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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Airbnb owner wants proof of vaccination

233 replies

garlictwist · 10/04/2021 05:46

OH and I are due to go away on Monday as restrictions ease. We booked an air bnb several weeks ago when Boris announced the road map and all was fine.

Yesterday the owner emailed me to ask me to send her proof of our vaccinations.

We haven't had it. I'm 40, OH is 35 and it hasn't been our turn yet.

When I told her she responded saying she was going to cancel the booking.

We will get a refund but AIBU to be really pissed off! There was no mention of any vaccination requirement when we booked, it's not our faut we haven't been vaccinated and now we have to find a new holiday home with two days to spare.

I haven't had a week off work since 2019 and I'm just fed up.

OP posts:
HeartsAndClubs · 10/04/2021 08:08

Realistically though all you can do is report to Air bnb to get your money back. At the end of the day, you’re not going to be staying there, so it’s about getting a refund plus hopefully finding somewhere else at short notice at a similar price, which to be honest is unlikely because hotels etc have all put their prices up significantly. Even the premier inn in some parts have tripled their prices. Shock

butterpuffed · 10/04/2021 08:11

@ButtonMoony

Meh. Her house her rules.

Book somewhere else

That's hardly the point. It should have been made clear in their details before bookings were made, not afterwards.
peak2021 · 10/04/2021 08:13

Contact Air BnB. Vaccinations started in January in reasonable numbers, with a programme by age and indicative dates that have been exceeded. So totally unreasonable not to have asked you at the time of booking.

I'd consider contacting local trading standards (local to the property), which won't get you your booking but may stop someone else being treated like you.

lightand · 10/04/2021 08:14

@poppycat10

Op she's breaching the contract, but that isn't going to help you here.

She's completely stupid if she thinks people in your age group have been vaccinated. Have you told her it hasn't been offered yet? Even my 81 year old mother is only receiving her second dose today, so anyone in her area a bit younger, ever mind in their 30s or 40s won't have had it.

Leave a bad review and see if you can find somewhere else.

Also the vaccination card doesn't have your name on - my DH has had his first dose and all it says is the vaccine and batch.

I knew some stupid people would start making up their own rules about this though. As I said, she's in breach of contract, but not much you can do about it if she refunds your money as there's no loss to you.

Those of you saying she can set her own rules, not unilaterally, after a contract has been entered into, she can't. Go and read some consumer law.

If this poster is correct op[and many others on this thread not], you may need to repost on legal matters board, if you want to take the matter further.

I do get the impression sometimes, that with legal matters in particular, but other issues too such as health, some MNetters say things when really they have next to no knowledge.

Stovetopespresso · 10/04/2021 08:15

@makingmammaries

Health is a protected characteristic so I think that is likely to count as discrimination and contravene Airbnb’s terms and conditions.
agree, hotels can't pick and choose who to have, there was a case of a gay couple not being allowed a room years ago, so why would Airbnb be any different?

but I thought only self contained self catering was allowed atm.

MrsFin · 10/04/2021 08:16

@KoalaOok

Not sure what proof you were meant to send her either really.

You get given a card with details of your vaccination and the date. You're meant to carry it with you in case you have any problems.

Elphame · 10/04/2021 08:18

Your mistake was using Airbnb.

Next time use booking.com. They’d have found you alternative accommodation and the owner would have to pay the difference if it was more expensive.

(Speaking as a holiday home owner who’s always paranoid about messing up her booking.com calendar)

KoalaOok · 10/04/2021 08:19

Thanks MrsFin I thought you just got a sticker!

lljkk · 10/04/2021 08:22

easy enough to state the specific facts (exact names) on real social media, OP, let others decide how much they want to go there.

Zampa · 10/04/2021 08:23

You get given a card with details of your vaccination and the date. You're meant to carry it with you in case you have any problems

I didn't get a card (or a sticker Sad). I have no proof at all.

Livelovebehappy · 10/04/2021 08:24

Leave a negative review. Airbnb hosts succeed or fail by their reviews. You can leave a review even if you haven’t stayed there yet. Just note on the review the circumstances, then at least people looking to book wont fall victim to it. I agree she can set her own rules, but it’s very unreasonable to do this at such short notice.

BusyLizzie61 · 10/04/2021 08:24

Given that Airbnb expect to be able to request that you show your covid negative status, I cannot believe they'll get their knickers in a twist over this.

It's unfortunate, but not really unexpected.

It's unfortunate that this will in the short term impact more on the younger and supposed healthier population, but that's shortlived if the expectations re vaccine roll out continue.
Look elsewhere @Garlictwist There's bound to be somewhere. Though I get it is a pain with such short notice.

Oblomov21 · 10/04/2021 08:26

This is going to be a minefield isn't it! In the future aswell?

Ohnomoreno · 10/04/2021 08:27

Seems illegal to me. I mean in that case what's stopping people asking for your HIV status.

poppycat10 · 10/04/2021 08:28

You get given a card with details of your vaccination and the date. You're meant to carry it with you in case you have any problems

it doesn't have your name on [sigh]

I do get the impression sometimes, that with legal matters in particular, but other issues too such as health, some MNetters say things when really they have next to no knowledge

Yes completely. I do know about consumer law, I don't for example know about family law so I keep my mouth shut about that.

RaspberryCoulis · 10/04/2021 08:28

Is this an air bnb where you are staying in a B&B type arrangement in a room in the owner's house when she is there too? Or are you hiring her house as a holiday house arrangement and won't see her?

Either way yes she's being unreasonable. In Scotland you're given nothing to show you've had it.

annie987 · 10/04/2021 08:28

I’ve been vaccinated and they ran out of codes. They wrote my batch number on a post it! They had no stickers either! So I’d have no proof - unless they accepted the post it!!

annie987 · 10/04/2021 08:29

Should’ve said they ran out of ‘cards’

poppycat10 · 10/04/2021 08:29

@Ohnomoreno

Seems illegal to me. I mean in that case what's stopping people asking for your HIV status.
Well quite. It's the same sort of hysteria - eg being able to catch it from toilet seats.
Bobbiebigbum · 10/04/2021 08:29

What a bonkers wombat of a woman. Get a refund and book somewhere else.

poppycat10 · 10/04/2021 08:30

Is this an air bnb where you are staying in a B&B type arrangement in a room in the owner's house when she is there too? Or are you hiring her house as a holiday house arrangement and won't see her

I assume it's self-contained, B&Bs are not allowed to open yet. I think if you were nervous about catching covid you'd just have to take the financial hit and not reopen a B&B where people are in your home until you'd been vaccinated.

lljkk · 10/04/2021 08:32

Airbnb expect to be able to request that you show your covid negative status

DD has just booked a AirBnB and not had to provide any such proof, so I don't think it's a global AirBnB policy to demand this.

Requirement for jab or certificate should be written out explicitly in the House Rules section, right? Where else would it be stated, are Letters allowed to change the rules after a booking is made? That seems like legally changing terms of a contract, is their ability to do that in the fine print?

sanfranfibber · 10/04/2021 08:32

@makingmammaries

Health is a protected characteristic so I think that is likely to count as discrimination and contravene Airbnb’s terms and conditions.
No it isn't, and no you won't.

Do people just make stuff up on here?!

OverTheRubicon · 10/04/2021 08:32

@TabbyStar

This is Airbnb's guide about discrimination, www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2867/nondiscrimination-policy

"Health" isn't covered in the Equality Act as a PP suggested, it's disability, and there are time conditions attatched to this so it wouldn't apply. Age is in the Equality Act but doesn't count as a protected characteristic when renting out a home. There are also different rules when the owner lives in the property.

Although there are certain medical conditions that don't allow for vaccination, so in some cases it would be discrimination - e.g. someone with cancer receiving chemo who had booked an Airbnb flat to stay away from others but see something new would not be allowed to.stay under her policy.
Bobbiebigbum · 10/04/2021 08:35

Oh god, this is how it's going to be. People taking the law into their own hands....

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