Comments on: Cold-Hearted Airbnb Hosts after Traumatizing Death

By: David Aaron

David Aaron — Sat, 26 Nov 2016 01:27:06 +0000

Sounds like you were more traumatized about the lack of refund rather than the death. Sorry but I have little sympathy for people who don’t have travel insurance

By: Me

Me — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 23:55:05 +0000

You want to cancel because your mom’s friend is dead? What’s next? The President has just been assassinated and I’m too traumatized to travel? Give me a break!

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 16:44:18 +0000

You don’t know the situation of the hosts either. For example they may be in bad need for the cash because of some tragic situation of their own. They may have a high mortgage to cover the apartment. Who knows. The booker agreed to the strict conditions. You can ask for a refund or rescheduling but if they refuse you can’t blame them for anything. Bad luck, that’s all.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 19:26:38 +0000

Like Jon said, this is a tough one but I don’t know if I would have refunded this guest. Plain and simple- the renter agreed to this cancellation policy. If they had booked with a hotel or a “flexible” cancellation policy then the renter would have there money back no questions asked. I almost make it a rule of thumb to never book “strict” cancellations just because there is zero chance of refund. I would have asked for a refund or a courtesy reschedule, but I would not have come to AirBnBHell to complain that the hosts denied me a refund. Some hosts depend on income from their listings and like the renter they may be in dire financial straights. Or they might plan on retiring the listing and cannot offer a reschedule. I think situations like this are tragic but it doesn’t make the hosts evil people.

By: Caitlyn

Caitlyn — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 21:20:17 +0000

I’m surprised how many people are not siding with this airbnb booker.
This person only made the booking a few hours before trying to cancel/reschedule it. It’s not like they made the booking weeks/months before and therefore lost earnings for the host would have been more of an issue due to other people being unable to book those dates.
I’d really like to hope that most people, even with ‘strict’ cancellation policies, would at least reschedule in this case!

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 17:47:43 +0000

This is a difficult one. The other side of the argument is that the hosts should not have to suffer lost earnings as a result of your tragedy. With two days to go they may have been unlikely to find anyone to rebook. Allowing you to stay at a later date may still mean they are out of money, as they would earn no additional rent for that later period. Plus you don’t know what their past experiences are. Unfortunately some people will invent tragic circumstances and play on heart strings to get refunds. I do sympathise with your position here. Financially someone had to be the loser. No doubt many hosts would have accepted it would be them, though I wouldn’t go as far as blaming hosts that say the loss should lie with someone in your position.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 07:29:38 +0000

Blanga, no travel insurance would have covered this, as it was a friend of the mother. Travel insurance only covers holidays cancelled due to death/serious illness of immediate relatives, not their friends.

By: Jen B.

Jen B. — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 02:11:37 +0000

Sorry that happened. When I was a host a couple times things like that happened. If airbnb had allready released your payment to them, and they could not refund it, at the very least they should have offered an alternative date for you to visit. That would have been what I would have done. Some people are not so understanding.

By: Blanga Loore

Blanga Loore — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 19:59:55 +0000

this is exactly the reason why one should hava a travel insurance (or avoid making bookings with a strict cancel policy)…