Airbnb updates cancellation policy to include ‘foreseeable weather events’

Short-term letting company Airbnb has updated its cancellation policy to make it easier for reservations to be cancelled and refunded without consequences when “foreseeable weather events” occur.

However, the policy will apply only to events in the place where the reservation is located. Events that impact a guest’s ability to travel to the reservation location will no longer covered.

The group said it was renaming its “extenuating circumstances policy” as the “major disruptive events policy” to better reflect its purpose.

The policy provides cancellation and refund support for customers when unexpected major events such as natural disasters, government travel restrictions or weather events impact their ability to stay at a location.

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When the policy is in effect, it overrides the host’s booking cancellation policy and enables customers to cancel eligible upcoming and active reservations at the impacted location for a refund.

The policy secondly allows hosts to cancel reservations without fees and other related consequences.

“Now, the policy will explicitly apply to foreseeable weather events, like a hurricane during hurricane season, that result in another covered event happening, like a government travel restriction or large-scale outage of essential utilities,” it said.

“This means guests with eligible reservations can cancel and receive a refund and hosts can cancel without fees and related consequences.

“As an example, if a hurricane were to impact Florida during hurricane season and this led to a mandatory evacuation order, under the old policy affected bookings for this destination would not be eligible for a refund. With this update, in these same circumstances, guests with affected bookings do qualify for a refund.”

Airbnb’s head of community policy Juniper Downs said: “The changes to this policy, including its new name, were made to create clarity for our guests and hosts and ensure it is meeting the diverse needs of our global community.

“Our aim was to clearly explain when the policy applies to a reservation, and to deliver fair and consistent outcomes for our users. These updates also bring the policy in line with industry standards.”

The platform pointed out the cancellation and refund policy is not designed to apply to all types of unexpected issues and emergencies that can impact a trip. “Guests should consider purchasing travel insurance,” it added.

The policy updates come into effect for all reservations taking place on or after June 6th.

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