Like so many other people on Reddit, I find myself fighting with this terrible company over what was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime: a week in Hawaii.
A bit of backstory: my mom always wanted to go to Hawaii. It was her dream vacation, but unfortunately, she never made it. In fact, when she found out that the cancer treatment wasn't working and she had little time left, her first words were "I want to go to Hawaii." But by then, she was too sick to make such a long trip.
My brother and sister have both been, and as an early 40th birthday present, I was finally going to go this week. In some ways, I felt like I was making the trip my mother was never able to. I'd planned this vacation for a year. I stepped out of my comfort zone and sought advice from a coworker who had visited several times. I researched places to stay, planned a vacation starting in Oahu, and then going to Maui with lots of fun excursions, mostly on Lahaina.
And then last week, the fires broke out. I was horrified for the people of Maui. The more news that comes out, the worse it gets. I just read that the fire hydrants had no water. The failures that contributed to this disaster make me angry for the Hawaiian people. So many avoidable failures. It breaks my heart. And obviously I could not, in good conscience, vacation on an island that had faced so much tragedy.
Now, I've never gone to an Airbnb before, but my siblings have and my sister especially seems to have good experiences. So, I thought we could try it. It'd be more comfortable for the three of us than a hotel room.
When I first found out about the fires, I contacted the host for the place I'd booked. He assured me his area of Maui wasn't impacted and it would be fine. I should note that this host lives in Los Angeles and was getting this information second hand. Meanwhile, the governor issued several proclamations discouraging nonessential travel to Maui. After talking it over with my husband and my brother (who we are scheduled to visit before continuing on to Hawaii), I decided to move our plans to a different island. I extended our stay on Oahu and then booked a room at a hotel on the big island.
Here's where things get fun, and I mean that sarcastically. I contacted my host, but he refused to refund us because we were beyond the partial refund date. Honestly, based on what I've since learned about Airbnb hosts, I'm not surprised. But Airbnb has an extenuating circumstances policy. Under the policy, they allow for full refund cancelations for natural disasters and for declarations of a state of emergency.
At first, they were only granting this policy to people with stays booked through August 10th, then they extended it to the 14th, then the 15th, and last I heard, the 16th. While the 15th made sense when the state of emergency was first issued, it's since been extended to August 31st. Yet Airbnb is STILL adding dates to the policy one day at a time. If they continue this trend, I might be able to get a refund tomorrow, but I'm frankly sick of contacting them.
Nowhere in this policy does it say it's subject to certain dates. A state of emergency was declared for the whole island, and there are several news articles stating that this policy applies to all of Maui, not just the areas impacted. I've seen inconsistency in the application of this policy in posts on Reddit and other sites where people with dates in September are getting full refunds, but I continue to be told my stay doesn't qualify even though it literally starts this Friday.
My plan is to give it one more shot, though I'm not sure when I'll have time. Tomorrow we leave for the first leg of our journey which isn't even in Hawaii. I have travel insurance, but this is likely not a covered event since my specific reservation was not directly impacted. But I have some other ideas for how to get refunded, including disputing the charges with my credit card. I've heard that can get you banned from Airbnb, but as I have no intention of ever using them again, I'm not sure I care.
What I do know is that I will never, ever use Airbnb again. Not just for this situation, but also because I've since learned that hosts are buying up all the housing on the islands and the locals can't afford to live there anymore. This is despicable and I wish I had done more research before booking with this company at all. From now on, I'll stick to hotels. Until Airbnb is better regulated (assuming that ever happens), I just can't support their unethical policies, or the fact that they don't even stick to their own policies anyway, whether ethical or not.
If you're considering using Airbnb, my advice is just don't. Maybe if enough people stop using them, they'll eventually go away. Their Better Business Bureau ranking says a lot about how many people, hosts and guests, hate them, so I'll hold onto hope that one day the company will disappear.
