Advertisement that Airbnb has flexible cancellation policies is inaccurate. Host was terrible and not flexible at all.

[David9919]

Wife came down with covid three days prior to visit.  I tried to reschedule for a different date and was denied.  Site told me I would be refunded $199 of the $693 I paid for the stay.  I never received the refund, and host refuses even pay for the cleaning services I paid for even though we never stayed.

The hosts name is ** from Myrtle Beach.  My wife and I travel often, and have used Airbnb in the past.  We will never use this service again, and I am considering taking legal action against the host.

**[Name hidden due to privacy concerns - Community Center Guidelines]

[David9919]

Who are you Pat?  I've talked to someone on the phone from Airbnb, and he told me it was up to the host to return the money to me.

And are you questioning my wifes health?  Really Dr. Pat?  She was hospitalized for three days.

**[Content removed inline with the Community Center Guidelines- Please be respectful in your discussions with other members]

[John5097 · Accepted solution]

@David9919 

Here is an Airbnb help article that explains the cancellation policy. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/149

You can click on extenuating circumstance and covid here: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2701/

Only if you made this reservation before March 14th 2020 you will be entitled to a full refund.  

Otherwise you can find the cancellation policy by clicking on Reservation Details for this trip.

What was the cancelation policy?

Moving forward before you book, you can find this information on the listing and before making the reservation.

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/475

This isn't a scam. When did the host say you would be entitled to a partial refund? 

And how many days prior to check in did you actually cancel the reservation? 

A lot of host will issue refund if the can rebook the nights, but they can't rebook if guest doesn't cancel.

Host also can't cancel a reservation or they will be fined and issued a stern warning and be at risk of being delisted. 

Host may also not agree to moving the booking dates. This is a common scam. Guest waits till last minute to cancel, then try to move the booking dates beyond the calculation date, then at some point cancel those dates at well. Host wasn't able to rebook the original nights that had been blocked off for months, then have more nights blocked off, only to be canceled.

I realize these things happen and I try to be as flexible as possible. I just had a no show, no communication, then canceled on 2nd day of the 6 day reservation. As with all reservations, the cancellation policy and refund is automatically calculated and guest is issued refund based on the cancelation policy that was in effect when the reservation was made. (BTW I did rebook 4 of the nights, and issued additional refund, but couldn't rebook the nights that were blocked off.) 

Post Covid has also be much more challenging for host. People in general are conditioned to canceling last minute. In my experience guest used to never cancel less than 3 weeks prior to check in, then after covid, guest consider a reservation a bookmark, and make multiple reservations, in the event of rain, or they just don't feel like packing the car or whatever. Not saying this is the case with your reservation, just how limited host are and can only extend so much flexibility.

Generally listings with "Flexible" policy are more expensive. This means guest can cancel the night before with full refund. While "Strict" is less expensive, as it may be a whole house that generally takes longer for guest to plan, or the cleaners can't be that flexible, and have agreement with host on lead time for cancellation.

Hope this helps! It's unfortunate the hysteria and misunderstandings regarding Airbnb policies and fees, but the bottom line is whatever guest agreed to when making the reservation is exactly what is charge and pollicy applied. Airbnb won't charge a penny more in fees and automatically issue refund based on the policy posted above.   


 

[David9919]

Problem is John is that I didn't want to cancel.  I offered to pay more money to change the date because my wife got sick with covid.  I didn't ask for a full refund when I was told I had to cancel.  When I cancelled online, the system told me I'd be refunded $199.  I have not been refunded.