Incorrect application of extenuating circumstances by airbnb support

[Serap4]

One of my guest recently cancelled her booking one day before arrival. As per her booking message, she was supposed to travel with her boyfriend.

When she cancelled it, she send a message saying that grandma of her friend is dying.

Airbnb support refunded the full amout to her without consulting me. Now I haven't received responses from airbnb for points 2 and 3 below.

1) As per extenutating circumstances policy, 'friend's grandma dying' is not extenuating circumstance as friend is not travelling party

2) And as any travelling party is not listed on my booking or any messages, what mechanism airbnb support used to verify someone is a travelling party?

3) If airbnb had a mechanism to verify someone is travelling party, can the airbnb support confirm to me that they applied the above mechanism to verify the particular friend my guest claimed is travelling party and the extenuating circumstances applied to that party?

4) Why airbnb support did not consult me or correlate the contradictary messages from the guest before making the refund? Is it negligence in part of airbnb support and not transparent action?

Since I have not received the response for my points 2 and 3 from the support staff who refunded the guest,  as a first step, I am looking for platforms where I can raise it with other hosts. I would like to hear from other hosts who had similar situtations and actions they took to get the refunding cancelled.

Thank you in advance

[Cormac0]

@Serap4 

Bet you down feel like you’re running your own business now!

BTW, Airbnb still get their portion of the fee is my understanding. 

[Serap4]

Thank you for the response. In previous incidents, the support staff always consulted the guest and the host, listened to both side before applying any policy.

But in this case, the support staff who applied the refund did not consult the host or verify the messages between guest and host and then correlate them in verifying the validity of the refund request by guest. It is either ignorance or inexperince by the particular support staff.

I believe I have the necessary grounds to approach it via different channels. This channel is one of those to see how many other hosts have similiar experince

[Marit-Anne0]

@Serap4 

There have been plenty of similar reports on the forum.  Guests are supposed to bring proof to airbnb when claiming extenuating circumstances, but who knows what is going on behind the scenes.

[Serap4]

Airbnb does not need to explain to hosts what type of extenuating circumstances if it affects the privacy of the guest.

But as a business, they have to explain what mechanism they used to verify and validate the extenuating circumstances were valid and RELATED to travelling party ( not some friend)

If not, airbnb is not transparent and I ( or any other hosts) have legal grounds to take action.

I will checking the forum to find out other hosts who were affected and we can take a collective action. In UK, we have citizens advice service, I can consult them too