Unintentional booking cancellation

[Mengen1]

Airbnb does not protect their guests at all and have ridiculous policies to protect hosts. I booked a 3 week stay by accident and I only recieved 50 percent of my cash back (around 700 euros) after I requested cancellation within 1 MINUTE. It's ridiculous, I'm a student and I cannot risk to loose this amount of money. And Airbnb customer service are very much useless. I'm extremely disappointed in this company and how they run things and all their unjustified policies.

Is there something I can do? The host isn't replying at all and Airbnb representative says they have contacted the host and does not want to return a full refund.

[Sarah977]

@Sylvie1386  "I’m also extremely disappointed with Airbnb. I will never use that platform anymore. "

You're extremely disappointed based on what? All they did was uphold the host's cancellation policy that your daughter agreed to by booking.

I raised three daughters and saw part  of my job as a parent to teach them personal responsibility, not assist them in blaming others for their errors.

[Mengen1]

All I'm asking is for Airbnb to change their unfair policies, specially because some hosts can be mean and unsympathetic

[Colleen253]

 @Mengen1 “All I'm asking is for Airbnb to change their unfair policies, specially because some hosts can be mean and unsympathetic.”

The problem is, you’re viewing Airbnb and the host as your friends, not the business entities they are. In all your future transactions, I suggest that you pay more attention, read contracts and all the fine print carefully, and start taking more responsibility for yourself, instead of relying on the big bad world to have your back. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Mengen1  unfortunately you didn't book a listing from a small, private "host" who is a mean and unsympathetic person. You booked from an "agency" with hundreds of listings. It is not a person, it's an "industry", nothing personal or sympathetic there, just business,  just money. Some guests like to stay at such properties owned by agencies, they don't want any personal contact with the host, or reading the review the host gave them. And it is OK... but your experience shows another side of such faceless accommodations.

[Jenny349]

@Mengen1 @Whilst it is no doubt true that some hosts may (appear to) be “mean and unsympathetic”, I suspect that many, perhaps even the majority, go well beyond the level of service and flexibility you could reasonably expect from other travel industry providers such as hotels and airlines. 

Would I react in the same way as your host? Probably not, and I bet many others on here would show more sympathy too, but it’s a personal call and we only have your side of the story.
this particular case, there is nothing “unfair” about ABB’s policy. You simply failed to exercise due care and are unlucky in that it has cost you in this instance. I think you need to accept that and move on - could be worse, as they say.