Claim: Airbnb warns government will start travel restrictions on June 6th
An April 27 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims that the popular travel website has issued a warning about upcoming travel restrictions.
Message from AirBnB: 'We expect the government to restrict travel after June 6, 2024.'
It further claims that these developments are related to “foreseeable weather events leading to government travel restrictions and large-scale utility power outages.”
The claim appeared in a Substack post on April 10 and was shared on Facebook more than 100 times in three weeks, according to social media analytics tool CrowdTangle.version of the claim regarding X, formerly Twitter, It was reposted over 3,000 times in 5 days.
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Our rating: False
Airbnb announced updates to its refund and cancellation policies in response to certain events, including government travel restrictions. It did not warn about upcoming events.
Airbnb updated policies but did not anticipate travel restrictions
The post references Airbnb's announcement in late March about updates to its “Severely Disruptive Events” policy. However, as this post claims, neither the policy nor the news release announcing the change foresees impending government travel restrictions.
The policy already allows guests to cancel reservations for “unforeseen significant events” such as “natural disasters, government travel restrictions, or weather events,” regardless of a host's cancellation policy. Hosts can also cancel reservations without a fee, according to a news release.
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The update also explicitly applies to “foreseeable weather events,” including “hurricanes during hurricane season that cause the occurrence of another covered event, such as government travel restrictions or widespread power outages of essential public facilities.” ”, the news release said.
“As an example, if a hurricane impacts Florida during hurricane season and a mandatory evacuation order is issued, under previous policy, reservations to this affected destination would not be eligible for a refund.” It is stated in the news release. “With this update, guests with affected reservations will be eligible for a refund in similar circumstances.”
Policy changes will take effect on June 6th, the same date mentioned in the claim.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the post for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. Airbnb declined to comment on the record.
Reuters also debunked this claim.
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