Hi everyone, I’ve had an agreement with a host that I wanted to shorten my stay (he has a no cancellation policy on the reservation), and he said he is going to issue a refund for the remainder of the month. Apparently my reason isn’t a strong enough reason to even initiate a request with Airbnb (I had to go to another state for emergency purposes and I have to stay for a while). I had a friend of mine go and remove all my remaining stuff, and have a written agreement with the host t0 mail him the key (I took pictures as proof too). As soon as my stuff was out, host changed his mind and started saying that he has an ongoing issue with airbnb that hasn’t been resolved in over a month (It was regarding another guest, completely irrelevant to my situation) and that he couldn’t issue a refund until that is resolved. Airbnb won’t do anything unless the host agrees to a refund, and then he started lying about everything and that I never mailed the key (again, I have written proof and pictures). After hours on the phone with Airbnb, they told me to put in a request for the refund amount and give the host 72 hours before they can “intervene”.

So my question is: is this worth taking to a small claims court? (Illinois). The money isn’t that much (17 nights’ worth), but I hate being taken advantage of and I hate a lying POS.

And if so, would you recommend a lawyer? Or is text enough proof to support my case?

Thanks for reading!