Safety concern - Denied refund after polices were contacted to listing (2 weeks ago)

[Veon4]

Airbnb support has decided to side with host for only 50% refund despise going against their Guest Safety Policy 

We booked a stay from August 2-4 (which is  3 weeks away from the date I first reported to Airbnb)

After passing the host policy of full refund only within 24 hours of booking, we have unfortunately discovered an extremely alarming review which involves a homeless individual trespassing inside the property,  police involvement and host unresponsive during the time of incidents. 

Airbnb was contacted immediately upon seeing several disturbing reviews, it was acknowledged over the phone and in writing multiple times that Airbnb understands and agrees that "I do not feel safe" - Airbnb still sides with the host's decision of holding half the money. This decision contradicts Airbnb Guest safety policy - i am stuck with no choice but only a 50% refund or stay in an unsafe unit with a group of 10  including an infant and elderly. 

This whole experience has been a disappointment 

Airbnb wants their guest to stay in a property that had recent police incidents, trespasser accessing and staying the night during a guest's time of stay and is blaming us for making the booking in the first place. (I have voice recordings) 

I do recommend all users of Airbnb to reconsider making a bookings because they don't care about your safety.

[Veon4]

Update - Airbnb closed case siding with host despise acknowledging safety concern.

Reached out to Paypal to hopefully escalate, reached out to BBB (Not sure if that helps) and emailed Airbnb executives/higher management 

Airbnb support advised they will only assist if there are new developments - asking us to risk our health and safety 

[Joan2709]

@Veon4 

So sorry this happened...

How was this homeless person able to access the property?

[Veon4]

According to the guests that had this unfortunate experienced, states that the lock was broken and the host was unresponsive at all they had to call the police 

it completely shocks me that Airbnb allows such property to be available for their customers.

[Joan2709]

@Veon4 

So you were not the guest who experienced the problem yourself? It was someone else?

[Veon4]

I was not the guest as mentioned on my post

but I am concerned about safety when this property had this incident recently 

[Joan2709]

@Veon4 

I guess I misunderstood your post when you said:

"We booked a stay from August 2-4 (which is  3 weeks away from the date I first reported to Airbnb)"

I thought from this sentence you meant you were involved in the incident. So it sounds like you read a review after you booked a stay that mentioned an issue about a break-in and you had some safety concerns about your upcoming stay? 

Only Airbnb and the Host know all the details of the previous incident, so we can't verify the statements made in a review by a previous guest as to whether they are accurate or truthful. The incident could have been totally made up by a previous guest in retaliation for a damage claim (happens all the time).

That said, some Hosts would offer a full refund to you if you had concerns, but they are not required to; especially if the claims in the guest review were not truthful or only partially true. 

[Veon4]

Airbnb has not denied the incident, in fact they stated “… was resolved”

i find it hard to believe that this was made up 

[Joan2709]

@Veon4 

Well...."resolved" can mean a lot of different things. Since we don't know all the circumstances, you can't really say what "resolved" means.

As I said, many Hosts would either provide a full refund, or offer to refund you if they were able to get the dates rebooked, but they are not required to do so. It would be a courtesy on behalf of the Host, not a requirement.

[Veon4 · Accepted solution]

Update - 

Airbnb has reached out to confirm that after further investigation, they will be issuing a full refund. Very grateful for this decision and a big thank you to Sam.

[Joan2709]

@Veon4 

Yesss!! I'm glad that worked out for you and I think your concerns were valid.

[Veon4]

Thank u!