Hacker News Reader

Comment by elhudy | Hacker News Reader

Glad to see the money they are stealing from those of us who can't cancel our summer airBNBs is going to a good cause.

Is it just a certain time period? I've cancelled two stays and have received full refunds, but both were in April and May of this year.

Mine is late June / Early July in Italy of all places, and is not covered. They keep extending the coverage period though so I'm crossing my fingers.

They're gradually pushing the time period back, as of a couple days ago I believe it was end of May. As of right now it's for "stays and Airbnb Experiences made on or before March 14, 2020, with a check-in date between March 14, 2020 and June 15, 2020"

Of course, events as far out as late July are cancelled due to COVID-19

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2701/extenuating-circums...

Additionally, this policy has been modified since COVID arose to only apply to 1.5 months out.

In the past, and in fact when I booked my airbnb (late last year), extenuating circumstances would have easily covered an epidemic 2 months out.

If they won’t let you cancel, and you don’t want to go, I’m sure there are plenty of ER nurses that you could donate your booking to. I also keep hearing of hospital bed shortages.

How come you can't cancel? Did you book at place with strict cancellation policy or is there something else?

Yes, strict cancellation policy. For those following the drama, they keep extending their extenuating circumstances policy out but it doesn't cover most of the summer yet. Apparently the circumstances are only extenuating for the immediate future.

I wouldn't worry, it will extend out.. we aren't going to be out of this mess for 12-18 months.... the US especially.

Well here's to hoping that we ARE out of this mess even if it costs me my airbnb deposit.

That's unlikely at this point. Enough people ignored social distancing and still are not wearing masks that the powder keg is about to explode. There also will be a second wave.

The social distancing thing is subtle, it only takes a few outside of the bubble interactions to break the whole thing. Given the 2+ week lag we are still seeing the initial wave propagate and has not yet peaked.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com