Here’s when Airbnb will actually issue a refund, according to its updated policy [Video]

Airbnb is updating its cancellation and refund policy to include “unexpected major events” like natural disasters.

The US-based vacation rental company announced the update on Thursday in an online press release. The Major Disruptive Events Policy — formerly called the Extenuating Circumstances Policy — will go into effect on June 6.

The new policy will include “declared public health emergencies and epidemics,” but that does not include endemic diseases like the flu or COVID-19.

It will also cover government-issued travel restrictions, major essential utility outages, military actions, and natural disasters.

Although Airbnb does cover natural disasters, it notes that “weather or natural conditions that are common enough to be foreseeable in a given location — for example, hurricanes occurring during hurricane season in Florida — are covered only when they result in another Event covered by this Policy that prevents completion of the reservation, such as a mandatory evacuation order or large-scale outage of …