Cancelation

[Sarah6439]

I am a single mom on temporary disability after hurting my back at work. I wanted to give my son a trip to Maui as a birthday/Christmas present. When I booked the air bnb after searching places to stay on Maui, I found a place for $1,000. I booked. The very next morning, while making more trip plans I noted that it’s on a different island. I quickly notified air bnb and evolve, the 2 parties involved. They refused to refund me. I had to cancel the entire trip.. rental car and airfare. I’m out $1500 total.   This was only booked for one nights sleep. Both air bnb and evolve are saying they are unable to reach the host. I feel as though this should have been very easy to correct. 

[Joan2709]

@Sarah6439 

First, so sorry this happened.

I would never suggest to book a property showing Evolve as a Host. Just type Evolve in the search the community box and you'll see what I mean. Stick with individual Hosts and not large property manangement companies. 

As to your booking that you cancelled...It would depend on what cancellation policy you booked under. If it was a non-refundable booking (they usually are lower price) then that means you won't get a refund. It's just like an non-refundable airline ticket. 

[Sarah6439]

I bought insurance bc this was a rebooking issue after the wild fires caused me to reschedule. It make zero sense that no one will give me my money back, it’s an island I wasn’t  going to that was listed under  Maui and it’s not actually Maui. In the description it does however I didn’t notice it was a mistake that I very quickly tried to correct! I am out $1500 total due to this and no one cares! The host isn’t hurt either way. Seriously this is simply unreasonable on behalf of both air bnb and evolve both. It’s inhuman. 

[Sarah6439]

And I had to cancel the entire trip. I will never be able to afford to rebook as all the prices are up for everything else. Why do these company’s want to hurt ppl so badly? It’s not reasonable. And airlines always refund if before 24 hours. I told them after one night of sleep not even 10 hours later that it was a mistake 

[Joan2709]

@Sarah6439 

Was it a non-refundable booking? It would say that on the reservation details. Most likely it was as the price was so much cheaper than other listings.

[Sarah6439]

with in 48 hours of less that 14 days. Or 50% if 7 days. The reschedule outside of the window was bc of wildfires .. it was an extremely stressful week and none of these companies care. You and everyone else keeps going back to the policy… it’s heartless and wrong. But the point here is that it’s a mistake booking very quickly noticed and no one will give the money back . It’s extremely poor customer care. And it ruined the ability to even take the trip ever! And who pocketed my money? 

[Sarah6439]

And in my behalf I got insurance to conver the trip and it won’t cover. What reason is money being stolen. Thats what it is. Robbery. 

[Rebecca]

Hello @Sarah6439 👋

I'm very sorry to hear about your situation and wanted to let you know that I've sent you a direct message with some further information. 

I also wanted to share a gentle reminder that the Community Center is a space to bring meaningful and supportive conversations among hosts and guests, and we want to ensure that all conversations remain respectful and constructive. 

We’re here to support you as much as we can.  If you need to speak to Airbnb Support, you can find the Airbnb contact information here. 

Hope this helps, 
Rebecca 

[Joan2709]

@Sarah6439 

I truly am sorry that you made the error and lost the money...I'm a little confused about your statement "outside the window due to wildfires?" Were you not able to cancel due to wildfires in CA?

With some reservations there is a 48hr free cancellation window. However, depending on the cancellation policy, the Airbnb service may not be refunded. 

Just to note...the Host does get impacted. Those dates were blocked on the calendar for your reservation over a busy holiday (Christmas) even if only for 10hours. Some Hosts will offer a courtesy refund if they are able to get those dates rebooked with another guest, but they are not required to. Evolve will most not likely offer that, as they are a large property management company. You can try to appeal that to their corporate headquarters. I would think if it was an individual Host, you would have had more of a chance of working with them. 

You should have at least been refunded the cleaning fee...did you receive that as a refund?

[Sarah6439]

What are you talking about? I booked it on Friday night January and it was booked for a whole 10 hours? U are a troll. No one was hurt accept for me. And now? The listing isn’t even under Maui anymore, u know why? Bc it’s not Maui. And you have to put in the actually island it’s on. You seem to be a troll trying to confuse readers about the true circumstances. 

[Joan2709]

@Sarah6439 

Sorry you are upset...hope you get some resolution. 

[Helen3]

I understand you are upset but please don't be rude to those in this community who have tried to help you. @Sarah6439 

unfortunately your posts aren't clear and this is what has led to the confusion 

[Jennifer1897]

@Sarah6439  Sorry for your situation, but as others have said it's a bit unclear what exactly happened. It appears you booked a trip and cancelled approximately 10 hrs after the booking. In order to give an accurate answer, you would need to provide the dates in which the trip were actually for. Then we could better evaluate the cancellation policy and what you are entitled to refund wise. 

I am not sure what the wildfires have to do with anything. I am a host in Southern CA as well and completely understand the impact they have had on everyone, but your trip is in another state so I am a bit confused how this plays in, unless it impacted your ability to travel. However, you say the booking was a gift for Christmas so Ill assume you booked way before the fires ever started.  

As far as travel insurance goes, you would have to look into what coverage you purchased and take it up with them. While unfortunate, the airfare and car rental have no tie to airbnb. You would also want to see if that is something your outside coverage will assist with. 

If in fact the listing was inaccurate in it's description (Not in the location in which it said it was), you can continue to illicit a refund from airbnb, however support is a tricky system to navigate as most team members are outsourced and don't actually know a lot or have a lot of pull on making decisions.