We had an Airbnb booked last night for one of my kids' birthdays (they wanted to do this instead of a party).
Unfortunately, our household has been struck down with gastro and we had to cancel.
I see they have an extenuating circumstances clause for refunds…not sure if we would meet this. I'm considering getting the home doctor out so we at least have external proof of illness.
Has anyone successfully gotten a refund before?
Yeah I figured as much.
The host suggested I cancel the booking so that he had a chance to relet it. I didn't hear back from him, so I assume he wasn't successful.
I requested at least the cleaning fee back, and ask if he'd consider letting us stay another night. May even in an off peak time during the week…who knows, can only ask. Such bad luck, can't even remember the last time we had gastro.
Check the booking for the cancellation policy, these vary with each host
Did you cancel on the day?
Yes on the day.
The host has a 'strict' cancellation policy so I assumed I wouldn't get anything back, but figured there was no harm in asking. He replied with this:
I opened up my calender again after you cancelled and unfortunately no one booked even after i dropped the prices. May i suggest writing to airbnb and see if they will give you a credit from their own budget as a goodwill gesture. As you can appreciate, saturday is my busiest day and i paid my cleaner to come tidy up etc so i would lose too many money by refunding. As it is an unfortunate situation, im sure if you call or write to airbnb they will give you a bit of credit for your next trip
Thanks
I'll wait the 72 hours and then contact airbnb through the Resolution Centre. I'm unsure though why he paid his cleaner to come tidy up, as we didn't stay there, and if the guests before us left us mess, then I would have thought that would have been covered as part of their stay.
Wait. We are losing sight of what is important here.
Your kids wanted to have their birthday party at a random house via airbnb… And you thought this was a good idea?
How old are your kids?
lol was thinking the same thing…
This
Maybe the airbnb is a beach house ?
My son's 5th birthday. He wanted to have a family staycation in the city- go to the Aquarium, walk around the Botanic Gardens, go up Eureka Skydeck at night, etc. Since kids' birthday parties typically cost the same as a night's accommodation, I was happy to oblige since the whole family gets to enjoy it.
If you cancel before your stay, you can cancel and get your cleaning fee back, as your stay hasn't started, and there is no cleaning to be done.
Well I heard back from Airbnb. They asked for medical documentation, which I didn't have since I didn't visit a doctor for gastro. I offered to sign a stat dec.
They replied and said they couldn't process a refund (as I expected) but offered me a goodwill credit of $200 to use within the year.
I'm really happy with this as I'd pretty much kissed the money goodbye, but thought it wouldn't hurt to ask politely, and here we are! My booking total was $260 so it will close to cover another stay for us.
I doubt it.
It'll be up to the host as the extenuating circumstances only considers serious illness. Airbnb won't give you the booking fee back.
I think you can get the cleaning fee back though if there was one.
Just consider that unlike a hotel with tons of rooms and last minute bookings, the typical Airbnb wouldn't be able relet the place in time. A last minute cancellation means opportunity loss—you've cost them a peak night's rent, when really the loss should be yours.