Airbnb Keeps Funds For Teen's Open Heart Surgery

My nephew, Christian Kai Loyd, is entering his senior year of high school. Several months ago, we received news that he would need Pulmonary Artery Reconstruction, and soon, or he would go into heart failure. The only surgeons in the United States who can perform this type of reconstruction are in California and Georgia. Kai was born with multiple Congenital Heart Defects and has defied the odds more times than our family can count, but this is the first time he's needed open heart surgery since he was 11 days old. Kai was scheduled to have open heart surgery this past July at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital- Stanford in Palo Alto, CA. The surgery and post-op inpatient care were expected to last roughly 30 days. Kai lives in Washington State, so as you can probably imagine, the cost of travel and lodging for a month in the Bay Area is rather expensive for them.

Two weeks before the surgery, and more than 90 days after Kai's mom had reserved an Airbnb the Standford surgical team canceled Kai's surgery due to an unexpected influx of CICU patients. Kai's Mom appealed to the Airbnb host in an attempt to work things out but she ignored every message sent to her to date and ultimately kept $4678 my sister's family needed - despite losing no money from the cancelation as she was able to rebook the home to new guests at a greater rate than what my sister had originally booked it at. The host had also agreed in writing- before they booked the reservation- to work with the family if plans changed as long as my sister messaged her, despite her cancelation policy if dates needed to be altered. My sister reached out to Airbnb customer service multiple times but they won’t enforce a refund stating the hosts written messages to help make arrangements if something came up, does not negate the cancelation policies and any refund/s will solely be at the hosts discretion.

Airbnb was used at the advice of the hospital’s coordinator and the possibility for a full on cancelation versus just a shift in dates was never discussed. They chose Airbnb to save money on lodging for the family, food costs so they wouldn’t have to eat out 3x a day by being able to utilize the kitchen and no laundry costs and could bring their dog and not have to worry about finding a dog sitter or board her for a month. It made the most sense for their family.

My sister's family was willing to take a credit and allow the host to keep the money and just rebook dates with her once they got a new surgery date, but the host refused to respond as she agreed to previously “work with them” and forced the full cancelation of the stay.

Kai's new surgery date is still unknown as of today, but his parents can no longer afford now to stay in California when Kai is in surgery and recovering. I'm asking for your help in recouping what they lost so that they don't have to worry about travel, accommodations and necessities when Kai has his surgery. If you are unable to donate at this time, please consider getting the word out and sharing this fundraiser. If you'd like more info about Kai, visit his Facebook page: Christian Kai's Heart Journey

John 9:1-38

"As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind. “Neither he nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered, “He was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”