Traveler Refused A Refund For An Airbnb With No Hot Water Because It's 'Not Listed As An Included Amenity'
Oopsie, that's actually not what the law says, Mr. Airbnb Owner!
Dean Drobot | Canva Pro Airbnb has been testing travelers' nerves for a while now, and the list of reasons why it's far less hassle and usually less money to just book a hotel is getting longer by the day. But now we have a new item to add to that list after a woman reported being denied a refund for the most absurd reason imaginable.
A traveler was denied a refund for an Airbnb that didn't have hot water.
Tanya Sabrina is a stand-up comedian, so travel is part of her job. And if she's like a lot of comedians, that likely means she practically lives out of Airbnbs. And suffice to say, she's had it with the capricious whims of the company's scam artist hosts.
In a post on X, Sabrina shared what she called a "new entry in @Airbnb being an absolute scam." So what was it that had Sabrina so frustrated? Was it being asked to clean the entire house top to bottom while also being asked to pay a $300 cleaning fee AND being charged an "extra electricity fee" for using the dishwasher while doing so? (This happened to me in an Airbnb once, and I will never, ever get over it.)
No, it was way worse than that. She was denied a refund for an Airbnb that couldn't guarantee there would be any available hot water when she arrived. No showers, no dishwashing, not even the ability to wash your hands properly after using the bathroom — and not one penny refunded.
The Airbnb owner denied the refund because hot water was not listed as an amenity.
Honestly, this Airbnb owner is kind of inspiring. This is a level of audacity usually only seen in world-famous pop stars or bloodthirsty dictators. A regular old Airbnb host being THIS shameless? Hats off, sir or madam or undecided!
It all began when the owner reached out to Sabrina to let her know that "there's a temporary issue with the hot water at the location you booked." The owner assured her that they were working to get it "resolved" as quickly as possible, which is not exactly reassuring.
The apology for the "inconvenience" and gratitude for Sabrina's "understanding" that followed were even less so. This really sounds like code for "it definitely isn't going to be fixed in time sorryyyyyy!"
So Sabrina, like any normal person, was like LOL, you're gonna give me my money back, right? To which the owner had the unmitigated temerity to reply: "Unfortunately we are unable to offer refunds in this situation as hot water was not listed as an included amenity."
Amenity? AMENITY? It's at this point I'd like to resort to hacky cliches and paste the Oxford English Dictionary's definition of the word amenity: "a desirable or useful feature or facility of a building or place."
Hot tubs are amenities. Air fryers are amenities. Hot water is not an amenity because it is not 1837, and we are not on the Oregon Trail, you lunatic. Or as Sabrina herself put it in her response, "you also didn't list windows and doors, if those are missing I guess that's fine too!"
It turns out this is highly illegal, and the traveler's viral post quickly got her a refund.
Here's the thing about this kind of Airbnb debacle: We have reached an era where Airbnb's customer policies are so notoriously oriented toward the "get bent" approach that I immediately expected Sabrina's replies to include a response from Airbnb citing a clause in its own terms of service stating guests are required to supply their own air heaters and natural gas hook-ups unless otherwise noted.
That didn't happen. But what did show up in her replies was a handy screenshot of state law in California, where the Airbnb was located, which stipulates that "yes, actually, you do have to include hot water in your Airbnb, you absolute money-grubbing sociopath." (I'm paraphrasing.)
Airbnb did show up in her replies asking for more information, and Sabrina reported back later that, contrary to so many other viral incidents with the company, they were "great" and immediately gave her a refund.
But she added, "I'll never know if the viral tweet or the citing California law is what made it happen, or if they would have been amenable either way," which really kind of sums up the whole thing.
When a hotel has no hot water, they typically shut themselves down until it's fixed rather than denying your refund while sadistically twiddling their handlebar mustache and hoping you can't accurately cite state rental law. Just one of the many "amenities" even the jankiest of hotels has to offer.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
