Airbnb users fumed after company refuses to cancel booking amid Palisades wildfires

An angry traveler claims Airbnb is refusing to refund and rebook her after she tried to cancel a vacation rental near the Los Angeles wildfire danger zone.

The rental company has addressed the ordeal in a comment to Posten.

Ana Mostarac detailed the saga an X post on Tuesday night as the wildfire tore through the affluent West LA area, setting cars, schools and multi-million dollars on fire.

Mostarac, who had reserved a vacation home near the Pacific Palisades area, explained on X that she had called Airbnb to request help “rebooking homes further away from the danger zone.”

Despite the force majeure, the rental company denied the CFO’s request, saying it was not covered by their catastrophe policy.

“We are sorry to hear that you will not be able to make your upcoming reservation,” they stated in a screenshot of their exchange. “Unfortunately, this cancellation is not covered by our Major Disruptive Events policy. This means your host’s strict cancellation policy will apply.”

Mostarac was furious at the answer.

“Thanks Airbnb,” she snarled in the post’s caption.

“As always, their policies failed to take context into account,” she declared in a follow-up post. “The fires continue to get worse and unfortunately many others are probably stuck explaining bushfires to someone in another country right now.”

“They failed at the moment when it matters most,” she continued.

X-viewers sympathized with her plight.

“I hope you are safe Ana! Lord pray the home doesn’t burn down,” said one. “What an inhuman response from @Airbnbhelp.”

“So basically you have to pay them even if they can’t accommodate you?” exclaimed another.

Mostarac replied: “That is my understanding.”

Airbnb representatives have addressed the incident, claiming that the initial refund denial was due to her booking after the fire began. “In this case, the guest made the reservation 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 referred to 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 is affected by “large-scale events” that prevent or “legally prohibit” the completion of a reservation. Hosts can also cancel without “fees or other negative consequences.”

This overrides the default refund policy, which states that refunds are at the property host’s discretion.

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 Event Policy applies,” the guidelines read. “If it does, we activate the policy for the affected area and time frame where we expect the event to prevent or legally prohibit the completion of bookings.”

They add that “bookings outside the defined area and time frame may not be eligible.”

The exact location of Mostarac’s Airbnb rental is not clear.

Posten has contacted the company for a comment.