Airbnb extends no-charge cancellation policy due to coronavirus
https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/13/airbnb-extends-no-charge-cancellation-policy-due-to-coronavirus/
Airbnb has announced updates to its policies that provide reservation cancellations without charge for stays booked in specific areas, as a result of the current state of the global coronavirus pandemic. Guests that booked reservations through Airbnb in mainland China, South Korea, Italy and the United States are now eligible to cancel their stays without incurring any fees.
The policy, detailed by Airbnb on their newsroom page, specifies that for bookings made in the U.S., it applies to all reservations booked before and including today, March 13, that have a check-in date of April 1, 2020 or earlier. This time-bounding seems reasonable, since it’s basically covering bookings made by people uninformed about the situation in the U.S. and extending to an endpoint that fits with most of the existing measures being taken by states and communities around social distancing and travel limitations. Airbnb also notes in its news release that it’ll continue to assess the situation, meaning the specifics of its extenuating circumstances coverage could change.