It sounds like your cancellation should’ve fallen either under the Covid-19 cancellation policy active at the time or the Extenuating circumstances cancellation policy. Airbnb responds to contact via twitter or Facebook slowly but responds.

Have documentation of the cancellation reasons like travel ban, flight cancellation etc. anything generated by a third party like the airlines or a news article about the travel ban gives validity to your claim.

Never communicate off platform with a host about a cancellation. If the Airbnb thread has the host agreeing to the refund, it gives Airbnb something to work with and verify your story

I hate it happened. Best wishes on a resolution

On May 7 of this year Airbnb alerted the Better Business Bureau of the following: “Airbnb is experienced massive layoffs, therefore complaints at this time are no longer being responded to. We do not have a timeline as to if and when a response will happen again in the near future. So at this time, any outstanding complaints will go unanswered.” Unfortunately, Airbnb let go the contractors they hired to process these claims, and there is no longer a chain of escalation for even severe complaints involving personal safety, discrimination, and theft. I am not a representative of the company, and only discovered this in researching after my own issue, but if you’re interested in learning more, all of this information can be found online, via Twitter, and on bbb.org

Very sorry about your experience, and sorry I don’t have better news to share! Make sure to warn your friends and family NOT to book with Airbnb, or to remove their listings from the platform, as the company can no longer provide any kind of help if needed!