When you put down the deposit on an Airbnb for a nice vacation, you probably aren’t questioning whether or not the place has hot water. If it’s an off the grid type rental or one of those fancy yurts/bubble tents, than you might ask that question, but with a typical ski rental, it’s probably not something that you’ve ever really thought about.
When Alexander Yee and his friends booked their Airbnb for a Tahoe ski vacation, they weren’t thinking about whether or not the place would have hot water, either. Unfortunately, according to ABC7 News, they began noticing problems with the hot water by day two, and when it continued to be an issue on day three, they reached out to both the host and Airbnb for answers.
“When we heard back from the Airbnb customer service, we were quite surprised by the response. They had mentioned that because hot water wasn’t specifically included as an amenity at the Airbnb that we were staying at, the host was under no obligation to provide hot water.” -Alexander Yee
ABC7 reached out to Airbnb searching for an answer, and they got one. According to the company’s response, hot water is an optional amenity for hosts to list (or not list), but the option is meant for more off-the-grid listings, where one might actually question whether or not a location has hot water. In this specific case, Airbnb reached out to the host to address the concern, and refunded Yee both the Airbnb service fee and the cleaning fee. The host refunded a portion of the payment as well.
“So, thanks to you [ABC7], after you contacted Airbnb they provided us with a resolution, and that resolution was, they refunded us Airbnb’s service fee, as well as a cleaning fee which was equivalent to about one night stay, so I thought that was a fair resolution from Airbnb.” – Alexander Yee
It does seem pretty scummy to not have hot water in a ski rental, especially if it’s a normal house rather than a ski yurt or something like that. But it seems like both the host and Airbnb handled this case quite well (even though ABC7 had to reach out for anything to really be done), so they shouldn’t get too much hate. Just let this serve as a lesson, I guess. Check to ensure the place has hot water before you book!
Image Credit: ABC7 News Bay Area via YouTube