Legalities v. Morals and Compassion. What do people think

[Patrick2583]

My father was recently involved in an air accident (flying a sailplane) and ended up in hospital in Bristol, UK, with a spinal injury. He was paralysed from the chest down and after two weeks he contracted a chest infection and, a few days later, died.

Because the family live in the north of England, we had to find somewhere to stay for this time. Initially a HolidayInn, then a few days in an AirBnB and then, on the 10th July my daughter booked a longer stay at **from the 18th July for several weeks. However on the 13th July a friend of a friend managed to find somewhere to put us up, so we never needed to use the AirBnB accommodation and my daughter cancelled it. However, because it was within a week of the rental start the landlord took the entire rental (less a cleaning fee!!).

I realize that a visitor booking a property then cancelling at the last minute prevents the landlord filling a property with alternative tenants. However the property was only off the market for two days and the second and third week of our booking were effectively "outside" the one week threshold for cancellation. Surely, in the circumstances, it would be reasonable not to pocket the money for those?

**[Link removed]

Everyone else we met in Bristol were fantastically kind and considerate: the staff in Southmead Hospital Intensive Care Unit, the people who let us stay in their house and a host of other people we met during our stressful time. I can't help feeling that the owner of the house would also be prepared to show some kindness, however the let seems to be done through an agent - Prime - and all of my daughter's subsequent attempts to contact anyone have been met with silence.

What else can we do?

[Helen3]

Hello so sorry to hear about your father @Patrick2583 

If your daughter wasn't sure she would need the accommodation she did have the option to book a listing with a flexible or moderate cancellation policy so she could cancel at the last minute and still be eligible for a refund.

I'm not quite sure why you would expect the host rather than your daughter to be out of pocket because she changed her arrangements . 

Personally I would never use a property management company - they are notoriously bad at communication.

I'm a Bristol host and if you had approached me I would have offered a proportional refund for any days I was able to rebook. Which is the fairest option for both hosts and guests.

can I ask why you put a link to the hosts listing - what were you hoping to achieve by doing this.?  

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Patrick2583 sadly the two days where the property was blocked could easily have been the time someone else would have booked it. You just don't know I am afraid. As @Helen3 said, a reasonably host would refund if they were able to rebook the property.