I have recently had the most disgusting interaction with Airbnb and it’s support team.
KZN recently experienced flooding the week before Easter in some parts north and south of the city. And while some areas were badly affected. My particular area (Umhlanga Rocks) and in particular my property was not affected at all.
A guest that was booked in to stay from 14-18 April 2022 messaged me on Tuesday to inform me that he wasn’t going to be travelling to Umhlanga due to the flood. Now bare in mind that the guest was coming from Gauteng and travel to and from Umhlanga was not affected in any way. The N3 national highway was completely open as well as our international airport.
The guest simply choose not to come, he didn’t cancel the booking either. I couldn’t even get a chance to replace the guest as the dates remained blocked on the Airbnb calendar.
Airbnb then asked on Tuesday the 19th of April 2022 if I would refund the guest, the also mentioned that I didn’t have to as my cancellation policy was strict. How can I refund a guest who simply chose not to come and didn’t cancel through Airbnb? The support agent concurred and closed the matter.
To my dismay, I receive another email from Airbnb on Monday 2nd of May 2022 to say that they have reopened this matter and that the guest will be refunded 100% of the reservation.
They sighted the case fell under extenuating circumstances. I read their clause, which states that their must be a wide outage of utilities in the area. Which there wasn’t. All amenities were open.
How can Airbnb do this to a host when we have been negatively affected for the last 2 years throughout the pandemic??
Airbnb simply refuses to respond and now I’m out of pocket.
what are my options?
