Catastrophic Event Related to Mother Nature, War and/or Anthing beyond our control

[Michelle1197]

As a host, how would you handle a situation where a family books your listing during a catastrophic event.? An event which is life threatening & they have been forced to flee their home.     

The family books your listing quickly and 2 hours later after they have arrived at your listing realize they made a mistake and need to cancel.   Would you allow a full refund due to the unusual circumstances?

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

I've seen you made 2 posts with similar topic so it is unclear to me if a hurrican hit your home town or the area where you were a guest ?

My opinion as a host is:

- if a guest has to cancel because hurricane hits his home town then host can stick to his cancellation policy. To show a good will host could offer to refund the guest for the nights he is able to rebook.

 - If the hurricane hits hosts area and guest has to leave then it would be fair to refund his guests.

But it is always a good idea to purchase travel insurance.

(we have flexible cancellation policy so our guests would be refunded anyway)

[Ana1136]

@Michelle1197 I now see that you were beeing evacuated from the huricane and you booked a place. I would have given you a refund but the host has every right not to give you one. You stayed at his place for 2 hours which means he will have to clean all over again.  And the cancelation policies are so clear with Airbnb. Even if they weren't written you can't possibly expect to be able to cancel penalty free after you check in because you didn't look carefully at what you were booking. There is no reason to be angry with Airbnb or with the host, it was your mistake. I understand and I am sorry that you were under those circumstances and I agree that you should get a refund but you can't blame anyone for your mistakes. Maybe the host doesn't have any other income and they rely on this and you are making them loose money.

[Michelle1197]

I didn’t even go in the house. I opened the door saw the stairs and left!  If you go to a hotel and open the door and see a room is unsatisfactory, they will refund you, if necessary.  I was saying the time frame from when I booked and cancelled was @ 2hours!

The house was off the market for 2 hours!

No, the Host is trying to enrich himself by taking people’s $$ however he can get it!  Airbnb seems to be the perfect place for such people!

[Ana1136]

@Michelle1197 in that case you should have contacted the host and have him clean the apartment and if he refused then Airbnb would have given you a full refund. If you just cancel and leave there is nothing Airbnb can do, you don't even have evidence it was dirty.

[Michelle1197]

I need to get an attorney involved. Hope to see Airbnb become more humane along with the rest of the Hospitality Industry and others.   Poor business practices!  Poor business model! Thankful for VRBO!

[Susan17]

@Michelle0 

You opened the door, saw the stairs... and left?? Why? How bad can stairs be that you decided to cancel your booking because of them? 

[Michelle1197]

My mother couldn’t go up the stairs. Medical issues. Can’t walk.

[Letti0]

@Michelle1197  You still need to read the listing on VRBO. I am listed there and my cancellation policy there is worse than on AirBnB at least on AirBnB you get your cleaning fee back, on VRBO I would have been able to keep your cleaning fee plus the nightly rates.

[Michelle1197]

Actually, the Airbnb person I’m working with is pretty good. It is my hope that we will come to a resolution that is fair for all involved.

[Susan17]

Well there's a surprise... not.

A fair outcome for all involved? You've already destroyed the host with a nasty, derogatory review, (and no doubt, slammed his ratings), you booked a place that didn't suit your needs/likes, you cancelled on a whim because you saw something better, and now you're kicking up holy hell in order to make the host pay for *your* screw-ups. 

No matter how this pans out, there's no fair outcome here for the host. And you know it. 

[Letti0]

@Susan17  Yes that about sums it up. 

[Michelle1197]

Airbnb throws women & children under the bus during Hurricane Florence.

[Letti0]

@Michelle1197  Did you read the listing at all? I am sure they mentioned the stairs in the listing and their cancellation policy would also have been listed. Your failure to read is not the hosts problem in this case. You will not get a refund from AirBnB or this host for this reservation. 

[Susan17]

From your review of the host, it seems like you did a bit more than opened the door, saw the stairs and left though, Michelle...  

"Buyer Beware! The photos on this listing are a complete misrepresentation. There is nothing “homey” about this place. There are no rugs on the floor, no decorations anywhere, the bedding is unclean, the bed pillows are old and dingy. There are steep stairs inside the home so you have to walk either up or down to get anywhere - not good for elderly people. 
The grass is uncut. It is in a loud crowded area, which we did not like. 
We could not stay there due to my elderly mother not being able to navigate the stairs. We were displaced due to the Hurricane and Joseph lured us in by putting a special message “for anyone displaced by the Hurricane”. Joseph was unresponsive. We were forced to cancel. Completely dissatisfied. Do not be taken advantage of by this host! Take photos! We are in mediation to get our $$ back"

Perhaps you neglected to properly assess whether or not the property was suitable for your mum's needs *before* you booked the house (its clear from the pics that there are stairs in the house) but then, for reasons best known to yourself, felt you should be entitled to overturn the host's cancellation policy and  break the terms of the contract you signed up for on booking? Good luck with finding an attorney to take that on - and might be a good idea to get your story straight first.