I booked a stay, paid the deposit, and everything was fine, and then… COVID-19. Our stay was from May 7 until May 9. My husband is stationed in Korea. He was coming home to see our son graduate. The government stopped travel from March 16 until May 11. I cancelled our reservations.
They sent us a $50 refund out of a $160 deposit. I have been going back and forth with customer service for a week. I’ve sent them the document showing that travel was cancelled and that isn’t formal enough for them. They won’t budge.
Same thing happened to me! Me and my bf made a reservation for Bali from May 15-May 28th. Because of Covid-19, we had to cancel since our flight was cancelled by Singapore Airlines (who also refuses to give our money back but give us a voucher) and because both Singapore, where we had a layover at, and Bali are prohibiting non-essential travel. On March 25th, we were Informed by an Airbnb rep that we could cancel under the “extenuating circumstances” policy since we booked in early February. Once we cancelled, it said we would receive back $0 out of the $562 deposit we made! We called airbnb again who informed the host had to accept. Well, after days of pestering, the host told us he’d be keeping our money since “he had mouths to feed”. Wtf?! Like I don’t have a job right now either because of this and I have to pay rent. Again, called airbnb with little luck. On march 30th the policy changed to extend to any reservations until may 31st. Called airbnb again who refused to refund us since we cancelled 5 days before the policy updated at the direction of the airbnb representative. For someone who studies law, I agree, their policy is unconscionable since there is no fine print, confusing, and contradictory. It’s a scam since one you make a deposit, the money is in escrow until it is releases to the host once the final deposit is made and your check in day begins. So, basically airbnb is taking my money held in escrow which one of the many representatives basically admitted to us.
If someone wants to file a class action lawsuit, I would LOVE to join since this is highly unethical.