Airbnb refuses to refund UK holidaymakers for ski chalet booking after France bans Brits

Airbnb has refused to refund a family more than £2,000 for a ski chalet rental in the French Alps - despite France’s current travel ban making it impossible for them to take their trip.

In a change of rules announced last Thursday and enforced from midnight on Saturday 18 December, Britons now need an “essential reason” to enter France.

The result has been chaos for the travel industry, especially the snowsports sector, and British travellers with winter trips booked.

Keith Perry and his family, along with his sister and her son, were due to travel as a six-strong group to Alpe d’Huez in the French Alps for a family reunion to mark a year since the death of his mother.

Booking in late October, the group spent £2,216 on an eight-night stay at a rental property in the ski resort, paying in full on 3 December - less than two weeks before the French government would announce the U-turn in travel rules.

“We had asked [Airbnb] what would happen in the event of Covid problems before the second payment was made, and they said we would get a refund under ‘extenuating circumstances’,” Mr Perry told The Independent.

However, when the family learned of the French travel ban on 16 December and approached the property host to cancel, they were granted a refund of only £115.

Had they known about the travel ban less than two weeks earlier, by 3 December, Airbnb rules mean the Perrys would have been entitled to a 50 per cent refund.

“Our Extenuating Circumstances policy does not cover reservations affected by Covid-19 related government-mandated restrictions or lockdowns, and hosts set their own cancellation terms that are right for their personal circumstances. As a neutral third party, this means that we won’t be able to provide a refund in this case,” an Airbnb representative wrote to the family.

Mr Perry and his wife say they initially refused the negligible refund of £115, but Airbnb transferred it anyway and have subsequently refused requests for a larger refund.

On Airbnb’s website, it lists five types of incident, such as natural disasters, that may be seen as “extenuating circumstances”.

The first three are: “changes to government travel requirements”, “declared emergencies and epidemics”, and “government travel restrictions”.

The third category is clarified as “Travel restrictions imposed by a governmental agency that prevent or prohibit travelling to, staying at, or returning from the Listing location.”

However, when questioned, Airbnb told the family: “After the declaration of Covid-19 as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, the extenuating circumstances policy no longer applies because Covid-19 and its consequences are no longer unforeseen.”

Ryanair, too, refused to refund the group on seven return flights, since the family’s flight on 18 December was not cancelled, even after the ban was announced.

The airline offered Mr Perry an opportunity to change the flight dates for £40 per person, per flight - £480 in total for a return for all six, when the original total had been £780.

“One glimmer of hope is that everything was paid for by credit card,” says Mr Perry, “and we have lodged grievances with Visa in each case.”

“It’s all been very stressful,” he added. “We really wanted to take a Christmas holiday together, as we couldn’t do it while my mother was alive, and also not after her death from cancer in October 2020, because of lockdown.

“She wanted us all to celebrate her life with a family holiday.”

The family was able to book a new skiing trip to Italy, but has lost more than £2,600 on the original trip.

A spokesperson for Airbnb told The Independent : “We appreciate this is a fast-moving situation, and we encourage guests to review Host cancellation policies, which are made clear before booking. Hosts determine their own cancellation terms, with the majority having policies that allow guests to cancel without charge. Our global Community Support team is on hand 24/7 to help with any questions.”

They added the booking in question had a strict cancellation policy, and that Airbnb provided mediation in this case.

The Independent has contacted Ryanair for comment.