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An enraged traveler claims Airbnb is refusing to refund and rebook her after she attempted to cancel a vacation rental near the danger zone of the Los Angeles wildfires.
Ana Mostarac detailed the saga in an X post on Tuesday night as the wildfire ripped through the wealthy West LA area, torching cars, schools and multi-million dollar homes.
Mostarac, who had booked a vacation rental near the Pacific Palisades area, explained on X that she’d called Airbnb to request help “rebooking accommodations farther from the danger zone.”
Despite the force majeure, the rental firm rejected the financial executive’s request, saying it wasn’t covered by their disaster policy.
“We’re sorry to hear that you won’t be able to make your upcoming reservation,” they declared, per a screenshot of their exchange. “Unfortunately, this cancellation is not covered under our Major Disruptive Events Policy. This means that your Host’s Strict Cancellation policy will apply.”
Mostarac was furious with the response.
“Thank you Airbnb,” she snarked in the post’s caption.
“As always, their policies failed to account for context,” she declared in a follow-up post. “The fires keep getting worse, and unfortunately, many others are probably stuck explaining bushfires to someone in another country right about now.”
“They failed in the moment when it matters most,” she further fumed.
X viewers sympathized with her plight.
“I hope you are safe Ana! Lord pray the home doesn’t burn down,” said one. “What an inhumane response from @Airbnbhelp.”
“So basically you will need to pay them even though they can’t accommodate you?” exclaimed another.
Mostarac responded: “That’s my understanding.”
The rental firm addressed the ordeal in a comment to The Post, stating that the initial refund refusal was because she’d booked after the blaze began.
“In this case, the guest booked on the evening of Jan. 7, after the wildfires had started,” a company spokeswoman told The Post.
However, she added that the company has “contacted the guest to issue a full refund as a goodwill gesture” due to the “fast-moving situation.”
She also referenced Airbnb’s Major Disruptive Events Policy, which per the website, allows guests to cancel their reservation and receive a full refund and travel credit if it’s impacted by “large-scale events” that prevent or “legally prohibit” completion of a reservation. Hosts can also cancel without “fees or other adverse consequences.”
This overrules the standard reimbursement policy stipulating that refunds are at the discretion of the property’s host.
However, Airbnb notes that they only cover natural disasters if they result in events that prevent “completion of the reservation, such as a mandatory evacuation order or large-scale outage of essential utilities.”
“When a large-scale event occurs, we assess the situation to determine whether the Major Disruptive Events Policy applies,” the guidelines read. “If it does, we activate the Policy for the impacted area and timeframe where we anticipate that the Event will prevent or legally prohibit completion of reservations.”
They add that “reservations outside of the defined area and timeframe may not be eligible.”
The exact location of Mostarac’s Airbnb rental is not clear.
