My booking coincided with the weekend after Severe Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle and there were official government warnings in place for tourists not to travel to Piha due to safety concerns.
* We were never offered a cancellation from the host or Airbnb.
* The property was not clean on arrival.
We arrived at the property a day later than booked due to safety concerns. On route we had to drive past official warnings to turn around. All local facilities were closed, including the walks and the roads to all of the beaches.
We were told by the property manager that she had advised the host to cancel the booking. This was never communicated to us.
I asked the host to refund 1 day of the booking and the cleaning fee. This was rejected.
In my opinion, based on communications with the host, they only cared about the money and not about my safety or experience, this led to a stressful and unsatisfactory stay. Expect the same from this host in the future.