AIRBNB - DON'T EVEN GO THERE!

The year 2020 is turning into a mega pile of pants, thanks largely to this sticky bun pandemic.  I suppose I should be thankful for being alive, germ free and employed but still, it does make me that teeny weeny bit cross to think that everything I was looking forward to has been cancelled thanks to invisible bacteria.

Today, I had to cancel my holiday in Munich scheduled for early May.  Instead of using Booking.com I’d booked our accommodation via Airbnb and let’s just say that I won’t be doing that again and when I say ‘again’ what I mean is NEVER AGAIN!

Our host (I’m going to call her TFB for tight fisted bitch) refused to refund any part of the upfront deposit paid last year even on the grounds of sticky buns.  The fact that everything is shut in Munich and that on arrival we’d be forced to spend the week trapped in her room then face a 2 week quarantine on our return to the UK not making a blind bit of difference to the Sour Kraut.  Under her cancellation policy, she’s keeping our cash and that’s all there is to it.

TFB showed not an ounce of compassion in light of this global crisis and Airbnb’s convoluted ‘extenuating circumstances’ cancellation policy also ensured punters would not be seeing much of their hard earned cash returned in a hurry.  The most we can expect is a ‘voucher’ to spend next time even though there’s not going to be a next time (at least for me).  Lesson learnt – never book accommodation unless you have thoroughly checked all the small print in their cancellation policy!  

So, I’ve just kissed goodbye to £333 for nothing.  No holiday, no refund, no spending the week half pissed in some German bierkeller; just out-of-pocket misery and the prospect that life can only get worse before it gets better.