The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak as a Public Health Emergency on January 30, 2020, and as a ‘pandemic’ on March 11, 2020. With governments around the world trying to slow down the spread of this disease by focusing on precautionary hygiene measures until scientists find a vaccine, there is a growing panic that is affecting global markets. [reference: coronavirus protection updates] 

 However, there is no doubt that the hospitality and travel industries are the worst affected because of the COVID-19. Many countries are suspending travel as we speak as well as advising travelers to self-quarantine for a minimum of 14 days. More and more people are also canceling trips to severely affected countries such as China and Italy. 

 Because of this, the home-sharing and short-term rental site Airbnb has relaxed its refund policies. Guests stand to get a full refund because of the pandemic and hosts too won’t be charged a service fee when they refund guests ...