Not receiving a full-refund if though I can not get to my Airbnb due to government restrictions.

[Britt546]

Hi Everyone,

In February of 2020, I booked a 5 day trip to Malta for this upcoming June. I booked a hotel for the first three nights and an Airbnb for the remaining two nights will be spent at the booked Airbnb. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 came into the world, and many countries (understandably) shut down and applied travel restrictions to stop the virus from spreading. After reading the travel restrictions from other European countries, I started to research the restrictions applied by the Maltesian government. The Maltesian government orders a mandatory 14-day quarantine for every traveler arriving on the island. If the individual breaks this order, they will be fined 1000 euros each. Since I will be staying at a hotel first, I will have to be quarantined at the hotel for 14 days. The restrictions have no end date and make it impossible for me to get to my booked Airbnb. (see website to the official order: https://www.gov.mt/en/Government/DOI/Press%20Releases/Documents/ISSUE02_ENG.pdf) 

I emailed the host regarding this matter. He replied with two options: moving my dates into 2021 or providing me a 50% refund. I understand that this situation is extremely complicated for Airbnb hosts, so I contacted Airbnb to address my concern. The only response I got was: "the cancellation policy related to the COVID-19 does not apply to your trip since your stay takes place in June" & "We advise you to wait for possible further adjustments to the cancellation policy". After receiving these responses, I could not believe that Airbnb is going to make me pay for an Airbnb that I cannot get to due to government restrictions. 

I am very upset and disappointed. Airbnb is applying one policy to all bookings instead of providing refunds based on individual cases. They also seem to only care about the hosts and not about their customers. I will never book with Airbnb again + I will also share this experience with others to spread to the word that Airbnb only cares about the money.

If somebody knows how I can get all my money back, that would be highly appreciated! 

[Nanxing0]

No offense, but I don't think what you are asking for makes sense, although if I were the host I would grant you full refund given the reservation is 2 months away anyway, but not due to the COVID-19 situation. At this moment we have no idea what's going to happen in June so Airbnb's suggestion that you wait for possible further adjustments makes perfect sense, given that Airbnb already extended the EC from 4/14 to 5/31 just recently. However if you insist to cancel your reservation right now, you would have to follow the cancellation policy you agreed to. The host may grant you further refund beyond the cancellation policy, but that's solely the host's discretion to determine and it's a PRIVILEGE, not your right at this moment. 

My suggestion is the same as Airbnb's. Just wait and be patient. If the situation continues you will be able to get full refund because it's due to restriction on travel from government.