Cancellation of long-term booking due to visa rejection ( Help needed ASAP)

[Zakir1]

Hi,

We booked a place for about four months (7th Sep to 20 Dec, 2018) with four guests.  Unfortunately, one guest got his visa rejected. Now we want to cancel our trip, as it is not possible for the three of us to rent the place.

We contacted our host and explained the situation, and requested for refund of reservation fee as he has sufficient time until September to let his place to someone else. He replied I will not refund, you deserve this, and you should not have booked in the first place.

As the host is not willing to refund, now we want to know that can we get a full refund under Extenuating Circumstances Policy.

[Sarah977]

@Zakir1   Understood. And if the host actually said "you deserve this" that wasn't very professional of them, unless there is something else about your communication you're not telling us. Many hosts will offer to refund IF they are able to rebook the place for those dates, but 4 months is a long time to try to get fully booked again. Airbnb's are not hotels- if one guest cancels or doesn't show up at a hotel, another person will likely walk up to the counter looking for a room within the next hour or even 5 minutes. If Airbnb hosts refunded guests' money every time they asked and didn't stick to their own cancellation policies, there wouldn't be any hosts, because it would be a losing proposition.

Just as you think you are being reasonable (and you are) in saying you had to book the place far in advance in order to be assured of having a place, try to understand that the host is also being reasonable in not agreeing to a total refund. At this point, for instance, they have probably spent some time just dealing with your original booking and then your refund requests. Are they supposed to do this for you for free, just because your friend was denied his visa? Guests never seem to take those kinds of things into consideration when demanding a full refund. 

[Cormac0]

@Zakir1

you might consider asking your friend to cough up the cash as he's the one that caused the problem or maybe the U.K. government.

Riddle me this Zakir, why should the host who is the completely innocent person in this drama be out of pocket?

Even based on “opportunity cost” alone the host should receive compensation, by the way a host time does not come for free and your problem should not become your hosts problem.

I curious as to why your friends visas was rejected?

U.K. immigration officer guidelines:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6739...

[Elena87]

@Zakir1

I'd suggest you knew in advance that there is a fairly high possibility that visa applications from certain parts of the world to the UK can be rejected.

I'd say booking a place in advance prior to obtaining a visa was therefore reckless. Especially if the rejection of only one from four people completely scupper your plans.

You are now asking the host to underwrite your risk without any obligation on your part.

It's clear you are stretching the veracity of the matter by trying to shoehorn in the visa rejection under the extenuating circumstances. When you booked, you agreed to the condition that if you cancelled you must pay 30 days of the contract.

[Zakir1]

I have been very disappointed by most of the replies, in which only I am being blamed in one way or another. I posted for seeking help but instead most people held me responsible and does not directed me to any sort of solution.

I do not know why the majority is taking the host side, It may be because all of them are hosts and only knows how to earn money through Airbnb, but do not know how it feels (especially when you are a student) to lose £2258. I regret that I posted here for help 😞

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Zakir1 

Contact Airbnb and submit documentation to see whether they will consider your situation as an extenunating circumstance (I personally don't think so but Airbnb may think otherwise - can't hurt to try). But again.....rules are rules~

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#long-term

If the guest books a long term reservation and decides to cancel the reservation before the start date, the first month of the reservation is paid to the host in full and *not refunded to the guest.*

[David126]

The air air fares would be a lot more than that.

Does make me wonder when you booked if you read the cancellation conditions taking into account the relatively high risk of you would need t to do so.

And if you notified the Host prior to booking that you may need to cancel as one of the party has to apply for a Visa and if the Host agreed to refund if that did not process.

Often people mention Travel Insurance but I would be relatively certain that no Travel Insurer would pay out in such a situation yet you expect the Host to do so.