FIRE around cabin, had to cancel, NOT REFUNDING MY MONEY!

[Amy1756]

I booked a cabin for the weekend for my kids and me. We had to cancel the morning of our trip because the Apple Fire in CA broke out, surrounding the entire city where we were going to stay. Roads were closed, they were starting evacuations, air quality was poor, etc. The host said he would cancel my reservation and refund my money,  no problem. Well, he didn't cancel it but DID send my money back to AirBNB, stating that the fires were the reason I couldn't stay. NOT ONLY is AirBNB trying to keep their commission, but they are holding the money that that host refunded and NOT responding to any of my messages. I've called FOUR times, and emailed their support SEVEN times. Zero response. 14 days have lapsed. What do I do? Sue AirBNB?

[Sarah977]

@Amy1756  Either the host is confused about how things on Airbnb work, he is overwhelmed and distracted because of the fire, or he is just lying to you.

When there is a reason why a host or guest needs to cancel, they are supposed to cancel, not say they will cancel. Hosts don't get paid for a reservation until 24 hours after a guest checks in- until then, Airbnb has your money, not the host, so there is nothing for the host to refund, and hosts don't "send money back to Airbnb". If a host is overpaid, Airbnb will deduct what is owing from the host's future payouts.

The host should have contacted Airbnb to tell them he needed to cancel your booking under the Extenuating Circumstances policy because his place wasn't able to be accessed and the area was dangerous. Then the host would never have been paid out any money and you would have been issued a full refund.

At this point all you can do is continue to try to reach Airbnb customer service, which is frustrating these days- they can take weeks to get back to you, so it will require patience and persistence. This may also be why the host wasn't able to contact Airbnb at the time the reservation needed to be cancelled- hosts aren't getting their calls answered, either.

[Amy1756]

I have an email showing that the host refunded my money. He told me I was supposed to cancel the reservation, which I didn't know. When we talked that morning and were looking at the news/fire spread, he said HE would cancel it. I guess he didn't. BUT, he did initiate the refund. It looks like its sitting with AirBNB.

I've never been in this situation with AirBNB so I'm not sure what else to do. It's not like PayPal where you can access the refund from the host and send it back to your bank account. There's no way that AirBNB will still try to keep their commission, do you think? It sounds like a civil suit given that the roads were closed and the fire surrounded this cabin!

[Sarah977]

@Amy1756  Actually in this circumstance it would be the host who is supposed to cancel, as it wasn't that you didn't want to come, but that the property couldn't be accessed. But in order for the host to cancel penalty-free, he would have to contact Airbnb, which as you have found out, is virtually impossible these days. If a host just goes ahead and cancels on their own, they receive all sorts of heavy penalties from Airbnb, so in a situation like this, the host needs to talk to customer service to explain why it's a circumstance outside of their control- a natural disaster.

You could try contacting your credit card company and stopping payment or asking for a charge-back, but aside from that, as I said, you'll just have to wait for Airbnb to get back to you and don't let them forget about you. I do think you will get your refund, it just may take some time. Presently, there are hosts who have been waiting to get paid for completed stays for weeks or months and guests who have also bee waiting for refunds. You could try contacting them through their Twitter account, which may speed things along.