What kind of host would rip someone off during a pandemic?
I was planning to travel to New Orleans with my two cousins to celebrate his birthday so I started looking through airbnb for someplace to stay.
I came across the listing hosted by Krystal and Mandy and decided to make a booking (Worst Mistake)
The day after I made the booking I saw on the news that New Orleans was added to the list of states in which persons would have to quarantine for 14 days when traveling to NY.I no longer thought it would make sense to travel to New Orleans since we were looking for a quick get away then return to work.
I immediately got on the airbnb app to cancel the reservation and there was a link saying I might be eligible for a full refund if the host approves.I sent the request through the app and while this was pending I tried reaching out to the host through call and inbox to explain the situation.I never got a response.When I did get a notification from airbnb it was to say the host declined the full refund.So I inboxed the host and reminded her of her cancellation policy which stated that Im eligible for 50% of the night books,the cleaning fee and service fee if a cancellation was made within 48hrs.Because I had the previous request pending within the 48hrs the app did not allow me to cancel on my own so I tried calling and msging .When the host replied she told me cancelling on the 14th(I made the booking on the 13th)would not qualify me for a full refund.I told her via inbox I totally understand and at this point I’m only requesting to be refunded the 50% as per her cancellation policy since I made the request within 48hrs she then told me to reach out to airbnb.Mind you trying to get in touch with her was such a pain in the ass because she was taking forever to respond.
I spoke to several customer reps from airbnb and they told me they would mark my case as urgent so it can be escalated to the case manager.They also advised not to make any changes or cancel the reservation as this would affect the process(at this time I was still eligible for some refund).When the case manager looked at my case he informed me that he was going to reach out to the host to see if she was going to agree to any refund and ofcourse she did not.
Airbnb support said there was nothing more they can do when I was of the opinion they were suppose to be the mediators but apparently not.
1.I was not refunded as per the host cancellation policy even though I made a request within 48hrs.
2.I was charged over $100 in cleaning fee for a place I never used.
3.I got 0 refund
4.Airbnb left the decision of refund up to the host when they were suppose to act as the mediator (no wonder why she told me reach out to them)
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS HOST DO NOT BOOK HER PLACE!!
I’m sure there are many other listings with host who are not selfish,unreasonable, pathetic,and looking to rip ppl off!!
NEVER AGAIN !!