Help please!

[Mallorie8]

Can someone please tell me how I have not been able to receive some kind of refund for my booking. I booked a week and a half before my check in and then Hurricane Elsa stopped us from leaving g Florida because we would have got caught in the Hurricane if we left. I asked to get my booking moved up a week so we could safely travel. No response. I now want my refund of $2500 and I still get no response. How can I contact some kind of management? It only gives me the chat with the computer, not a real person!!! 

[Till-and-Jutta0]

Hi @Mallorie8 , you „asked“: How / whom did you ask?

There is an Extenuating Circumstances Policy – if the hurricane has been declared by the government as an emergency, then you could cancel and formally claim for a refund due to an extenuating circumstance:

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1320/extenuating-circumstances-policy

[Colleen253]

From the extenuating circumstances policy (referring to what is covered). Note the last line….

Natural disasters. Natural disasters, acts of God, large-scale outages of essential utilities, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and other severe and abnormal weather events. This does not include weather or natural conditions that are common enough to be foreseeable in that location—for example, hurricanes occurring during hurricane season in Florida.

Perhaps you could try claiming on the travel insurance you purchased for your trip. Regarding not being able to reach the host, no doubt they were in disaster mode, which may have had something to do with lack of response. Did you formally cancel your booking? Did you try calling Airbnb rather than using chat?

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Mallorie8 so if I am reading this correctly you couldn't travel to your Airbnb booking due to a hurricane where you live? If so why should your host lose out by refunding you? The hurricane is hardly their fault and you are into the hurricane season now so not unexpected.

[Emiel1]

@Mallorie8 

" I asked to get my booking moved up a week so we could safely travel"

Did you only asked (sent a message to the host) or did you sent a change request to the host (via "change" option on the reservation) ?

Did you check if the cancellation policy would have provided some refund on date of cancellation ?

Did you cancelled the reservation at some time ?

[Debra300]

@Mallorie8,

I cannot tell by your posting which direction were you traveling, but I hope you purchased travel insurance or used a credit card that provides that coverage, because I don't think your situation qualifies for extenuating circumstances since you probably could have flown out the day after the storm passed.  We were at our Atlanta home on July 2 when Elsa ripped through St. Lucia, and the entire island had shut down on July 1 because of the hurricane. We were already scheduled to fly down on July 3, and did so with only a one hour delay while the airline confirmed that the island's airports had re-opened.  The situation was similar on the other islands and parts of Florida that persevered through Elsa.  They had restored utilities to the majority of residents within hours after Elsa passed, and resumed business the day after the hurricane/storm.  As Elsa traveled up the Florida gulf and panhandle, she was downgraded to a powerful tropical storm, and produced very strong winds, heavy rainfall, and caused flooding.  However, air traffic was only temporarily affected.  Tampa International Airport and Sarasota Bradenton International Airport suspended commercial air travel during the early evening of July 6, and re-opened the morning of July 7.  Orlando International Airport didn't close, but did have some cancellations.

You can try contacting Airbnb on social media, Twitter and Facebook, to see if you get a response.