Airbnb Community Center post: How to get full refund for a mouse issue

1. Basic facts of the case

🔍 Tap

📍 Location(cross-referenced via public rental market listings): 5274 Harvey Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 1A7, Canada
(Note for future tenants: This property has since been acquired by a new landlord/management team and transitioned into the long-term rental market. The purpose of identifying this location is strictly to document the historical case. This post does not target or criticize the current new owner.)

🔍 Tap

🔍 Tap

🕑 Date of incident: August 7, 2023

🐀 Issue: A mouse was seen in the guest’s room (room #5, downstairs) and in the kitchen (upstairs).

2. Evidence: images, video and environment

2.1 Image evidence

2.2 Video evidence

🎥 The guest set up a camera at night and recorded the mouse near the stove and in the kitchen.

🎬 YouTube:

🎞️ Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11DrHZ8yKVIriONGboM1xdilyqsCU5Y77/view

2.2 Living conditions

• 🦨 The room was full of mouse smell because the floor was fully covered with carpet.
• 🛋️ The guest slept on the sofa in the living room for 2 nights to avoid mice, but was still charged 💲 full price.

3. Communication and negotiation with host

3.1 Host’s initial attitude

• Host claimed: "The place is in immaculate and cleanest condition."
• Host and co-host stayed silent for more than 24 hours after receiving the video evidence(05:34 a.m. Aug 8, 2023 ~ 07:47 a.m. Aug 9, 2023, so 26 hours and 13 minutes).

3.2 Guest’s key statements

• "If I am a property owner, I won't sacrifice my reputation just for winning a bit money."
• "You just tried to hold the money tightly, only refund the rest of days and didn't even want to give 1 more dollar back to tenant."
• "The reputation damage is difficult to recover by using money, no matter how much."

3.3 Trigger for host response

When the guest wrote: "If I don't receive any reply in the next 2 hours, I need to report to Airbnb directly, social media and news media as well." both host and co-host appeared and replied.

4. Airbnb’s official resolution

After contacting Airbnb customer support by phone, Airbnb confirmed that:

• Host refusing to refund and only refunding the rest of days without compensation if the guest leaves early is against Airbnb policy ❌

4.1 Refund to guest

4.2 Consequences for the host

• The host’s profile became "404 Not Found".

• All 13 listings disappeared from Airbnb.

• The room stayed "unbookable"; every day on the calendar was crossed out and availability became "N/A".

• All his sent messages showed: "This message has been hidden because the person no longer has access to Airbnb."

5. Apartment status after Airbnb removal

The guest later found a Facebook public group showing that the property changed owner and became a long‑term rental, no longer used for Airbnb.

5.1 Before vs after (environment only)

• Bedroom furniture (desk, chair, cabinet, double bed) was removed.
• Large screen TV in the living room disappeared.
• Microwave, utensils, trash bins in the kitchen were gone.

6. Analysis & Assumptions

6.1 Timeline Evidence

• Airbnb listing reviews: first review September 2022, last review April 2024.
• Facebook rental advertisement: September 25, 2025.

📉 Inference: The mice host got removed from Airbnb between April 2024 and September 2025. After that he sold the apartment to someone and emptied the house.

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6.2 Recurring Mice Incidents (March 2024)

• In March 2024, someone shared similar experience on my post by saying:
  • "I have been at this Airbnb for two months. Mice spotted during week two."
  • "I don’t think he handled this well at all."

🐭 Inference: The host didn't resolve the mice issue after my case (August 2023). Later multiple guests became victims (March 2024).

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6.3 House Structure & Host Scale

• All 4 bedrooms are in the basement.
• The host had 13 listings total.

6.4 Financial & Operational Impact

💰 Inference:

1. Host spent a lot on furniture to decorate multiple listings.
2. When he got removed from Airbnb, he almost emptied the house. Heavy items like sofa and fridge remain there.
3. Moving all bed frames, mattresses, etc. from basement likely required a moving company (tasks are physically heavy).
4. Storing all furniture likely required renting a warehouse unit.
5. Host lost Airbnb income from 13 listings.
6. Overall moving cost was high. The host lost significant money after ending his Airbnb career.

7. Timeline reconstruction

• August 2023: Guest stayed there, found mice, and got suppressed by host.
• March 2024: Mice issue happened again, another guest became victim.
• April 2024 ~ September 2025: Host got removed from Airbnb.
• Some day later April 2024 ~ September 2025: Host emptied furniture, sold listings, left Airbnb market.
• September 2025: New owner converted it into long‑term rental.

8. Policy references (Airbnb community rules)

Airbnb Community policy - Ground rules for home hosts

Listing cleanliness

All listings should be clean and free of health hazards before check-in.

• Health and safety: Listings should be free of health hazards (mold, pests, etc.).
• Cleanliness: Hosts should provide listings that meet a high standard of cleanliness (free of extensive dust, pet dander, dirty dishes, etc.).
• Guest turnover: Hosts should be sure to clean between every stay (do laundry, take out trash, vacuum/sweep, wipe down surfaces, etc.).

Enforcing these ground rules

"Depending on the nature of the violation, Airbnb may also take other actions, such as canceling an upcoming or active reservation, refunding a guest from a host’s payout..."

Reporting a violation

Airbnb encourages guests to promptly report violations of these ground rules. When a guest is dealing with a violation of these ground rules, we ask that they:

• Communicate with the host—the host is in the best position to quickly resolve issues.
• Document the issue using the Airbnb message thread, photos, etc.
• If the host can't resolve the issue, contact us to report the issue directly or request a refund through the Resolution Center.
• Leave an honest review with feedback so that the host can improve for future guests.

9. Conclusion

🪙🤑💵💵💵
🏛️🧑‍⚖⚖️⚖️⚖️

A gold digger who digs others’ gold eventually gets his own gold dug out.

✕