Has This Happened to You?

[Christyanne0]

I woke up this morning with food poisoning. As a result, I had to cancel a stay that I was looking forward to. The host was generous enough to let me know that if she were able to rebook the place then we could receive a refund, minus the service fee. She let me know that the only way to do this was to call AirBnb. This is where the nightmare began. Imagine you have food poisoning, which means you are running to the bathroom nearly every 20 minutes. But also imagine that you paid a lot of money to spend one night in an AirBnb and you are told that all you need to do is to call someone to get a refund. You do it, right? Right. So there I am, on the phone, hoping for the best. First, I get to talk to a robot for 5 minutes before being transferred to a real human. This real human was nice, but she simply confirmed my name, and after I explained my situation three times, she let me know that she couldn't help me and someone else could. First of all, why? Why AirBnb does this exist? Is this a game? Keep in mind the keyword I used when speaking to the robot was "refund." As I lay there in agony, stomach churning, toilet calling, I watched, scratch that, listening to the minutes tick away. Listen you ask? That's right, they played the same song for what felt like eternity but ended up being 64 minutes. That's right, 64 minutes! I bet now you think, wow, so at 64 minutes you finally spoke to someone. Well, you would be only half right. How, you ask? Let me explain. So I had a theory that they didn't want to give me a refund so I called the same line I called before on my boyfriend's phone. This was not linked to the reservation and I did not use a keyword. After waiting only 20 minutes on that end, we spoke to someone who could help. That's right, the first real human we spoke to could help. Isn't that interesting. Did someone say scam? I think yes. AirBnb you have some serious reckoning to do with your conscience, if you have one. You use hosts, use guests, and I suspect, use and overload your employees, to make money for yourself. If it weren't for the hosts and the awesome homes they provide, you wouldn't last a day.

[Helen3 · Accepted solution]

Your host has advised you incorrectly you don't need to call Airbnb. You can just cancel on the platform . Then if the host gets a replacement booking try can refund you through the platform.

there's nothing to contact airbnb about @Christyanne0 

alternatively claim on your travel insurance 

no scam just a host who isn't very familiar with the platform 

hope you feel better soon

[Rebecca]

Hey there @Christyanne0, I hope you're feeling better after what sounds like a horrible time. What was the outcome of the phone call - did you manage to get a refund? 

As @Helen3 has advised, your bookings can be cancelled in your account, depending on what platform you're using. If you ever need to cancel a reservation again, you can find more information on cancelling your reservation here.