Host Ignoring Request for Refund, AirBnB help struggling

[Dale629]

I had a reservation starting on the 9th.  A week before, I added and paid for an additional night of the 8th.  As fate would have it, my flight was cancelled and I ended-up not needing the 8th after all, and arrived on the 9th.

 I was able to inform the host on the 8th that I would be arriving on the 9th, but the system prevented me from changing the reservation date. 

On the 8th, I put in a request for a refund of the one night.

The host has not responded, despite having made contact through the AirBnB site as well as WhatsApp.  I pressed the button to "involve AirBnB", then they opened and closed the case so fast that I couldn't possibly done anything!  Really?  I don't check my email every minute, waiting to answer a question (that is probably already documented anyway).

It would seem to me that someone from AirBnB would take ownership and get the host to respond.  I requested a refund for one night, and getting that refund is obviously is my goal, but really, at minimum, I'd like to have the host to at least acknowledge that I got one fewer nights than I paid for.

Just now I got off the phone with AirBnB support and they made no guarantees that I'll get the refund (pounded that point hard), but said that they'd "try to get the host to respond".  Heh, well, that doesn't sound to promising.  I'll try to follow up after this thing progresses.

[Mike1034]

@Dale629Did you talk to the host about the refund for the 8th during your stay? If the host promised the refund in Airbnb message, you could get the refund.

Airbnb always close a case when no response is received within 24-48 hours. But you can ask Airbnb rep to re-open the case.

[Yulianna0]

@Dale629, have you read the cancellation policy? If you cancel just on the day of arrival no one is obliged to refund. Too short notice to have the night booked. Sorry for your situation, but you booked two nights and you will pay for two. 

[Lawrene0]

@Dale629 , same-day is not within even the most flexible cancellation/refund policy, and for extenuating circumstances you needed to have answered and shown proof in time, but all is not lost. Since the reason was that your flight was cancelled, it sounds like you'll have a very good case if you put this through your travel insurance. That's what it's for.

Will you try that? 

[Sarah977]

@Dale629  You can't just make bookings on Airbnb and then cancel because your plans went awry and expect to be refunded, unless the host agreed to that. Airbnb's aren't hotels, where if you cancel another guest will walk in the door and take the room in short order. How would you like it if the host just decided to cancel your reservation for the 9th, on the same day, because they had some change of plans?

Every listing has a cancellation policy attached to it that you agree to when you book the place. It's a contract. Sometimes hosts will offer to refund a guest if the host is able to rebook the days that were cancelled, but isn't under any obligaton to do so and they aren't likely to be able to rebook the room a guest cancels only hours before check-in.

[Gordon0]

I'd be taking this up with my travel insurance company. 

[Helen3]

I am rathe confused as to why you think that you are entitled to a refund @Dale629 ?

whichever cancellation policy you booked under you wouldn’t be eligible.

yes Airbnb can contact the host and ask if they will refund you. But  I am sure you would agree this would be unreasonable for you to ask them to do so as the host held and prepared the room for you and turned away other bookings. Why should the host be out of pocket because your plans changed? 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Just two words: Travel insurance

[Dale629]

I think my original post wasn't clear enough: Although my hope was that there would be compensation for the night I wasn't able to use, my main concern was that I was being completely ignored by the host.  I realize that the host was under no obligation to refund anything to me.  What's good customer relations isn't always in the rule book.

Since the night in question was only added to the reservation a few days before I arrived,  and the apartment was available both before and after my stay, it was pretty clear to me that the place would have been empty that night anyway.  But like I said, this is more about the host saying  they regret not being able to manage any compensation versus simply ignoring me.

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Dale629  Yes, your original post sounded like you just expected to get a refund. Thanks for comng back and clarifying that. As a host, I would always respond to a guest's message, unless it was aggresively nasty, profane, etc. It's just the polite thing to do (same goes for guests responding). But if it's just something put through the sytem, like an alteration request, or a refund request, hosts may not feel that requires a response, but simply to accept it or decline it.

I'm not sure what you mean about wanting the host to acknowledge that you paid for a night you didn't stay. Of course the host is aware of that, just as you are. And both of you are also aware of the cancellation policy in place, so there was really no need to discuss it. If you had wanted to cancel a day of a booking you made far in advance, and cancelled that one day a week or two before the booking dates, asking the host if they might consider a refund, you might possibly have gotten a response offering to refund you if the date ended up getting booked, but cancelling day of, and then asking for a refund, could really rub a host the wrong way and make them not see any reason to converse with you about it.

[Latosha7]

I’m experiencing the same thing completely ignored by the host very unprofessional.