The host offered me a full refund then changed her mind

[Hatem15]

Hi all, I had booked a trip for July to attend a festival which unfortunatly got cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic. As my trip was so far ahead it didn’t fall under the new policy for Covid19. Airbnb’s advice was to contact the host to see if they would waive the cancellation costs. So I did and the host offered me a full refund. Upon cancellation I followed up and she advised me she had authorised a full refund. Then suddenly she changed her mind and said she could not offer this. Ive been distraught as I would not have cancelled if she had not of promised a full refund. Airbnb state they need her authorisation and without it I won’t get my monies back. Im so upset and I think its very unfair. Its really stressed me out to the point I’ve been crying as I need my deposit back. I don’t understand how it’s ok to be messed around like that. 

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Hatem15 you have lost your deposit but your host is likely to have lost their livelihood.

The chance of you travelling in July is relatively small and so keeping the reservation would be unlikely to do you any good.

Have you checked your entitlements in terms of the host's cancellation policy?

[Susan17]

@Hatem15 

"Im so upset and I think its very unfair. Its really stressed me out to the point I’ve been crying as I need my deposit back. I don’t understand how it’s ok to be messed around like that"

By July, your host will have lost most - if not all - of her income for March, April, May and June, with not much hope of that situation improving for the rest of the year either, so there's every likelihood she's probably shedding more than a few tears herself and has gone waaay beyond stressed at this point.

It's not all about you, love.

[Hatem15]

How do you know my situation is not the same or worse? 

[Susan17]

I don't. But you don't seem to have given too much consideration to what the host's situation is either. Perhaps if you had tried to reach some sort of agreement with her where you'd both share some of the loss rather than hitting her for the full refund - so she'd have to bear all the loss and you'd take none - she may have been more amenable.

Also, if it was earlier in the week when she said she's allow the full refund, she may not have been aware at that point that Airbnb was going to extend their Extenuating Circumstances Full Refund policy until May 31, and she was about to lose a lot more than she had previously believed, for a much longer period of time, so then couldn't afford to be so generous in allowing full refunds like yours that don't fall under the EC policy.

[Gordon0]

If the host promised you a refund then back-tracked, that's not OK, @Hatem15. You should have your conversation with the host on the app, so this will provide proof to Airbnb that a full refund was granted. If you had a conversation outside of the app, you've stuffed. 

[Hatem15]

Thank you Gordon. The convo with the host took place on Airbnb app but Airbnb want a separate confirmation from her. I really don’t understand as they have my deposit and she confirmed the refund to me. 

[Lawrene0]

@Hatem15 , no idea what is coming, but if we get back to travelling again, the thing to do is to pick a place with a cancellation policy that works for you. If you can afford to lose half the booking fee, then strict is fine. If you can't, choose a place with a moderate or flexible cancellation policy.

I am sorry, though, that the host made a promise she didn't keep. Things must be very grim for her right now, but I know that won't make you feel better about now having to abide by the policy you agreed to when you booked. Because it does come down to just that. When you say you wouldn't have cancelled if you had known, did you mean you would still try to go on the holiday? What were your options?