Hello everyone,
It has been a tough year, but I am starting a job next week! I am required to go into the office, about 3 hours away for a couple of days, and thought I would bring my family (Party of 4) to visit some cousins.
In short, I made a mistake when booking...I only entered the number of guests for 1 (Despite entering all our party and trip details into the notes). The host messaged us noticing the mistake, and let us know there are additional charges for having four guests. Being that we are on such a tight budget, we can't afford the extra charges, explained the honest mistake to the host, and asked if we could cancel the reservation with a refund (This was less than 12 hours after the reservation was made).
She refused the refund, stating that had a strict cancellation policy. This forced our hand: my family would have to stay behind as we definitely couldn't afford to book another property if we didn't receive a refund.
I messaged the host today asking for instructions to access the property, and she refused stating that there is a four guest minimum and if I didn't pay the extra fees, I would not have access to the property.
So now I am in an impossible situation: I have paid almost $700 for a reservation, that the host will not honor, and will not refund. I have been on the phone with support multiple times, escalated to higher support, done everything I can think, and they have told me they can only request a refund.
Surely this cannot be correct: a host refusing access to a property that has been paid for and will not issue a refund, and Airbnb cannot help? Please tell me I am not crazy as this is putting us in a dire financial situation and I cannot seem to get any sort of help.
Thanks,
Sarah