A Martinez family booked a Tahoe getaway, but never made it there -- through no fault of their own. Yet, they still got stuck with the bill.
Add on top of that a five-month headache to get it resolved. And even then, Airbnb didn't agree to fix it until 7 On Your Side got involved.
The Esmaeili family couldn't wait to get away to Tahoe this past February to show their two-month-old daughter, Maddie, her first snow.
But the timing was tough, as a strong blizzard was coming through.
"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.
Proactively, Esmaeili reached out to his host on Airbnb the day before, alerting them to 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.
"And from there, this wasn't a quick process?" 7 On Your Side's Stephanie Sierra asked.
"No. No, no, no," he said.
For four days, he kept calling Airbnb customer service. The company claimed to reach out on his behalf to the host. But the host didn't budge.
"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 told 7 On Your Side 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.
"Really frustrating. Hopefully this doesn't happen to other people. My cousin was like, 'Hey, you should reach out to 7 On Your Side.' And I figured, 'Sure, why not,'" Esmaeili said.
After 7 On Your Side 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.
Take a look at more stories and videos by 7 On Your Side.
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