Airbnb- Extenuating circumstance

[SJ1_]

Anyone ever try to get a refund from Airbnd for Extenuating circumstances?

I sent all the paperwork they requested.

We paid about $3500 for 42 days in Dunedin FL and on day 4
I ruptured my achilles tendon. Went to ER and they said to see Ortho. Dr. ASAP
Made an appoint with one at Emory in Atlanta since all our
doctors are here.
The Airbnd host has already booked 9 of the remaining days.
I checked with my Credit Card and trip cancellation does not cover rentals

Could of bought trip insurance but in the long run we would of came out
behind and one of the reasons we use Airbnd is that they do have an
Extenuating circumstances clause.


Just curious (and hopeful)

Here is Airbnd def.
What’s covered:
• Death in the family
• Serious illness or serious illness in the family
• Natural disaster in the destination country
• Political unrest in the destination country
• Civil obligations
What's not covered:
• Flight cancellations due to something other than a natural disaster
• Lost baggage
• Loss of employment
• Death of someone other than an immediate family member

 

[Walt34]

It seems the only "out" you have is if a ruptured achilles tendon qualifies as a "serious illness".

If it was me deciding I'd say no but I'm a hardbutt.

Heart attack, stroke, and the like are in the "serious" column.

Bear in mind the property owner may well have turned down other potential rentals because of your reservation.

 

[FUEGO]

Email them or call them and make your case. I'm with Walt - not sure a busted achilles is a "serious illness" but you never know.

I've received a full refund including Airbnb fees for a problem with a rental, in spite of contractual language saying airbnb fees were non-refundable (they also gave me $150 airbnb credit for my troubles).

 

[48Fire]

Ouch, sounds serious to me. Good luck on recovery of money and your health

 

[Bestwifeever]

Hope your achilles heals (Seriously. No pun intended.).

Maybe you can get at least a partial credit from the owner? Maybe you can still spend a couple of weeks there while you recuperate? Good luck.

 

[Sittinginthesun]

I don't think the owner should lose that revenue due to your injury. It sucks but it's your issue, not his. If he rebooked 9 days then for sure you should get that amount refunded.

 

[Willers]

It certainly doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[SJ1_]

Bear in mind the property owner may well have turned down other potential rentals because of your reservation..

Makes sense. They were booked solid for the winter season but if I booked for under 28 days I would of got close to a 100% refund.

Email them or call them and make your case

Fuego – Airbnb told me not to contact the host and go thru them

If he rebooked 9 days then for sure you should get that amount refunded.

I brought up that fact if they re rent for any part of my month they should give me a refund for those days and the customer service person said they do not do that

It certainly doesn't hurt to ask.

that was pretty much what I thought plus there are short time limits so I pretty much did that.

Lesson Learned: The host had a “moderate” cancelation policy and I normally would of got a good size refund But if you rent for 28 or more days you automatically
Go to the “Long Term” policy which basically means in my case you get a lot less back. I think I got about 13% refund.


If I rented for 27 days would of got almost a full refund:

Moderate cancellation policy:

If the guest arrives and decides to leave early, the nights not spent 24 hours after the official cancellation are 100% refunded.

 

[Texas Proud]

Sounds to me like there is a different rate for long term and short term rentals... that might be the reason...


HOWEVER, I would still insist that I get back the nine days that the place was rented to someone else.... you see this all the time in the small claim TV cases.... if a party was able to mitigate their damages then the original party is not responsible...


As an argument... say you 'got better' and were able to go there..... and someone else was already staying there even though you had paid the rent to stay... don't you think that you should be compensated for NOT being able to stay there As long as you were paying to rent the place, nobody else has the right to be there but you.....

I would even go to small claims court for this....

 

[bUU]

As an argument... say you 'got better' and were able to go there..... and someone else was already staying there even though you had paid the rent to stay... don't you think that you should be compensated for NOT being able to stay there As long as you were paying to rent the place, nobody else has the right to be there but you.....

It is an interesting argument, but there are other examples: For example, if you book a roundtrip airline trip, and fail to check-in for the outbound flight, the terms and conditions of some non-refundable fare classes would automatically cancel the return leg of your itinerary (i.e., even if you call them and say that you still intend to use the return leg), with no refund forthcoming (i.e., even if the airline fills that seat).

It is all part of how creative pricing models have become. Many of them achieve lower prices offered to consumers specifically by factoring in probabilities that a small but significant percentage of purchases will end up unused. There is even sometimes the same, exact service offered at two different prices, the price differential reflecting nothing other than the difference in terms and conditions related to refundability/transferability in the context of this expectation that a small percentage of service purchased will remain unused.

 

[zinger1457]

Lesson Learned: The host had a “moderate” cancelation policy and I normally would of got a good size refund But if you rent for 28 or more days you automatically
Go to the “Long Term” policy which basically means in my case you get a lot less back. I think I got about 13% refund.

I was caught by surprise by that policy on a one month airbnb reservation I made last year. The listing showed a 'moderate' cancellation policy and it was only after the reservation was completed that I noticed the cancellation policy was changed to 'long term'.

Last week I did search on airbnb and all the listings I looked at did show a 'long term' cancellation policy for 30 days or more so airbnb may have fixed it. If I ever need to make a 30 day or more reservation I will look at breaking it up into two shorter stays if I can get a better cancellation policy. The money savings for a one month 'long term' rental isn't worth it in most cases.

 

[Texas Proud]

It is an interesting argument, but there are other examples: For example, if you book a roundtrip airline trip, and fail to check-in for the outbound flight, the terms and conditions of some non-refundable fare classes would automatically cancel the return leg of your itinerary (i.e., even if you call them and say that you still intend to use the return leg), with no refund forthcoming (i.e., even if the airline fills that seat).

It is all part of how creative pricing models have become. Many of them achieve lower prices offered to consumers specifically by factoring in probabilities that a small but significant percentage of purchases will end up unused. There is even sometimes the same, exact service offered at two different prices, the price differential reflecting nothing other than the difference in terms and conditions related to refundability/transferability in the context of this expectation that a small percentage of service purchased will remain unused.

Interesting.... I did look it up and found examples of what you describe...

The ones I have found seem to say that the passenger did not inform the airline of the change and so cancelled the whole ticket instead of the return leg.... that if they were informed they would have allowed the travel...

I do think renting is different though... different laws.... not a lawyer, so who knows for sure...

I still would sue since it would be interesting to see... and likely they would settle before going there.... again, not for the refund of the whole amount (the amount not used) but only the amount that landlord rented again...

 

[FUEGO]

Last week I did search on airbnb and all the listings I looked at did show a 'long term' cancellation policy for 30 days or more so airbnb may have fixed it. If I ever need to make a 30 day or more reservation I will look at breaking it up into two shorter stays if I can get a better cancellation policy. The money savings for a one month 'long term' rental isn't worth it in most cases.

That's possible. I've broken up stays at one place into multiple bookings so I could use multiple coupon codes, promos and credits (max 1 per booking). At one place I had to explain to the host (in Spanish) how to create a custom price so I didn't have to pay multiple cleaning fees for 1 stay. No problems from the hosts after I explained my purposes weren't fraudulent* in any regard, just trying to optimize my coupon/promo usage.

edit: I see that you might be paying a higher price for breaking up the bookings to under 30 days each. I'd price trip cancellation/interruption insurance too compared to the higher prices you would pay for non-long term stays. I've seen some substantial discounts for long term stays compared to nightly/weekly rates.

* Airbnb charges slightly higher fees for shorter bookings, so I'm not defrauding airbnb either by using multiple codes since each code is technically applied to a separate "stay".

 

[bUU]

The ones I have found seem to say that the passenger did not inform the airline of the change and so cancelled the whole ticket instead of the return leg.... that if they were informed they would have allowed the travel...

For many low-cost fare classes, the airline is under no obligation to make any accommodation in the case of a passenger missing one leg of a round trip itinerary, with or without notice. Don't count on the airline always being generous in the manner you suggest. The fare rules aren't written in the passenger's favor that way, such that the airline would be forced to allow you to use a round trip ticket for what essentially is a one way (for which the lowest fare may be higher).

The round trip travel requirement is one way airlines segment the market between leisure and business travelers. Crude, but effective enough. Back before airlines started enforcing these rules, business travelers looking for cheap flights would regularly use a number of tactics to capitalize on the lower fares more generally available to leisure travelers, including this tactic, known as throwaway ticketing.

I do think renting is different though... different laws.... not a lawyer, so who knows for sure...

To some extent, a contract is a contract is a contract. Terms and conditions, once agreed to by both sides, typically apply. There have been a number of attempts (especially by airline passengers, but by folks who rent hotel rooms as well) to make claims that there isn't an even playing field between buyer and seller, and therefore they should be able to discard whatever terms and conditions of the offered service that they personally don't like. No such claims have ever succeeded as far as I know. Rather, the path forward, in both cases, is for buyers to work to get specific types of provisions declared invalid as a matter of law. However, Airbnb's cancellation policies are more than generous enough vis a vis current public policy.

I still would sue since it would be interesting to see... and likely they would settle before going there.... again, not for the refund of the whole amount (the amount not used) but only the amount that landlord rented again...

You never know what a service provider will offer to just make a nuisance like a small claims suit go away. I think, though, based on the odds, it is only worthwhile to the claimant if the claimant derives significant entertainment value or gratuitous satisfaction from inflicting the process on the plaintiff, since the chances of extracting enough compensation to make up for the amount of work involved is relatively low, unless one's value of their own personal time is quite low.

* Airbnb charges slightly higher fees for shorter bookings, so I'm not defrauding airbnb either by using multiple codes since each code is technically applied to a separate "stay".

It actually holds water in the obverse as well: You're paying for the greater flexibility with shorter bookings through those higher fees, therefore when you're not paying for that greater flexibility (i.e., longer bookings) it would not make sense to have the greater flexibility.

 

[Texas Proud]

bUU...

I do know that the rental laws are a bit different in some states.... I have seen where someone had stayed 30 days at a place and then were considered tenants... the 'landlord' tried to get rid of them but had to go to court to get an eviction ruling.... the 'tenants' refused to accept the summons so that they could continue to stay there without paying rent.... I do not think an airline has any problem with dragging you off a plane if they do not want you there....

I could not find anything on this, but I remember reading about a lady who was living in a NY hotel for decades and still paying something like $5 per day... she refused to vacate the room and the law was on her side... IOW, as long as you did not check out the hotel could not force you out... I do not know if that has changed or not, but again shows that airline tickets and renting a room are two different things....

 

[bUU]

I do not think an airline has any problem with dragging you off a plane if they do not want you there....

You're comparing apples to oranges: A discretionary service versus what our society has deemed fulfillment of a basic need for shelter, and something for which our society has established special protections that are implicitly part of every contract regardless - provisions that neither side in the contract could waive even if they wanted to.

but again shows that airline tickets and renting a room are two different things....

No. They're not categorically different in the manner you're implying. Rather, one simply has special provisions over and above the contractual provisions, imposed by society. With regard to the contractual provisions, they are effectively the same. There is nothing in those special provisions that categorically require refunds for unused portions of months - and the reality is typically quite the opposite. As a matter of fact, as a matter of course, apartment rental contracts often include provisions for security deposits that, under specified circumstances, the landlord gets to keep.

 

[Texas Proud]

You're comparing apples to oranges: A discretionary service versus what our society has deemed fulfillment of a basic need for shelter, and something for which our society has established special protections that are implicitly part of every contract regardless - provisions that neither side in the contract could waive even if they wanted to.

No. They're not categorically different in the manner you're implying. Rather, one simply has special provisions over and above the contractual provisions, imposed by society. With regard to the contractual provisions, they are effectively the same. There is nothing in those special provisions that categorically require refunds for unused portions of months - and the reality is typically quite the opposite. As a matter of fact, as a matter of course, apartment rental contracts often include provisions for security deposits that, under specified circumstances, the landlord gets to keep.

You cannot have it both ways.... your first stmt says there is a difference because of special rules and your second stmt say there is no difference...


My point has been that there ARE special rules... special rules in both an airline ticket and renting.... as you mention, those rules are followed no matter what the contract says... you can always go to 'a contract is a contract is a contract' and ignore those rules at your peril....

Again, I am not a lawyer.... but every case I have seen where someone breaks a lease and is sued, they only have to pay for the time that the place was not rented... IOW, if I sign a 12 month lease and break after 3 months (paid for all 3) and the landlord leases it starting in month 5 then all I have to pay is that 1 month... the landlord mitigated his losses and all I have to do it compensate him for his losses....

I have seen it the other way also, where someone prepaid for rent (not a 30 day stay, but long term) where the person sued to get prepaid rent back and won.... again, the landlord re-rented the place and was not out any money....


Also, concerning deposit.... some states have passed laws requiring the landlord to do specific things by specific times and if they do not they are liable for triple damages..... no matter what the contract says.... even if they mail the deposit back a day late they can be held liable...

 

[bUU]

You cannot have it both ways.... your first stmt says there is a difference because of special rules and your second stmt say there is no difference...

Nonsense. Please note what I wrote; "They're not categorically different in the manner you're implying. Rather, one simply has special provisions over and above the contractual provisions, imposed by society. With regard to the contractual provisions, they are effectively the same." They aren't categorically different. The only significant difference is that one provision. And the different is just with regard to that provision. With regard to all other provisions and aspects, especially the contractual provisions, they are the same.

My point has been that there ARE special rules... special rules in both an airline ticket and renting.... as you mention, those rules are followed no matter what the contract says... you can always go to 'a contract is a contract is a contract' and ignore those rules at your peril....

But you seem to want to ignore what the special rules are and how limited they are in scope.

Regardless, I think we're beating a dead horse with a pair of tweezers at this point.

 

[Texas Proud]

Regardless, I think we're beating a dead horse with a pair of tweezers at this point.

LOL... I do agree with that!!!

Have a great day...

 

[SJ1_]

I was caught by surprise by that policy on a one month airbnb reservation I made last year. The listing showed a 'moderate' cancellation policy and it was only after the reservation was completed that I

I booked this close to a yr ago so do not remb. what I thought then. They
had a "moderate' policy too and at first I saw this big refund coming back.

I am going to wait to hear from AIRBNB before I take any further action.
The host has rented 14 of the days I had booked. From a non legal source
(google) this is ok in FL When I lived in TX in 1980 I was told that if you broke
a lease and they re rented it you got a refund for that amount.
Still I believe a partial refund would be fair, we will see.

Besides this 6 wk. rental we had another one we were to rent from mid Feb
to Mid March . the plan was 6 weeks at Airbnb house number 1 then 9 days
in Atlanta to see grandkids etc then back to Dunedin for another month.


The mid Feb. to mid March host let me transfer my booking to the fall which
is their slow time. I would of requested something like this on the house
number 1 but really didn't have much time to think about it .

 

[photoguy]

That's possible. I've broken up stays at one place into multiple bookings so I could use multiple coupon codes, promos and credits (max 1 per booking). At one place I had to explain to the host (in Spanish) how to create a custom price so I didn't have to pay multiple cleaning fees for 1 stay. No problems from the hosts after I explained my purposes weren't fraudulent* in any regard, just trying to optimize my coupon/promo usage.

I didn't realize there were any substantial coupons for AirBnB. How much of a discount are you getting and where do you find them?

Doing a google search I only found relatively small coupons or coupons for first time users. For our rentals, we've found the discount for longer stays to be huge so that it wouldn't be worth breaking them up (US stays only).

 

[nwsteve]

For this AirBnB newbie, how many days does it take to be a "long stay"?
Nwsteve

 

[bUU]

28 nights or more

 

[FUEGO]

I didn't realize there were any substantial coupons for AirBnB. How much of a discount are you getting and where do you find them?

Doing a google search I only found relatively small coupons or coupons for first time users. For our rentals, we've found the discount for longer stays to be huge so that it wouldn't be worth breaking them up (US stays only).

I had a $150 credit from a previous Airbnb stay that turned out pretty horrible (cat feces, an inch of cat hair lining the only couch, dirt, grime, gross nasty stuff; full refund plus $150 credit for my troubles from airbnb). I also had a credit from another place that cancelled on me. Then I had some credit from referring others to use Airbnb (I make $20, you save $20 kind of deal).

In any event, I had enough to pay basically nothing for 2 weeks in a nice aparment in Mexico City ($600-700 IIRC), but I had to split it into 3 bookings to use all 3 promos. It's not exactly a repeatable process (nor would you want to repeat it!).

 

[photoguy]

Thanks for the explanation.


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