Please reconsider booking a place with Joshua and consider looking elsewhere. We were unable to stay at Joshua's place in Vancouver due to the trip being cancelled from extreme bad weather, making it impossible for us to leave, but we wanted to write a review about how badly the situation was dealt with.
For context:
We had a trip planned for New Year's to Vancouver and booked a 2-night stay at Joshua's place. There was unexpected extreme snow storm that prevented us from leaving and making it to Canada. We notified Joshua 4 days beforehand (that's almost a week notice), explaining the situation. He didn't respond directly and refused to refund even though there was no real loss to him. He only responded with a curt response after AirBnB support pestered him, with an excuse it was too short notice. Well, yes, emergencies are always short notice, but in this case we gave 4 days notice, which is almost a week.
In any case, please consider the following when picking your place:
1) I recommend not booking a place that does not give you your money back if you need to cancel within 72 hours, especially if you are traveling from out of the country (consider COVID requirements). Definitely do not think you'll get any leeway from Joshua when emergencies come up, forcing your plans to change. His policy of no money back except for within the first 48 hours of booking is extremely strict, so please save your money and headache and pick a more customer-friendly policy, especially if you're traveling abroad.
2) This host does not respond or communicate quickly or well. He took several days to finally respond to me (only because AirBnB called him several times). When he finally responded, there was absolutely no empathy for the situation and a very curt refusal to engage, with a "tough luck to you" attitude. It feels like he's in it more for a quick buck, even though him giving us a break considering circumstances would've done him no harm (other places we had to cancel with at the last minute with were easily accommodating).
3) Please carefully read the other negative reviews. We wish we did now. The general sense is that he's not a very good or considerate host is true from our experience. Since we didn't make it there, it's unclear for us how the place would be or the check-in process would be, but the negative experiences others felt from the place would line up with our brief interactions thus far. There are no instructions given beforehand on how to check in from the host. I assume he might message you manually, but considering how many other people had negative experiences with check-in and how long he takes to respond, don't expect a smooth process. Please save your money--there are better affordable places in Vancouver you could stay with. Don't be fooled.
Overall, we had an extremely unpleasant experience from this whole thing. I've never encountered such an inconsiderate host considering circumstances. Our New Year's plans were already ruined, and his rudeness and refusal to cooperate rubbed salt in the wound.
Please don't stay at a place that is blatantly looking to make a quick buck off you when they have done no work and look elsewhere. Hope we can help at least one person have a more pleasant vacation by avoiding this place.