A canceled vacation rental leads to a refund dispute between Airbnb and the owner | Travel Troubleshooter

Carl Baeuerlen cancels his vacation rental in Lanai, Hawaii. But Airbnb claims he simply cannot get his revenue again. The proprietor claims that is mistaken. Who’s appropriate?

Q: Final spring, I produced an Airbnb reservation for a holiday vacation rental in Lanai, Hawaii, in November 2020. For the reason that of the COVID-19 travel limitations, I canceled the reservation in May perhaps.

Airbnb denied me a entire refund. I attempted to cellphone Airbnb to talk about this denial, but the maintain time was continually lengthier than two hours. Sensation I experienced no other recourse, I disputed the assert with Cash One particular, my credit card corporation, and was specified a conditional refund. 

Money Just one sided with Airbnb a thirty day period afterwards and urged me to take care of this specifically with Airbnb. I tried to do so. I applied for a refund on the web and was explained to that, owing to the holiday vacation rental’s refund plan, there would be no refund. 

I termed the proprietor and she claimed she does not have a record of my reservation, nor does she have any money from me for my reservation. She also has no coverage that would have denied me a refund. 

I contacted Airbnb with this info. A consultant promised to get in touch with the operator and get again to me. Though she didn’t call back again, I gained a notification from my credit card issuer that a refund of $282 experienced been issued to my credit score card. But I never ever gained it. Can you support me get my income back? — Carl Baeuerlen, Los Altos, California

A: You should be able to get a whole refund. But your circumstance is a tiny difficult. Let us see if we can unpack it.

Airbnb experienced an “extenuating circumstances” policy that permitted company to terminate reservations for stays built on or just before March 14, 2020, with examine-in dates concerning March 14, 2020, and April 14, 2020. But you had been outside the house of that window.

That signifies the Airbnb extenuating circumstances policy didn’t utilize to your rental in Lanai. But here’s wherever issues get intriguing. Airbnb claims your rental was not refundable, but the owner states there was no these kinds of policy. So who is appropriate? I’ll get to the response in a minute.

You ran out of tolerance and filed a credit rating card dispute. In credit score card parlance, that’s referred to as a friendly dispute, mainly because you ended up performing company with Airbnb. And your financial institution sided with Airbnb, which additional intricate your scenario.

I consider a brief, well mannered e-mail to a single of Airbnb’s executives may well have aided. I listing the names, figures and e mail addresses of Airbnb’s top rated buyer service managers on my site, Elliott.org.

So whose policy should really prevail — the owner’s or Airbnb’s? I imagine the policies to which you agree are the guidelines that bind you. But those weren’t the principles to which the operator agreed, so you have some wiggle space. I’m disappointed that the proprietor in no way been given your deposit. That suggests Airbnb simply pocketed your deposit. I guess that is how Airbnb justifies its $80 billion valuation.

Presented the reality that Airbnb experienced presently promised a refund, I assume the procedure need to have been really easy. I contacted Airbnb on your behalf, and you gained your $282 deposit again.