MARTINEZ, Calif. — A long-awaited family trip can be disappointing enough when plans fall apart. For one Bay Area family, the situation became even more frustrating when they were charged for a getaway they never got to take.
The family had reserved an Airbnb for a Tahoe vacation, but circumstances beyond their control kept them from ever reaching the property. Despite that, they said they were still left paying the cost.
What followed was a five-month effort to resolve the dispute. According to the family, Airbnb did not agree to address the issue until our sister station KGO became involved.
The Esmaeili family had been looking forward to a February trip to Tahoe, hoping to introduce their 2-month-old daughter, Maddie, to snow for the first time.
But their plans coincided with a powerful blizzard moving through the Sierra, making travel increasingly difficult.
“We tried to time it such that we would be up there for the snow but not be up there for a week and a half,” Hani Esmaeili said.
Trying to get ahead of the problem, Esmaeili contacted the Airbnb host the day before the trip to warn them about the blizzard conditions.
“They were like, ‘we’ll figure it out if it happens,'” Esmaeili said.
It did happen. The storm hit right in the middle of their trip.
California Highway Patrol closed the roads for multiple days.
Esmaeili said he told his Airbnb host.
“When I told them that the roads were closed and we couldn’t get up there, they said, ‘Would you like early check-in?’ I was like, ‘Uh-oh. That’s not a good sign,'” Esmaeili said.
Early check-in doesn’t help if you can’t even get there.
And to make matters worse, the host couldn’t reschedule and denied a refund under a no-cancellation policy.
“That’s when we realized we were in trouble,” Esmaeili said.
For four days, Esmaeili said he kept calling Airbnb customer service. The company claimed to reach out on his behalf to the host. But the host didn’t budge.
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“So Airbnb told us, ‘You can’t get a refund.’ And so I’m like, ‘What do we do?'” Esmaeili said.
Consumers in similar situations might be eligible for protections under Airbnb’s Major Disruptive Events Policy.
The tech giant said it’s designed to help support guests and hosts during large-scale emergencies affecting a listing’s location, such as natural disasters or government-imposed travel restrictions. They claim they closely monitor and assess whether it applies and, if so, activate it for the affected area.
“I was convinced it fell under that,” Esmaeili said.
And the policy was activated for Tahoe. And while the Esmaeilis’ trip was clearly impacted, they still didn’t qualify for it. Why?
Airbnb stated: “In this case, the guest’s reservation was scheduled to end before any travel restrictions took effect and therefore did not qualify for coverage under this policy.”
“Seems like a blizzard closing down all major roadways to an Airbnb and an entire region, what is more disruptive than that? Like, a little confusing,” Esmaeili said.
And the denial was made painfully clear by an Airbnb representative via a gray button.
“The person on the phone says, ‘Oh, the button is grayed out.’ I was like, ‘What does that mean?’ She’s like, ‘I can’t press the button to give you a refund.’ So I was like, ‘What do we do?’ And she’s like, ‘That’s it. That’s the end of the road,'” Esmaeili said.
“I was like, ‘There’s got to be a lot of people between you and Brian Chesky, the CEO, right? Like there’s got to be somebody else I can talk to,'” he said.
But Esmaeili says he was told no. No escalation. No recourse. That’s it.
The sleep-deprived parents spent five months trying to dispute this.
After KGO got involved, Airbnb refunded the family’s $1,400 to Esmaeili within days, writing: “As a one-time courtesy, we issued the guest a full refund.”
“I’m super happy. It’s nice to not have $1,400 of your money lost for no good reason. I hope the net result is that they take a look at this policy, and I trust that they will,” Esmaeili said.
Airbnb added that many hosts have policies that offer full refunds up to 24 hours before check-in, and their site offers search filters to help find those stays.
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