Locked out of Airbnb at 1:30am in freezing weather abroad…
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Locked out of Airbnb at 1:30am in freezing weather abroad – still waiting on hotel reimbursement, advice?
I wanted to share this experience and also ask for advice from others who’ve dealt with Airbnb support while traveling internationally.
We were a group of 6 women staying in a 3 bedroom Airbnb in another country. Around midnight, the host accidentally changed the entry code. By about 1:30am, we were completely locked out (in \~20°F (-6°C) snowy weather) with all of our belongings still inside, including medications.
We contacted Airbnb support and reached the Safety team after \~15 minutes. They were very helpful in the moment and told us we could book a hotel and be reimbursed up to $325 per night *per room* (so 3 rooms for our group).
From there, things became much more complicated:
* The host said there was a cap on what they could refund. Airbnb confirmed this but didn’t clearly explain the limit.
* I had to follow up multiple times just to get confirmation that taxes and fees would be reimbursed.
* Support later said only **one** hotel room would be reimbursed, which contradicted what the Safety team told us.
* I had to send screenshots of the original conversation to clarify what we were promised.
* They ask me to respond within hours to keep the case open, but their replies often take 12+ hours.
At this point:
* We *did* finally receive a full refund for the Airbnb stay itself
* But I’m still waiting on confirmation about the **hotel reimbursement**, which is a significant cost given we needed multiple rooms
The most stressful part was being locked out late at night in freezing conditions without access to essentials, and the back-and-forth afterward has made it harder to resolve. Given this experience I'd recommend any other service than Airbnb.
**Questions:**
* Has anyone successfully gotten Airbnb to honor what the Safety team initially promised?
* Any tips on how to escalate or get a clear, final answer on reimbursement?
Appreciate any insight, this has been a pretty exhausting situation to navigate while traveling.
#travel
I wanted to share this experience and also ask for advice from others who’ve dealt with Airbnb support while traveling internationally.
We were a group of 6 women staying in a 3 bedroom Airbnb in another country. Around midnight, the host accidentally changed the entry code. By about 1:30am, we were completely locked out (in \~20°F (-6°C) snowy weather) with all of our belongings still inside, including medications.
We contacted Airbnb support and reached the Safety team after \~15 minutes. They were very helpful in the moment and told us we could book a hotel and be reimbursed up to $325 per night *per room* (so 3 rooms for our group).
From there, things became much more complicated:
* The host said there was a cap on what they could refund. Airbnb confirmed this but didn’t clearly explain the limit.
* I had to follow up multiple times just to get confirmation that taxes and fees would be reimbursed.
* Support later said only **one** hotel room would be reimbursed, which contradicted what the Safety team told us.
* I had to send screenshots of the original conversation to clarify what we were promised.
* They ask me to respond within hours to keep the case open, but their replies often take 12+ hours.
At this point:
* We *did* finally receive a full refund for the Airbnb stay itself
* But I’m still waiting on confirmation about the **hotel reimbursement**, which is a significant cost given we needed multiple rooms
The most stressful part was being locked out late at night in freezing conditions without access to essentials, and the back-and-forth afterward has made it harder to resolve. Given this experience I'd recommend any other service than Airbnb.
**Questions:**
* Has anyone successfully gotten Airbnb to honor what the Safety team initially promised?
* Any tips on how to escalate or get a clear, final answer on reimbursement?
Appreciate any insight, this has been a pretty exhausting situation to navigate while traveling.
#travel
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