Airbnb
Questions & Answers

You will NOT get all your money back. Airbnb will KEEP the booking fee and the host may keep all or a percentage of the rate you paid depending on their cancellation policy, which should be stated when you booked. They usually state whether they have a mild, medium or strict cancellation policy. So if you cancel within a certain number of days it will affect how much you get back. But Airbnb ALWAYS take the booking fee, and that can vary depending on how many days you have booked.

Even if it says you can cancel within a few days under the "flexible" cancellation policy, there are tons of caveats and exceptions which will screw you out of getting your money back.

You have to review the terms of your registration. I have to agree with others, its not a user friendly process, you've got a headache ahead to get a refund.

Nope and they won't help you.
Better to stay at a hotel. Don't use there service it's a nightmare.

Look at the cancellation clause, you may have to pay for one night. But with our experience, they will try to keep the entire amount and you will need to fight them for it, I hope you put it on an American Express Card, that is your only hope! Good luck!

No, you would be lucky and have to fight to get a refund if you cancel 1 day after you make the reservation!

Most likely not. We had a situation where we had health concerns about the property we stayed at. They didn't return our money. They seemed to be having many of these issues.

I haven't read thru all the comments but BEWARE! The cancelation policy is misleading in many cases and even if you meet the cancellation requirements with for a refund, it's not worth the Hassel. You contact the host who says you need to contact AirBNB when you finally find the contact number for AirBNB they say they need to first contact the same host that sent you to them to begin with. I had screenshots of the cancellation policy as presented on the webpage as a Full refund within 7 days and when I showed them, the website was immediately updated. I continued to contact them and never got an answer. I got one last VMail from them to call them back (weeks later) and they never to this day have returned my call. I ended up just contacting my credit card company to dispute. I wouldn't bother with them. I'd say VRBO has some of the same properties listed and I haven't had a bad experience with them.

For those who don't realize it, AirBnb will let your booking be re-sold even when you didn't cancel arbitrarily, or at short notice, etc... They will do this while denying you any help to get a refund from a place that isn't safe to stay in.

They will not let you cancel due to safety or (even major) cleanliness issues... even bedbugs, mold, moisture, unexpected animals, and other such problems, even though the web site says otherwise.

They will decline to help you when someone rips you off, and then hide your negative review.

They don't respond to requests for help or information, and they will even leave your profile up when you elect to close your account.

There are some good people--plenty--on the site, but because all negative reviews of any importance are hidden, you will never know which is which.

I and my guest were made really sick by a bad, very heavy odor of smoke and mildew, and had to leave when our noses were running and we started wheezing. It was late at night, we were exhausted, we had no spare money to be renting elsewhere, and yet it was so bad that we had to, anyway. Still, we spoke to the "host" very kindly.

We had not even unpacked nor touched anything. I was 2 weeks out of major surgery for cancer, could not afford any risks to my health, and told her so.

We were very nice about it, and she promised us a refund "through the AirBnB system". I ended up paying much more for another place, and getting about 5 hours sleep before a huge event, because it was impossible to stay there for even one night and still BRERATHE.

The woman lied about a refund, and AirBnB ignored my request for help, allowed her to deny the refund WHILE RENTING THE SAME ROOM FOR THOSE SAME DAYS, and then hid my negative review.

In short, it's all about getting the referral fees, and your safety and enjoyment mean ZERO. Please let others know. It's the only way, as there is no legal recourse.

Just check the host's cancellation policy before you book. If you aren't happy with the cancellation terms go elsewhere or try negotiating better terms for your stay.