We have been renting rooms on Airbnb for up to 8 years and have always maintained clear and transparent communication with our guests.
In this case, a guest booked one of our rooms and later claimed that they believed they had rented an entire house instead of a private room. As a result, they requested a full refund based on their own misunderstanding.
We contacted Airbnb support to clarify the situation. At that time, Airbnb confirmed that the guest was in error and that we were not required to accept the refund request. The case was therefore closed in our favor.
Afterwards, the case was reopened, reviewed again, and once more closed with the same conclusion: the guest was not eligible for a refund.
However, more than a month later, a different case manager (JJ) reopened the matter. We were contacted on a Friday evening, and without giving us a reasonable opportunity to respond, a full refund was issued to the guest after more than one month.
We were not consulted or given the chance to present our full response before this decision was made.
Furthermore, the guest never showed up and never formally canceled the reservation. As a result, the room remained blocked and we were unable to rent it to other guests during that period, resulting in a direct financial loss.
Throughout the process, the guest repeatedly attempted to move communication to WhatsApp, despite our request to keep all communication on the Airbnb platform. Additionally, inconsistent and changing statements were made on the platform in an attempt to justify the refund request.
We find this situation highly unfair and inconsistent with the previous decisions made by Airbnb support. We kindly request a review of this case and a reconsideration of the refund decision.
I was personally quite shocked by the way this case was handled. In our experience, most Airbnb support agents are helpful and take the time to review all aspects of a situation. However, in this case, JJ appeared to have already made a decision before giving us the opportunity to properly respond.
There was no meaningful consideration of our input or of the facts we had previously shared, despite earlier decisions clearly being in our favor.
We find this approach highly unprofessional and disappointing, especially given our long-standing experience on the platform.
