Family to get refund on cyclone accomodation after initial Airbnb refusal

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is wreaking havoc on the NSW and Queensland coastline, with popular tourist hotspots already looking like ghost towns.

Victorian couple, Kasey and Nathan Hazelman, had a trip planned with their two young children to the Gold Coast this weekend, where they'd booked an Airbnb in Surfer's Paradise.

But after being advised to cancel their plans due to the impending major weather event, Kasey said Airbnb initially refused to give them a refund.

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"Airbnb, even this morning have told us that we're not eligible for their policy for major disruptive events, which means we can't cancel or we lose our full payment for the accommodation that we've booked," Kasey said.

Kasey said if they were to still try and make it up to the Gold Coast, they would have to set off this morning on what would be an 18-hour drive - since flights are cancelled.

"It blows our mind to think they think it's OK for us to travel 18 hours through the whole entire eye of the storm just to get to their accommodation, which, by the looks of the news, the Gold Coast is not in a good way, so we should not be on the main beach in an apartment during this storm," she said.

READ MORE: 'Billions and billions of dollars in damage expected' from cyclone

Kasey first contacted Airbnb on Saturday - almost a week ago - about pushing her booking back a week to March 16, but she told Today they said the cyclone would hit on Thursday, so Sunday, March 9 would be fine to keep the original booking.

"We've been pretty cooperative and said, if we're safe to do so, we will get there - like we want to go on holidays, but they've pretty much told us from the get go that if we cancel, we lose our money," she said.

Airbnb responded to Today's request for a statement on Kasey's family's situation with the following comment:

"Our team is focused on ensuring we support our guests, hosts and the wider community so they can remain safe," a Airbnb Australia and New Zealand spokesperson said.

"A full refund will be issued to the guest for their stay. We are continuing to monitor this rapidly moving situation so we can provide support to those affected by Cyclone Alfred across Australia's east coast."