Vrbo Refuses Full Refund After Hawaii Trip Cancelled Over Safety Concerns

Steve Cavagnaro from the Boston area cancelled a family vacation to Hawaii in early March after deciding the trip posed safety risks. The family received airline credit for the flights once they explained the reason for the cancellation. The property host on Vrbo declined to refund the booking.

Vrbo told CBS News that its Extenuating Circumstances Policy had not been activated for the reservation, leaving the refund decision to the host. Vrbo's policy requires hosts to refund guests in full if they have not yet checked in when a covered event occurs. For stays already underway, hosts must offer a partial refund for the uncompleted portion.

Covered events include natural disasters, global health or political emergencies, and historically severe weather such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tornadoes, flooding, and wildfires. The policy excludes seasonal weather events that do not coincide with another covered event, including hurricanes during Atlantic Coast hurricane season, tropical cyclones, and winter storms in the Northern Hemisphere.

It also excludes bookings made to Hawaii between May and November that are cancelled due to hurricanes.

"Just realizing in a natural disaster type scenario, we would be protected from that. They said they didn't activate the policy, which doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me with a state of emergency," Cavagnaro said. "Since the Extenuating Circumstances Policy was not activated, the decision whether or not to allow additional flexibility is up to the host," Vrbo stated.

Cavagnaro told CBS News he is out $12,000 as a result of the non-refund. Vrbo told the network it will refund the family's $800 booking fee. Lawyer and Consumer World founder Edgar Dworsky told CBS News that Vrbo could generate significant goodwill by being more flexible in such cases.