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Community policy

Weather events, natural conditions, and diseases that are excluded from our Extenuating Circumstances Policy

Our Extenuating Circumstances Policy allows for guests and hosts to cancel only where the circumstances were not foreseeable at the time the reservation was made. Foreseeable circumstances that are not covered include the weather events, natural conditions and diseases described in this article, as well as any transportation disruptions that result from them. This article is intended to illustrate the most common excluded weather events, natural conditions and diseases rather than to provide an exhaustive list.

We encourage guests to research their destination before booking, carefully review the host’s cancellation policy, and consider buying travel insurance to protect against unexpected travel disruptions.

Tropical storms, cyclones, hurricanes, and typhoons

Tropical cyclones are storms that typically form over bodies of water in the tropics and impact many coastal regions around the world. Depending on their location and strength, these storms are also known as hurricanes, typhoons, tropical storms, tropical depressions, and cyclones. Below are examples of the regions most frequently impacted and their storm seasons.

RegionSeason
Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
Examples: Belize, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, The Bahamas, the United States (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas), U.S. Virgin Islands, and the British Virgin Islands.
June through November
North Atlantic Ocean
Examples: Delaware, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, and Virginia.
June through November
Eastern Pacific Ocean
Examples: Mexico, Guatemala, and Hawaii.
May through November
Western Pacific Ocean
Examples: Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, and Vietnam.
May through September
Indian Ocean
Examples: coastal regions in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
May through June, and October through November
South Pacific Ocean
Examples: Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Vanuatu and Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia).
November through April

Winter conditions and storms

Winter conditions and storms are characterized by snow, ice, sleet, freezing rain, and/or extremely low temperatures during the winter months. The time of year when winter conditions and storms occur varies significantly by location, altitude and latitude. Places near sea level in the tropics don’t typically experience significant winter conditions or storms, while mountainous regions and areas further from the equator typically experience longer and more severe winter seasons, with a greater possibility of winter conditions and storms earlier and later into the season. Below are examples of areas regularly impacted by winter conditions and storms, and their seasons.

RegionSeason
Northern Hemisphere

Examples:

North America:
Much of the United States (including Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Idaho, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming), and all of Canada.

Europe & Central Asia:
Afghanistan, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Ukraine.

Japan:
Hokkaidō, Tōhoku, Kantō, Koshinetsu, Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, Shikoku, and Kyūshū.

Other Asia:
India (northern states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), Mongolia, and Nepal.

December through February

Southern Hemisphere

Examples: Argentina, Chile, and New Zealand (central area of North Island, South and East of South Island, and mountainous areas).
June through September

Endemic Diseases

Endemic diseases are diseases that are commonly found in certain regions as reported by public health authorities. These diseases may not always be found in high levels in these areas, and may experience high and low periods, but the risk of infection from these diseases is considered present on an ongoing basis in these areas. Below are examples of endemic diseases commonly found in different regions.

RegionDiseases
Africa and the Middle EastCholera, hepatitis, yellow fever, malaria, meningitis, rabies, typhoid, zika, schistosomiasis, river blindness, sleeping sickness, tuberculosis, lymphatic filariasis, viral hemorrhagic fever, chikungunya, giardia, and HIV / AIDS.
AsiaCholera, dengue, hepatitis, malaria, rabies, typhoid, zika, schistosomiasis, tuberculosis, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, giardia, and HIV / AIDS.
AustraliaHepatitis, measles, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, dengue, and HIV / AIDS.
EuropeHepatitis, HIV / AIDS, tick borne illnesses (including Lyme’s disease), measles, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and tuberculosis.
Latin America and the Caribbean Chagas disease, cholera, dengue, hepatitis, yellow fever, malaria, rabies, typhoid, zika, schistosomiasis, river blindness, sleeping sickness, tuberculosis, tick borne illnesses, giardia, chikungunya, cyclosporosis, leptospirosis, and HIV / AIDS.
South Pacific OceanCholera, dengue, hepatitis, malaria, rabies, typhoid, zika, tuberculosis, leprosy, soil helminths, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, and HIV / AIDS.
United States and CanadaHepatitis, HIV / AIDS, tick borne illnesses (including Lyme’s disease), measles, West Nile virus, eastern equine encephalitis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and tuberculosis.

The weather events and endemic diseases listed above are non-exhaustive examples and are informed by data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization, among other sources. 

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