host did not cancel after i asked her on chat

[Paolo970]

Hello everyone, i am not sure if i am in the right place for advices.... so the story goes like that, i told my host via chat that we could not go because of the virus to her place, a couple of weeks before the stay, telling her that if she wanted she could keep the money and book us for next year fair or refound us...she did not reply and in the meantime my stay date arrived ... i wrote her why she didn't cancel or rescheduled and she replied i have to ask airbnb, but of course if i try to cancel i have no refound...do someone know what can i do to get my money back or a voucher for her place? she is not responding anymore

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Paolo970. If you could not travel you should have canceled your reservation. You would get a refund depending on her cancelation policy or according to Airbnb's policy regarding COVID. You tried to be fair and do the best for both of you but unfortunately, your host just took the opportunity to take your money for nothing. It may be because she was angry about how Airbnb treated hosts during this pandemic or maybe she is just this type of person. I am sorry you lost your money, many hosts, including me, would be happy to book you next year.

[Debra300]

@Paolo970, @Branka-and-Silvia0,

The host may not have canceled the reservation, because of fear having a cancellation on their account. The period ended last month that allowed hosts to cancel reservations without a penalty. 

@Paolo970 when you didn't receive a response from the host after two days, you should have contacted Airbnb Customer Service to request assistance with rescheduling the stay.  Also, make sure that you always use Airbnb's message system whenever you communicate with hosts so Airbnb can see the correspondence.