Unbeliveable Host!!

[Billur0]

Hi All,

I hope you all are well,

Unbelievable!! We book a cabin before this Tier 4 situation and the host refuse to do refund and trying to get profit from this!!!

We live in Soho London and all you know we are in Tier 4 now. Government and Westminster Council said do not travel and leave Tier 4 especially to lower Tiers. Also host is not allowed to host us...

We asked him some advice last week, about the latest news about Covid-19 and he said, `I think we all have a duty to follow the government guidelines`..  After that Government announced Tier 4 and we sent him a message about refund or change the dates and he refused both!!  He said `you should made an insurance`.. 

Now we are talking with Airbnb support but as I understand he still refuses to do refund. Also he doesn`t want to change the dates because he said on his message ```If I was to offer you a free booking in the future there is a good chance that I would have had a booking from another guest over those dates that I give you leaving me out of pocket.``` UNBELIEVABLE, I can not believe a person trying to get profit from this kind of situation.. 

I need your advice please. What we should do? 

Thank you

Best Regards

[Marit-Anne0]

@Monika481 in the help section at the top of the forum you will find a post with all the different ways of contacting airbnb CS. Google is your friend too😆

If hosting is forbidden in the area you were plan ing to visit, I belive the host is required by law to refund you.

[Louise916]

Thank you for your help

[Heidy23]

Hi everyone! We're also having the same issue with our host currently, and have called + texted Airbnb but it seems they're unable to do anything but ask the host themselves. The cancellation policy means we would be getting next to nothing back, which really sucks as this is out of our control. @Billur0 could you please let me know how you were able to get a full refund? I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

[Helen3]

If you are in the UK both hosts and guests are able to cancel penalty free during our national lockdown period. Just cancel using Covid as the reason.

Airbnb doesn't have to ask the host to agree to it. You have been misinformed if told that. Have you checked the Covid EC policy on the website for the UK @Heidy23  @Ela13346 

[Ela13346]

@Helen3  thanks for your post,

Yes, I was misinformed by the Airbnb helpline, I can clearly see that now.

@Heidy23 Airbnb called us yesterday, saying that we will receive the full refund to our PayPal account in 24h. I can see now that the whole amount is "pending".
I need to point out that the lady (Megan) who called us was very polite and she explained that they checked our communication with the host and Airbnb decided to make a full refund. 

There was no response from the host, but can't blame them, I feel bad after all that our trip didn't work out but there is nothing that we could do: rebooking for the next year didn't work out for the rest of the guests and I couldn't pay 1k just to fill up for them, so a refund was our only option.

Just a quick conclusion for new readers looking for info: 

my booking was due Friday 15/01/2021

my deadline for the cancellation and 50% refund was on 8/01/2021.

We contacted Airbnb & host 4/01, stayed in touch with the host until 6/01,

then we called the Airbnb on 7/01: 

when we first called, advisor hung out on us after we explained our case.

second &third call: we couldn't connect to the advisor after automatic voicemail: it just broke the line. 

fourth call: (from my phone, which is assigned to a different Airbnb account): we finally got through to the advisor, he connected us to Resolution centre: Airbnb said that they can't do anything except contacting the host and ask to consider the refund. ADDITIONALLY,  it was said that they will charge us £300 cancellation fee if the host agrees to cancel. There was no interest when we said that one of our guests is Covid Positive.

The host did not contact us at all. 

Out of blue, we got a call on Saturday (9/01) morning from Airbnb saying that we are getting the FULL refund. 

Nothing about £300 cancellation fee or hosts approval. 

So please, do not lose hope. Airbnb and some hosts will make it sound like you have no rights to a full refund. They will also try to convince you to cancel your booking before the deadline to recover the part of their deposit. Obviously, rebooking is the first solution, as, after all, hosts are struggling too. Every case is individual, but as you can see from the examples above, refunds happen so it's always worth to try. 

@Mike-And-Jane0 @Billur0 @Heidy23 thank you so much for the support and all info ❤️

[Ela13346]

Same issue 😞 feel sorry for the hosts, but they can't provide us with the service. Even with the best intentions, we looked into different dates but there is no availability until the end of the year, and most of the guest didn't agree to wait that long, so we are forced to cancel.

I can't believe that Airbnb is hiding under their cancellation policy when offering us a stay is breaching the law. I'm sure that Airbnb is receiving financial support from the government, and still, it's pretending that they can't do anything and put the whole blame on the host- it's clearly not up to host that there is national lockdown and they can't host us, but it's also not our fault that we booked a service and we won't be provided with that service. It's clearly the frustration of contract, but still, corporations seem to do just fine, saying that it's up to host to provide the accommodation. At the end Host and guest are breaking the law by going ahead with the service, Airbnb is taking no responsibility, crazy. 

Just finished a long call with Airbnb, spoke to their "Resolution Center" advisor, and it was nerve-wracking: they keep quoting their cancellation policy but are unable to answer to the simple question "how come our booking won't be cancelled if host won't be able to host us?" 

@Billur0   

I'm glad that you managed to solve your issue. Would you mind to share some more details about that solution? I'm more than happy to provide all of the documents to the Airbnb but they are clearly not interested.

[Heidy23]

Hi @Ela13346, I've done a bit of a deep dive and have found 2 useful documents to get money back if the host and airbnb both refuse to help: 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/visa-mastercard-chargeback/

and 

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/section75-protect-your-purchases/ - for if you've used a credit card and have spent over 100 pounds

[Ela13346]

Hi @Heidy23, 

sorry for the late reply!

thanks for pointing that out: unfortunately that does not apply in my case, we used PayPal Pool and paid directly from it...(it was my bday celebrations, we thought that weekend away with closest friends at the middle of nowhere would be a good idea... how wrong I was! ) but that is a good direction, I will check PayPal policy.

thanks anyway, your research is a great help,  thanks for sharing! 

[Louise916]

 02033 181 111 try this number! Sorry to hear your problem. They helped me. Good Luck!

[Ela13346]

Hi Louise,

thank you for your reply, 

I did call that number, following your previous post and that is how I got through to the Resolution Center. They show no mercy: maybe they are oversaturated with the calls, but their approach was far from helpful. After 30 minutes they agreed to contact the host but said that it's all up to host, Airbnb can't do anything. 

[Billur0]

@Ela13346 @Heidy23 

Hello , we tried all of the phone numbers of AirBnb on Google. +44 203 318 1111 this number should work and we also tried different one. But unfortunately I couldn’t find that number again 😞 I’m really sorry. Also, did you try resolution centre on the website? Actually, the hosts must cancel the reservation and do full refund by law. Because this is not an arbitrary cancellation. You can’t travel, it’s against the law. And the host and Airbnb know that. Also, the hosts can’t entertain guests by law.
For our situation, Customer Service was very helpful because our host was obviously tried to do benefit of the Covid-19  and Tier 4 issues . They realised his bad-minded attitude in the messages between us.  Maybe you can try to share your messages with them by email. Or you can go to small court for this matter. If they hadn't helped us, we would have been thinking of going to small court. And we mentioned this thought to them! Fortunately, there was no need because they convinced the host. I don’t know how can I help more. I hope you guys can find a solution.

[Heidy23]

Hi @Ela13346 , I've had the exact same conversation with the Airbnb staff. I also provided documents but have basically said nothing but the host is the only one with the ability to do or change anything. 

@Billur0, thanks so much for your reply. I've called that number that you put up but all they could do after 2 days is quote the cancellation policy and say they can't do anything, it's infuriating. Would you happen to have the documentation that states hosts must cancel the reservation and do full refund by law? I've only quoted the National Guidance and that doesn't seem to be enough...

[Ela13346]

Hi @Billur0  @Heidy23  

thanks for your reply, thanks to you I still hope that this issue can be resolved. 

We are currently waiting for the host to reply, but I'm not having high expectation as we tried negotiating with them and they keep quoting Airbnb cancellation policy and insisting that we were aware of the risks. Airbnb already mentioned that we won't get a full refund,  £300 from the booking goes to Airbnb for cancellation fees, but I can hope with that.
It's all up to hosts, but Airbnb contacted them yesterday and they still haven't reached out to us, so I guess the small court will be our next step.  

Our situation is even more complicated as one of the guest test positive for Covid, and we could provide his results but Airbnb didn't pay attention, so im guessing that won't help us either. 

Anyway, I wish you all the best and I hope your issue will be resolved quickly! 

[Heidy23]

Hi @Ela13346 

We're still waiting for the host to reply too - and we'll be looking at filing a CMA report as the authority states that a full refund should be offered if services haven't been provided. 

I thought if one of the guests test positive for Covid it would fall under extenuating circumstances! Sending all my best and wishing a speedy recovery. 

Hope your issue will be resolved quickly, too!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Heidy23 @Ela13346 

Provided it was the host who couldn't host you rather than you not being allowed to cancel then the law is clear. Airbnb (and I mean Airbnb) must accept that the contract is frustrated and refund you. If they do not then take them to the small claims court and you will win