With airlines, hotels, tour operators and booking platforms waiving off cancellation fees, the vacation rental company too has decided to follow suite. AirBnB has decided to give full refund to those, who made bookings between March 14, 2020 – April 14, 2020. The hosts aren’t too happy about it though.
Here’s Why
The amount that will be refunded to the guests who cancel their reservations, will have to be paid by the host. And this has made really angry. In fact, AirBnB is now facing backlash for it. The step to give refund has been taken as per its new Extenuating Circumstances Policy.
Also read: Due To Coronavirus, Travel Industry Is At Its Worst Since 9/11 Attack: Reports Suggest
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has affected the travel and hospitality industry massively. Even thought AirBnB works on a ‘home-rental model’, it, too, is facing the brunt of it because people are no longer stepping out of their houses, and cancelling all non-essential travel plans.
How Does It Work?
For those who register as hosts with AirBnB, they offer six different types of cancellation policies, out of which the they could set one. That would range from flexible to super-strict.
Brian Chesky, the co-founder of this peer to peer lodging service, tweeted saying that ‘we know our hosts depend on money from AirBnB. 50% depend on it to pay their rent or mortgage. We are working on some bold ideas to support hosts, and we will have news very soon.’
For now, the hosts don’t seem to be very happy about having to pay the refund, however the guests are. The refund policy is only valid for prior bookings that have been made advance and are valid till April 14, 2020. The Centre for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) released a statement that said all gatherings that involved 50 or more people had to be cancelled till May 10. So, there might be a possibility that this might just get extended too.