancel will have a variety of cancellation and refund options, and hosts can cancel without charge or impact to their Superhost status. Airbnb will either refund, or issue travel credit that includes, all service fees for covered cancellations<\/strong>. In order to cancel under the policy, you will be required to attest to the facts of and\/or provide supporting documentation for your extenuating circumstance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe host\u2019s cancellation policy will apply as usual to reservations made after March 14, 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCancellations will be handled according to the extenuating circumstances coverage in effect at the time of submission, and reservations that were already canceled will not be reconsidered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At first glance, the refund policy seems reasonable enough. And the actual process for requesting a cancellation because of COVID-19 was easy and well-explained; travelers simply can choose the COVID-19 reason for canceling under their Trips page and request a full refund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, this is where the policy becomes blurred as it turns out it\u2019s actually up to the host<\/em> to make the final decision in accepting or denying the cancellation and refund request, not Airbnb (the company) as the policy makes it seem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I spoke with two other travelers, one with a late-April booking and another with a mid-June booking (this is even outside of the current policy\u2019s date window), and both hosts accepted their refund request right away, no additional documentation needed. I also spoke with another traveler who even had her late-May booking get canceled by the host. However, we were left with our host declining to accept our cancellation and refund request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I get it, this could be the host\u2019s main form of income, and at the time of writing, Airbnb was only offering hosts 25 percent<\/a> of what they would normally receive through their cancellation policy. What didn\u2019t seem right, though, is that the company makes it seem like Airbnb would be issuing the refunds and travel credit, not the hosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a company that was about to go public pre-pandemic<\/a>, the fact that it\u2019s letting its hundreds and thousands of hosts determine whether a traveler gets a refund for a trip is absurd. There should be a cut-and-dry policy in place like there are with airlines and hotels. At the very least, the company should be automatically refunding the profits it makes from service fees. And while these policies aren\u2019t all perfect, it\u2019s certainly better than leaving things up to the over 650,000 current Airbnb hosts<\/a>, all who will have varying needs and opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the policy<\/a>, \u201cIf the host doesn\u2019t agree,\u00a0you can still cancel<\/a>\u00a0and your refund will be determined by the host\u2019s standard cancellation policy,\u201d or \u201cIf your reservation doesn\u2019t qualify for either the extenuating circumstances policy or your host doesn\u2019t agree to cancel, you can always message your host to find out if they\u2019re willing to give you a\u00a0larger refund through the Resolution Center<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, based on this information, our options were to accept a 50 percent refund (if canceled before April 30, according to our specific host\u2019s policy) or message our host and explain our situation again and potentially go through the Resolution Center. But these steps seem to only be necessary if your reservation doesn\u2019t<\/em> qualify for the extenuating circumstances policy. What we couldn\u2019t easily figure out though, was how did our reservation apparently \u201cnot qualify\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you try to uncover what does qualify as an extenuating circumstance in relation to COVID-19, you\u2019re rerouted around the Airbnb Help center, where there is no clear determination on what circumstances exactly qualify. No wonder our host didn\u2019t want to cancel or give us a refund \u2026 there\u2019s no clear outline on what should qualify as a refund, even though our travel dates and time of booking were within the policy\u2019s time frame for valid cancellation. There is a separate, non-COVID related emergency and unavoidable circumstances page<\/a> that lists travel restrictions and epidemic disease or illness as items that \u201crequire special review.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of accepting the host\u2019s cancellation policy, we chose to message him and explain that we had a person in our group flying from overseas and that the traveler who made the original booking was an essential healthcare worker in New York City, but he still refused to grant us a refund. Since we couldn\u2019t come to an agreement, the host was adamant that he didn\u2019t want to cancel any of his May bookings (even though Airbnb clearly outlined that these bookings should be canceled or postponed) until the situation with COVID-19 was clearer, we had to go through the Resolution Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Resolution Center is an automated chatbot and calling is discouraged unless you have a booking within 72 hours. Through the chatbot, we received information that we needed to prove our extenuating circumstances with proof of a canceled flight, a doctor\u2019s note, government-mandated travel restrictions, or a signed letter proving that one of us is an essential worker. Finally, we had some sort of answer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When we started the process, the travel restrictions that applied to us expired before our travel dates, so we weren\u2019t able to use those as proof and we didn\u2019t have proof of canceled flights yet. And while we expected both the stay-at-home orders to be extended and to encounter flight cancellations in our group, we were nervous that if we didn\u2019t start the refund process request before April 30, we might fall under the guest\u2019s normal cancellation policy and only receive 50 percent of our money back.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, my travel partner had to get a signed letter from the hospital where she works to process the refund. We were beyond frustrated both that she had to take the time and energy to fight this process and that the hospital she works at, in the epicenter of the U.S.\u2019s COVID-19 cases, had to spend time producing the letter for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\nThe Reality of Airbnb\u2019s Refund Policy: Hosts Decide<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What to Do If Your Host Doesn\u2019t Give You a Refund<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n