I booked to go away with my boyfriend for our 3 year anniversary on the 6-9th of January. After we had booked, the North Shore unfortunately became a COVID hotspot and was to be under government restrictions meaning we could no longer enter the North Shore. We gave it some time to see if we could still attend, as we got closer to the date we were informed that it would be in lockdown to then be reviewed on the 9th.
I contacted Ann-Maree in order to discuss options for a refund as it would be illegal for us to go there during the time we had booked. She offered to move the dates or we could receive a 50% refund. Me and my boyfriend both work full time jobs and as the lockdown was indefinite and only to be reviewed on the 9th, moving the dates was not an option that suited us. I was not willing to accept a 50% refund as that was a lot of money for us to lose.
I was only able to get a hold of Ann-Maree twice over text messages and she only ever picked up one phone call where she was unsympathetic and offered the same solutions. Her communication was horrible and then she dropped off and I never heard anything else from her, after countless attempts to send her messages with information regarding covid restrictions in which I believed made it fair for us to receive a full refund.
This went on for weeks with no response from her and endless messages from Air BnB in which they were unclear and inconsistent with how to solve the issue.
I would highly recommend you do not book here during this time, as the host is more than comfortable to take your money even if you never stood foot in the place.