In response to the global situation of the Covid-19 outbreak, Airbnb is updating its cancellation policy to allow guests to cancel their reservations with full refunds, and at no charge, the company announced on Saturday (Mar. 14, 2020).

All reservations with check-in dates between Mar. 14 to Apr. 14 can be refunded

With the update, Airbnb's Extenuating Circumstances policy will apply to all existing reservations with check-in dates between Mar. 14, 2020 to Apr. 14, 2020, except domestic travel in mainland China.

"This policy applies to bookings of places to stay and Airbnb Experiences in every country and region around the world, with the exception of domestic travel in mainland China which is scheduled to return to normal rules on April 1."

The policy allows guests and hosts to cancel eligible reservations with no charge or penalty.

Previously, the company resisted issuing refunds to its guests, largely leaving the decision up to its hosts.

Refunds from Airbnb were only guaranteed to a select list of countries, before the policy update.

Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, wrote on Twitter that they "don't want guests to feel like they have to travel because they cannot get their money back".

We don’t want guests to feel like they have to travel because they cannot get their money back.

— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) March 14, 2020

Airbnb working to help hosts

While the situation is surely a boon for guests, the recently-updated policy has not been sitting well with Airbnb's hosts.

Short-term vacation rental group purchasing organization Host GPO posted an open letter to Airbnb about the new refund policy, CNN reported.

"Extending refunds to practically everyone through April 1st," they wrote, "will be absolutely devastating to hosts."

Host GPO wrote in its open letter urging Airbnb to reconsider its decision.

"To prevent hosts from losing their livelihoods, it's important to make sure that hosts survive the unprecedented onslaught of cancellations."

With hosts greatly affected by the evolving situation, Airbnb added that the company will be coming up with initiatives to support hosts.

In its statement on Saturday, the company also thanked hosts for providing guests cancellations outside of their existing cancellation policies, even before the policy was updated.

"We examined Airbnb reservations that were canceled in the last month and found that 86 per cent of the money that would have been spent by guests on these reservations was returned to them in the form of refunds," the statement read.

Chesky also praised individual hosts for taking the initiative to give their guests partial or full refunds at their own cost, and added that Airbnb will be coming up with ways to support the hosts, who have also been hit hard during the global health crisis.

Top image collage via Airbnb, Sara & Rich/Airbnb