Hosts in Hubei Allowed to Cancel Reservations without Fees
The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has put lodging sharing company Airbnb on red alert.
Compared to other lodging platforms that provide reservation services in cooperation with lodging companies such as hotels, Airbnb has more interpersonal transactions and more overseas travelers. While accommodation service providers such as large hotels can take preventive measures against communicable diseases according to their own policies, it is quite a big challenge for Airbab to provide guidelines for individual Airbnb hosts.
According to foreign media outlets, Airbnb is allowing hosts in China’s Hubei Province to cancel reservations without fees. Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, belongs to the province.
According to Airbnb's business policies, hosts in regions affected by endemic diseases are exempted from cancellation fees after reviews by a team in charge of this kind of issues.
As the new coronavirus outbreak spreads rapidly around the world, Airbnb is preparing a detailed policy to cope with the issue.