So I had a couple of different places booked in Thailand for this summer through Airbnb. I was holding out hope that the borders would open, but on May 12 they confirmed that things would remain closed through June 30. I immediately canceled both reservations after hearing this news. Airbnb's policy at the time was that they would only offer refunds on reservations through May. Both hosts had strict cancellation policies.
I requested a refund from both hosts due to the circumstances. One of them gave me a refund immediately. The other responded a week later offering a 50% refund but said he wanted to "get some guidance from Airbnb" first. I have not heard anything back from him since then.
Airbnb has since changed their policy and are offering refunds on Covid-19 related cancellations through June. I messaged though the app requesting a refund for the second reservation and went back and forth with one of their representatives for a while. Basically I was told that I can't get a refund because the policy change was made after I already cancelled my reservation. Basically, if I had waited a few days before I cancelled then I would have qualified for the refund. This makes little sense to me because I would have just been holding on to a reservation that I couldn't use for no reason.
I asked to speak to someone else and was told my chat was being transferred to a specialist (whatever that means). No one ever replied. Talking to someone on the phone seems impossible.
What would y'all do in this situation? Let it go and eat the money? Keep messaging Airbnb and push for the refund? I considered contacting the host again and asking if I could just push the reservation back to next summer, but it has already been canceled and it's too early for me to nail down exact dates.
I've had to cancel reservations with Airbnb in the past for different reasons and understood the financial implications but I feel like this is a different circumstance. Am I being unreasonable?
I requested a refund from both hosts due to the circumstances. One of them gave me a refund immediately. The other responded a week later offering a 50% refund but said he wanted to "get some guidance from Airbnb" first. I have not heard anything back from him since then.
Airbnb has since changed their policy and are offering refunds on Covid-19 related cancellations through June. I messaged though the app requesting a refund for the second reservation and went back and forth with one of their representatives for a while. Basically I was told that I can't get a refund because the policy change was made after I already cancelled my reservation. Basically, if I had waited a few days before I cancelled then I would have qualified for the refund. This makes little sense to me because I would have just been holding on to a reservation that I couldn't use for no reason.
I asked to speak to someone else and was told my chat was being transferred to a specialist (whatever that means). No one ever replied. Talking to someone on the phone seems impossible.
What would y'all do in this situation? Let it go and eat the money? Keep messaging Airbnb and push for the refund? I considered contacting the host again and asking if I could just push the reservation back to next summer, but it has already been canceled and it's too early for me to nail down exact dates.
I've had to cancel reservations with Airbnb in the past for different reasons and understood the financial implications but I feel like this is a different circumstance. Am I being unreasonable?