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25% Of Booking Amount Paid to Hosts for Cancelled Bookings Due to COVID-19 (Between 14 March and 31 May) @ Airbnb

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Airbnb have already waived cancellation fees for bookings, now seems like they're helping out hosts too :)


SBS Article

Airbnb will pay hosts 25 per cent of what they would typically be due if someone booked between March 14 and May 31 cancels the stay due to COVID-19.

Airbnb on Monday said it is devoting US$250 million to help would-be hosts survive financial losses from refunds given to guests who cancelled travel plans due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The move came as an olive branch of sorts extended to Airbnb hosts blindsided by a the home-sharing platform's decision several weeks ago to give full refunds to guests who cancelled reservations in order to stay home, as health officials and governments have urged.

Airbnb will pay hosts 25 per cent of what they would typically be due if someone booked between March 14 and May 31 cancels the stay due to COVID-19.

Travelers who cancel Airbnb reservations made for that period are promised complete refunds or credit for future stays.

"We know this is just a little bit, but a little bit can go a long way at this time," a seemingly contrite Mr Chesky said while discussing Airbnb's latest steps in a live video stream from his home.


When a guest cancels an accommodation reservation due to a COVID-19 related circumstance, with a check-in between March 14 and May 31, we will pay you 25% of what you would normally receive through your cancellation policy. This applies retroactively to all COVID-19 related cancellations during this period. This cost will be covered entirely by Airbnb. These payments will begin to be issued in April. Guests with reservations booked on or before March 14 will still be able to cancel and receive a standard refund or travel credit equivalent for 100% of what they paid. You can go to airbnb.com/250msupport for more details.


Hope everyone is safe :)

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closed Comments

  • Much better than what Homeaway have offered so far, which is basically no customer service at all.

  • +1

    Had Airbnb offer a refund and also compensate the difference for my hotel booking whilst in Shanghai due to local laws restricting staying at an AirBNB. This was in the second week of February.

    • +2

      No idea why you're being down voted for sharing your experience.

      Maybe people only want to hear negative things about companies. Even if they're doing the right thing by their customers.

      • +1

        Probably some people having bad experiences with AirBNB in getting refunds, and they're salty I could? FWIW I asked nicely.

  • is this all countries?

  • We had to cancel an accommodation to Spain due in a couple of weeks… they only allowed travel credit.

  • +3

    We're going to see more properties (properties managed by a body corporate) pop up in the long term rental market as owner's corporations across NSW will be passing through by-laws to ban short-term letting in their buildings.

    https://www.afr.com/wealth/personal-finance/bad-news-for-air…

    • +2

      Hopefully just the lockdown puts a lot of them back into the rental market

    • +2

      LOL body corporate only if you live in a majority owner occupied block then you still need the owners to report short term letting then you need to fine them. You can't force them to sell.

      If you're living in a majority rented out building the owners have handed it to managing rental agents who doesn't care and nobody wants to rock the boat because at some point someone will need to be desperate and put it on Airbnb.

      If you want to avoid having parties and anti social behavior in apartments just set your minimum booking to 3 or 4 nights. 20 kids who pool together $2000 for a night the penthouse to party wouldn't rent it out 3 nights to party one night.

  • +7

    Oh boy,

    List on airbnb
    Get friend to book
    Get friend to cancel at no cost
    Get 25% for listing for free.

    I don’t use airbnb, but this ripe for abuse.

    • +2

      The 100% cancel guarantee was only valid until the pandemic was declared ;)

    • +5

      The reservation had to be made before 14 March, so cannot be exploited

      Plus it is not 25% of the whole rental cost that you miss out on, it is 25% of what you would have received if you would have received something for an early cancellation

      • +4

        oh right…so it's just 25% of the cancellation fee, not the total rental.

        So just so I understand correctly, Airbnb essentially did a customer service gesture by waving cancellation fees. But instead of paying for it themselves from theor massive profits, they expected hosts to pay for it. Now that hosts are complaining, they have offered a generious offer of 25 cents for the dollar for the hosts. Is that correct?

        • +1

          yep that's pretty much it….

  • +16

    This isn’t a bargain.

    • +1

      You're talking about a brave new world where just getting toilet paper is a bargain.

      I'd agree getting 25c in the dollar back isn't much of a bargain.

  • +4

    AirBnB is one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. Great idea, rubbish company.

    • They like UberEat / Doordash / Deliveroo take too much and don't give anything back. Basically a business model to put their suppliers out of business.

      • +1

        Like a franchise. Franchisee puts in the blood sweat and tears while the franchisor makes fat profits

        • Why not go independent instead of taking up a franchise? More profitable to use a brand name? That's the price one pays.

    • I don’t think it rubbish company, but the host have rubbish property, yes!
      Host that have few properties usually only put best pics from one apartment only in the same building.

      Sometimes when you check hotels’s price, Airbnb is more expensive and hard to get compo if the property isn’t like in the pics (worse). At least in hotel we can asked to be moved to other room.

  • +6

    Airbnb will pay 25% of what you would’ve received for a cancellation based on your cancellation policy. For example, if you would normally receive $400 USD through your cancellation policy, we'll pay you 25% of that—or $100 USD.

    Basically it is Airbnb telling owners “we screwed you by letting people cancel for free no matter what your cancellation policy was. So now instead of letting you get 100% of the cancellation fees of any ordinary booking we will give you 25%”

    • -2

      Why are you complaining, I am glad to have been able to cancel my accommodation.

      There was one fool over in Madrid who refused to cancel for us, we had to cancel and accept the credit instead from AirBNB. How am I supposed to get there with travel restrictions. Spain is in absolute chaos right now.

      • +1

        a) everyone's hurting right now.
        b) did you stop to think how much that "one fool" may need the money right now? Especially as he's in a country which is in lockdown and potentially still has mouths to feed?

        • +1

          b) did you stop to think how much that "one fool" may need the money right now? Especially as he's in a country which is in lockdown and potentially still has mouths to feed?

          Answer is in the tools who bought trolleys and trolleys of toilet paper.

  • +2

    I did have to laugh at an email from Airbnb the other day:

    "It looks like there have been some changes in your hosting over the last 3 months. It's possible you've hosted less or something may have come up, but as a result, a few Superhost criteria requirements were missed. That means you didn't quite qualify for Superhost status during this assessment period."

    Ummm yeah, something did come up…

  • -8

    Im not sure compensation for an investment decision that has gone bad would be a deal?

  • I cancelled 3 for Europe one of them NO refund and another got charged fees for June

    • No refund because of the 10% cheaper non-refundable option to waive refunds?

      Even the super strict policy is full refund that far away (to my knowledge).

  • Hmm, I didn't get a refund for my booking I had starting 16th of April

    • Contact them. Had the same, called them, got it sorted.

      • They were only offering refunds between 14 March and 14 April at the time. I got refunds for the bookings I had between those days, but not the one after. Hosts refund policy applied.

        • Contact them again as their policy has been updated with new dates?
          Worth a shot?

          • @Lord Fart Bucket: I contacted AirBnB support and they processed a full refund for me. They were so helpful.

  • +1

    Anyone that has cancelled an Airbnb reservation, that falls into the below conditions, and has NOT received a 100% refund or credit, needs to contact Airbnb and demand a full refund.

    Please note the policy gets updated periodically to include new dates as the pandemic maintains it's course. For example, if the current lockdowns are maintained, around the end of April the policy will be updated to give full refunds to those who have bookings for June and July. Currently these conditions only cover bookings up until May 31. So it's in your best interest to wait until your booking is covered under this Extenuating Circumstances policy in order to receive a 100% refund or credit.

    Airbnb Extenuating Circumstances Policy for the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
    Updated 31 March 2020.
    www.airbnb.com.au/help/article/2701/extenuating-circumstance…

    Reservations for stays and Airbnb Experiences made on or before 14 March 2020, with a check-in date between 14 March 2020 and 31 May 2020, are covered by the policy and may be cancelled 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. 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.

  • TITLE IS WRONG.

    25% of cancellation fee is paid, NOT booking fee, huge difference.

    "we will pay you 25% of what you would normally receive through your cancellation policy"

  • According to cahsback button on this page I'll get $160.

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