Airbnb has tweaked its reservation policies to ease the concerns of both guests and hosts over coronavirus- linked cancellations.
From now until June 1, Airbnb will waive the regulation 3% host fee that it takes from for hosts if they refund more of the guests’ money than the respective Airbnb cancellation policy mandates.
When cancelling a booking, the guest fee paid to Airbnb will be credited in the form of a voucher to be used for a future booking at a later date.
Airbnb will also more prominently feature homes with the new ‘More Flexible Reservations’ tools.
Hosts are still able to set their own cancellation policies and are being encouraged to be as flexible as possible in the current situation.
"When a crisis like coronavirus hits, we know both hosts and guests are affected. Hosts lose earnings that they rely on to make ends meet. Guests are losing hard earned vacation savings," the company said.
Even when a host does not offer a 100% cancellation fee waiver, Airbnb’s ‘extenuating circumstances’ policy may provide a full refund.
It covers travel from or to an area that has been ‘severely impacted’ by the coronavirus outbreak.
Airbnb has so far been allowing full refunds to people traveling to China, South Korea and Italy.
"While it is clear that the coronavirus will have an impact on the entire travel and tourism industry, we believe travel will recover in the long run," Airbnb said.
