(21 Jan 2022)
Airbnb is to offer guests a travel insurance
product as part of a COVID19 support program.
The company launched what it calls an Extenuating
Circumstances policy in March 2020, enabling guests who booked
before the pandemic to get refunds. Airbnb still allows guests who
contract COVID19 to cancel for a full refund even if its outside
of the hosts cancellation policy.
Airbnb has a free cancellation search filter on its website to find listings that have more flexibility
Almost two thirds of active listings now offer
moderate or flexible cancellation policies. And Airbnb says that many hosts
have even gone above and beyond their cancellation policies to support
guests over the course of this unprecedented Omicron wave that hit
over the holiday travel season.
Despite these initiatives, the company is now
stepping up its support for guests by launching Airbnb Guest
Travel Insurance.
The custom-built guest travel insurance product is
being offered to Airbnb guests via the same team that brought the
company's AirCover Host protection product to life in partnership
with an insurance carrier.
The service is expected to launch in spring 2022.
Until the new product is available, Airbnb
recommends guests to purchase travel insurance elsewhere, or to utilize
the free cancellation search filter on its website to find
listings that have more flexibility.
Headlines: |
|
|