(edited to comply with Airbnb community privacy requirements)
Hello,
My name is Oren, a guest, from Israel.
I would like to share with the Airbnb community a negative experience I had with a host. In this incident, Airbnb has so far failed to provide any assistance.
Here is the synopsis of events:
1. On May 8th I booked the property of the host, a Villa in Peyia (Paphos) Cyprus for a price of USD 690.
At the time of booking, the owner agreed for a full refund if travel was not possible due to COVID-19 and specifically if there would be a need to quarantine either upon arrival to Cyprus or on return from Israel. Shortly after, the host canceled claiming the price was too low.
Airbnb support could not assist with asking the host to respect the published price.
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2. Since I booked the property together with a friend, I wanted to keep the property. So the host and I agreed on a new price, $867.
The host once again agreed, in writing, for a full refund if travel was not possible due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
While I understood these terms were beyond Airbnb's standard COVID-19 cancelation terms, I had full belief that this supplemental agreement would be respected and/or enforced.
3. On August 27th my flight to Cyprus was canceled due to COVID-19.
I requested the host to accept a full cancellation due to COVID-19. He agreed, in writing.
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4. I placed the COVID-19 cancellation request. The host declined. Claimed that travel was still possible and there were no restrictions for Israelis. Although clearly, this was not the case. Due to rising COVID-19 cases, Israel was and is still listed by the Cyprus Travel authority as a "Category C" country, which does not allow entry for tourists. Only by special permit, and even if so, requiring a 14-day self-quarantine.
See list of Category A + B countries. All other countries, including Israel are Category C:
https://cyprusflightpass.gov.cy/en/country-categories
5. On August 28th and via mediation by Airbnb support, the host and I agreed that I will cancel the reservation for a 50% refund, and he will refund the remaining 50% if he books the property for any duration of time, or if Israel is still listed as a category C country by September 14h. The agreement was once again done in writing.
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6. By September 14th, the host has partially booked the property, and Israel was listed as a category C country. I submitted a refund request via the resolution center. The host declined the request. He also basically laughed me off, using foul language.
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7. Following the host's response I contacted Airbnb support. They declined to help, saying that was ever was agreed is between myself and the host, and is not enforceable by Airbnb (!)
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8. A good friend of mine also booked a property with the same host and experienced the same sequence of events and the same lack of support by Airbnb. My friend experienced even worse treatment. In his case, the host fully booked the property after the cancellation, but still did not respect the agreement.
There is clearly a pattern here. On one hand, a host who's abusing the Airbnb platform, making promised he knows he won't keep.
On the other, Airbnb shrugs this practice off. This is a situation that supports abuse and leaves guests completely unprotected to false claims by hosts.
It seems my only course of action would be to issue a credit card charge-back or to file a petty-court claim against Airbnb.
Any other suggestions?
Thank you,
Oren
**[Private conversation removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]
