We recently booked a property based on the availability of bikes. The property is located at a bit of a distance from the attractions that we're interested in, so the availability of bikes was very important to us, and I communicated this to our host at the time of booking.
Today, the host informed us that the bikes will no longer be available due to insurance issues, and encouraged us to pursue rentals (this would be very expensive...nearly as much as what we were paying for a week's accommodations). We decided to cancel the reservation and find another listing that has what we need.
The host has a flexible cancellation policy that we're eligible for (travel dates are in January 2018), so that's great. But I shouldn't have to pay the Airbnb service fee for my canceled reservation because the host has changed the amenities that he offers. I was proactive about ensuring that this specific amenity would be available (Airbnb should see this in the messages we exchanged). I'll also be making a new booking and so will pay another service fee...
How can I get a refund of the service fee for my original booking? Considering the fact that the host altered what he's offering in the listing, there should be a way to do this. I considered asking the host to cancel, but the Airbnb prompt said that unless the host has indicated that the property is unavailable for some reason, I should cancel the reservation myself, so I did.
Thanks in advance for the help!