Comments on: Airbnb Exploitative Policies During an Epidemic

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 01:18:48 +0000

An update !
I was hopeful for the refund since Airbnb extended the refund window to all bookings till May 31st. Airbnb still denied refund citing that “I cancelled my reservation myself and longterm stays are not eligible for refund” !! Greedy morons !
Even after submitting proofs of India lockdown and state of emergency in Japan Airbnb denied refund on senseless excuses.
The Airbnb fools kept saying that I need to get the refund from my host.
As a last resort I again talked to my host regarding the refund and he agreed saying that since the COVID situation worsened he will agree to refund the money and he himself contacted the Airbnb support. I am grateful to him.
If the host wouldn’t have agreed to refund Airbnb would never let me have one !!!!
Meanwhile while I was getting frustrated with Airbnb and made to wait on calls etc etc the host was unaware of the endless conversations and cases I tried to open for my refund. No one from Airbnb even bothered to contact him (confirmed it with the host).
Anyway I am waiting for the refund to be reflected in my account now.
After this experience I guess Airbnb is bad for guests as well as hosts.
Let’s just boycott this inhuman company !!!

By: Henry

Henry — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 04:27:03 +0000

In reply to Anon. The customer rep handling my case told me the same thing too bec I cancelled in Feb before this crisis became pandemic. I do have to give them doctors notes bec some family members have medical conditions prompting me to cancel very early. Then thats when the rep re evaluated & I got the refund call.

By: Anon

Anon — Thu, 02 Apr 2020 06:45:00 +0000

Airbnb further extends refund window to May 31st and sets aside $250 million for hosts.Now my booking is eligible for a refund but still they are refusing a refund stating that I cancelled the booking myself. India is under lockdown as well but these people don’t want to refund my money at all.
I wish Airbnb gets bankrupt !!

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 21:55:16 +0000

I have five different places in Spain, France and Italy this summer (2020) booked through Airbnb for 2 to 3 weeks each and have paid at least 50% deposits on all of them totaling almost $6,300. Airbnb is not answering their phones. Their extenuating circumstances policy online only goes out 3 weeks so I cannot cancel now without losing $6,300. They have been raking in our money for 12 years and now they take our money and disappear during the Covid-19 crisis. I expect them to disappear once this is all over because I will never use them again and will tell EVERYBODY how they stole our money. Airbnb is not a responsible company and deserves to go bankrupt.

By: Henry

Henry — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 04:57:19 +0000

In reply to Henry. An update today came with good news. Due to the outbreak becoming a pandemic, Airbnb expanded their refund policy to include all bookings with check in dates before April 14. I got lucky bec my check in was for April 4, so i got a call from customer services giving me full refund. Its really too bad that you missed this new policy by 3 days.

By: Jonah S

Jonah S — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 14:14:14 +0000

Cancel the charge on your credit card. You certainly have a case.

By: anon

anon — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:51:37 +0000

In reply to Henry. After saying that travel advisories are not travel bans the airbnb people closed my case saying they cannot do anything unless the airline cancels the tickets or Japan declares a travel ban. More than half of my money is now gone !!

By: Henry

Henry — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 05:19:12 +0000

Same boat here. My Airbnb booking in Tokyo was for the Spring break April 4-11, 2020 for a family of 8. I had to cancel due to the virus. I paid more than $1000 as initial payment. I went through the same steps as you, was asked for all sorts of proofs, if Air China initiated the cancellation or was it me – it was me. I gave them Travel Advisory from the US embassy in TOkyo regarding elderly travelers (my mother) “to postpone nonessential travels to Japan.” Nothing worked – NO REFUND!!

By: Mark Beard

Mark Beard — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 14:32:29 +0000

This morning at the post office, while I was in line, two people with masks entered. TOTAL PANIC!!! Then they said: “This is a robbery”…….and we all calmed down …..

By: anon

anon — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 01:06:58 +0000

In reply to angela Alexander Lloyd. The host says he does not know anything about the payouts (doubted it from the start) and now he agreed to pay only 50% (that's what the Airbnb representative told me). Also the Airbnb representative said we cannot override the host cancellation policy (which is utter rubbish). Nothing I can do when Airbnb and the host have decided to keep my money that I had been saving for 2 years to get my parents on a trip.