Extenuating circumstances policy unfair to host

[Alison387]

Just adding this here to all of the other posts on this issue. I recently found out the hard way that there is no such thing a a ‘strict cancellation’ policy. A guest cancelled on the day of check in because she got altitude sickness, which is totally not my fault! I cannot believe air bnb thinks it’s ok for me to personally foot the bill for this, even though the guest booked a non-fundable booking and took it on their own risk to do this without travel insurance! Since I have to ‘pay’ for the reservation myself and cannot get a refund under any circumstances on the day of travel this is hugely unfair to the host sinc they are powerless to protect against this happening.  I do not know if any other travel, booking, hotel company that refunds guests in full if they cancel on the day of travel. Surely guests should take out travel insurance if they wish to claim against a non-refundable booking? Or Airbnb should stump up the cash if they want to run their business like this and allow such refunds etc that always favour the guest? 

I do do believe this is going to only get worse as guests will realise fairly quickly that air bnb will refund them at their every whim and will take advantage of this! Whenever I travel I have travel insurance to cover against illness or family emergencies that would prevent me from travelling, or I book a refundable booking (which does not exist on the day of travel). I am so unhappy at this injustice and am currently taking my listings down with Airbnb. Theylearly do not value their hosts and have this ludicrous policy of refunding people even though the booking is non-refundable. 

[Gerry-And-Rashid0]

@Alison387 You are right, it doesn't feel fair, but hosts also benefit from having to cancel at last minute to to extenuating circumstances, Hoefully it is a rare occurence for you. In 3 years it has yet to happen to us

[Vik4]

@Alison0 this just happened to me today as well and I was equally shocked.  I felt for the guest that they got sick but I relay on the income to cover the mortgage/expenses and to have a 5 day booking just gone like that the morning of was crazy to me!  I called Airbnb and they just didn't seem to care.   

I agree either airbnb should foot the bill if they want to keep this policy going or they should start offering the guests travel insurance, but for the host community to become the default travel insurance company makes me seriously consider if it is worth staying on this platform.  

And while it is great they may help the host out as well with this policy, I don't think they still take the money from the guest when the host has a problem, so why is it okay to take the money away from the host????

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

This is exactly why I decided early on that I will NEVER refund a guest beyond my (strict) cancellation policy, even if I get an alternate booking. 

I've been lucky not be have had such an experience but based on posts from many other hosts it's probably only a matter of time before abb decides to rob me of the money I'm owed due to extenuating circumstances or because a scamming guest takes advantage that the abb cs people are 99% pro-guest. 

Extenuating circumstances is totally unfair to the host and I'd go as far to say it is an unfair business practice. 

[Darcy38]

Yes, in Singapore we are also facing such troubles as the guest will book my place, get the address, use it to apply for a visa and cancel once they arrive in singapore giving tons of excueses. 

or, the guest will stay for a few nights and decide to stay somewhere else and ask for a refund, if not refunded, they will threaten to give bad reviews which affects superhost status. Such are the things that are happening in our small community.

Usually I explain to the guest nicely that : if you go to a restaurant and order a 10 course meal, you cant finish 3 course and demand a refund for the 7 dishes you dont feel like eating.

Most guest are ok, but there are still some who would lie and give a bad review. I'm very blessed that i run whole buildings, so the other guests staying are able to help give good reviews to cover up the bad lying review. I even had guests who were willing to help me call in to airbnb to help expose a lying guest, for that, I am thankful towards these kind guests.