Judge Judy Airbnb/STR refund

1

Hadn’t seen this posted before and it seems to be only about 6 weeks old.

Seems like both the guest and the host were a-holes, but I always assume this stuff is staged or partially staged, so have your salt ready.

2 Likes
2

What was never mentioned here was the cancellation policy. The host had no obligation to return the money if the guest was expecting her to waive the policy. Judge Judy never mentioned it and neither did the host. Glaring omission.

1 Like
3

I agree, but I’m thinking such details aren’t important to this program’s regular viewers :crazy_face: It was implied that the host agreed to return the deposit if the dates were rebooked. The host rebooked all but 2 weeks out of 10-week time period and the host’s earnings for those 10 weeks were actually slightly higher than if she had rented to this guest, yet she refused to refund anything.

1 Like
4

I agree that it was greedy of the host. And if she said she’d refund if she managed to fill the dates, then she’s a liar to boot.

But unless Airbnb institutes some policy that a host has to refund in contravention of the cancellation policy the amount they made on the new booking, it’s a matter of the host behaving dishonorably, not illegally.

1 Like
5

What is a mitigation of damages?

The mitigation of damages doctrine, also known as the doctrine of avoidable consequences, prevents an injured party from recovering damages that could have been avoided through reasonable efforts. The duty to mitigate damages is most traditionally employed in the areas of tort and contract law.

6

Folks commonly confuse “illegal” with “criminal,” torts and crimes, civil and criminal law.

7

As I understood it, AirBNB was not involved in this transaction; Defendant told Plaintiff “Just got an offer from Canadians on AirBNB”, said to solicit the deposit for the Plaintiff’s booking.

Based on that I believe that this was most likely a direct booking.

The fact that she implied that she’d refund his deposit if she was able to rebook, was her self created problem and all he was doing was following through on that commitment. If it was a direct booking, she failed to include a “no refund policy” within her own contract terms.

3 Likes