---
source: Airbnb Newsroom
author: Airbnb, Inc.
title: "Airbnb's Work to Protect its Community During the Coronavirus Outbreak"
date: 2020-02-28
live_url: https://news.airbnb.com/update-on-extenuating-circumstances-policy-for-coronavirus/
archive_url:
retrieval: full
retrieved_via: live
captured: 2026-06-25
categories: [gig-pandemic-support, airbnb, extenuating-circumstances, cancellation-policy, refunds]
---

## Why this matters
Airbnb's early activation of its Extenuating Circumstances policy, letting impacted hosts and guests cancel eligible reservations without charge — the policy mechanism that later drove the mass guest refunds Chesky apologized for in his March 30 letter. NOTE: This URL slug references the extenuating-circumstances update, but the live page now serves Airbnb's broader "Work to Protect its Community" statement with a published date of 2020-02-28 and last-modified 2020-03-14 (not the 2020-03-11 date listed in the task). The dedicated standalone March 11 full-refund post appears to have been consolidated/redirected into this evergreen page. Filename slug retained as assigned; recorded date corrected to the page's actual published_time.

## Full text / excerpt
# Airbnb's Work to Protect its Community During the Coronavirus Outbreak

By Airbnb · February 28, 2020 · Policy

(Published 2020-02-28; last modified 2020-03-14 per page metadata.)

Airbnb is closely monitoring official news and guidance about the novel coronavirus outbreak in order to support our community of hosts, guests and employees in China and around the world — we are prioritizing their safety and wellbeing.

As governments and organizations work to contain and mitigate the outbreak, travel and other restrictions have been implemented in several places around the world. To help accommodate these disruptions, we have activated our "extenuating circumstances policy" to offer impacted hosts and guests the option of cancelling eligible reservations without charge. This policy is being updated regularly and observes guidance and recommendations from the World Health Organization and governmental and health authorities. Please find more details here (Airbnb Help Center article 2701: Coronavirus information and extenuating circumstances policy).

Airbnb is also working to help keep people informed and to support governments who are responding to this health emergency. Travelers searching severely impacted areas are alerted by travel advisory banners and are guided to seek official information sources, such as the list offered on our Help Page. When requested by authorities, we also share links to official information sources directly with our host community.

The Coronavirus outbreak is causing travel restrictions and other disruptions that have a direct impact on the travel and tourism sector and beyond. Although nobody can know the extent of the impact that the Coronavirus outbreak may have, we believe that history shows that when global disruptions happen, the travel industry has bounced back in the long run. Most importantly, our focus right now is on how we can best support our stakeholders as they are impacted by this global health challenge, including hosts, guests, employees and the communities in which we operate.

Read more about: COVID-19