Dear Mr. Cheskey, It is not my intent here to offend you, or berate you personnally! Airbnb's refund policies make a mockery of common human decency, fair-play, and good business practices, in my opinion, I'm sorry to say. They seem somewhat hypocritical, and embarrassing especially in light of Airbnb's recent excellent humanitarian program roll-out to help refugees from war-torn countries with 'free' housing, (if the hosts agree!) That kind of corporate community caring is to be applauded, and admired. Airbnb will go out of the way to help and accommodate a certain class of people, but not another class of people who actually pay the bills? That seems discriminatory? When a guest cancels a trip, especially for reasons beyond their control, ('extenuating circumstances policy' notwithstanding), and the guest incurrs a loss of half the total trip, that is not a penalty, it's a sentence and a monetary judgment! A punishment and a forced-fine without due process or representation for issues usually reserved for defendants in a criminal or civil case who are found guilty by a jury of their peers and sentenced by a Judge! Airbnb policy certainly seems skewed towards the Host! The Guests' who do cancel are left with little to no recourse when a host doesn't care to modify their refund policy level, or work with a guest on alternate dates or a refund, as my Host choose! If that's not unfair and one-sided? Making matters worse, Airbnb goes to extraordinary efforts not to help guests, when disputes occur. Airbnb acts as the de-facto judge and jury, points to and shifts issue resolution to the 'host' as sole arbiter for the refund policy level they chose! How many masters can one serve? When a guest feels dupped, patronized, taken advantage of, made a fool of, and 'left to twist in the wind' do you think they'll ever book a trip with Airbnb or that host again? Wouldn't a more reasonable policy say, "Wait a minute, that's not what we (Airbnb) is about! Let's see if we can work this out so all parties feel they have been treated fairly? Airbnb offers no internal guest independant advocate or independent arbiter to review the issues and assist guests in resolving and mediating difficult issues. (It's not the Customer Service Department!) In my first experience with Airbnb, a few weeks before my trip, my wife was diagnosed with advanced, stage 2-3, colon cancer! (What more does one have to say!?) I'm a disabled Vietnam-era veteran, retired former first-responder, and my wife's primary caregiver! Sorry, no refund for you! If you offered travel insurance I would have taken it! As it stands, I lost half of what I paid, for a trip I never took, for something 'no longer' covered under Airbnb's 'extenuating circumstances' policy!? The host did not want to make any accommodations, or changes, and I'm sorry to say, Airbnb's customer service is so egregious, patronizing, disingenuous, it's more than a very cruel joke! My request was that the Airbnb, Customer Service Ambassador, escalate my claim for a higher-review decision by Airbnb, and consideration for an 'exception-exemption', under circumstances not covered under the policy that was changed last year because Host's complained that they were not being treated fairly? because some guest's were taking advantage of the policy, and the Host's were losing money! NOW, I'm losing money..., for a trip my group never took, and fear and uncertainty with family issues! I felt obligated to reimburse each member, (brothers and friends), who also decided not to go out of respect for my wifes issues! I doubt this message will be recieved by you personnaly, but I hope it does. Is there no process by which you or Airbnb would consider an exception in this case, or better, allow a proccess at Airbnb to 'higher-level review' such issues when they occur for higher-review special condsideration? At least guests would all feel like we were being listened to, taken seriously, and being considered! Thank You. Tim2736
