COVID refund

[Peter2814]

Is there a secret to getting a COVID refund for a booking that was canceled in May? AirBnB is still refusing to explain why they are not complying with their own written policy, all we get are canned 'customer service' emails that are factually inaccurate. It's astonishing, and I assume they're hoping we just give up and they can continue to keep the money.  

[Emilia42]

@Peter2814 

When did you book? Before or after March 14th?

[Peter2814]

before. canceled in may. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Peter2814 We need the third and fourth bits of info which are 3) what were the dates of your stay and 4) what method did you use to cancel. And perhaps the fifth which is what was the cancelation policy of the host.

[Peter2814]

Stay started on july 8. we canceled thru airbnb. the host cancellation policy is just to follow airbnb. someone has our money, but no one at airbnb can explain why we would not qualify for a refund (COVID or not, we would be eligible). 

[Johanna394]

I believe @Mike-And-Jane0 referred to the type of host cancellation policy (Flexible, Moderate, Strict, etc) with their fifth question, instead of what route to use to initiate the cancellation.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Peter2814 It may be that when you cancelled in May the Extenuating Circumstances policy had not, at that point, been extended to your July stay date. Even if their was a strict policy in place with the host you should have been refunded  50% of the cost of the stay minus the cleaning fee and service fees. The only reason why this wouldn't happen is if you had only paid 50% of the stay cost in which case I don't think any refund would be due.

Hope this makes sense

[Peter2814]

the policy had been extended at that point, the whole county we would have been staying was under legal order to cancel all short term rentals. no one at this awful company can explain in plain english why they will not issue a refund, just canned responses with a link to a document that explains that we should be covered, and occasionally an entirely different explanation that puts the blame on the host company while also claiming they cannot reach them. 

altogether the worst, most time-consuming experience with any company i've ever had. their demise will be a blessing.