Woodlands Retreat

Sadly I have had my first bad experience with AirBNB via this property – Woodlands Retreat at 37 Lumeah Road, Adventure Bay.

I booked the property with two other families well in advance of our requirement ie 4 months prior (our families were running in the Bruny Island Ultra and after tenting (in the rain) last year decided that a hot shower was something we missed so searched for and found what we thought was the perfect property). I booked and paid for the property for 2 nights at a cost of $644.60. And received a lovely message from the owner Mary. We then booked and paid for our Bruny Island Ultra team tickets and were all set for a great weekend.
A month later it all turned sour. We got a message from the property’s new managers Ken and Jo saying we had to pay a further $1000 or our booking would be cancelled. According to Jo, the pricing structure had changed and our booking did not cover the new pricing structure and the business was running at a loss. I expressed my disappointment and horror at the HUGE price hike. Like more than double!!!! That’s insane! I said I would go back to the other families to see what they thought. Before we had time to see what our options were our booking was cancelled by Jo! Accommodation on the island is at a premium that weekend due to the event and we had no hope of securing appropriately priced alternative accommodation at such short notice.
Thankfully we got a full refund, but in my opinion I booked and paid in good faith and they should have had to honour their bookings. We will most likely not be coming back to Bruny and are currently seeking a refund from the Bruny Island Ultra event as well.
How is this even possible, surely it is consumer law that they have to honour their commitment!
Had they honoured their commitment I would have been singing the praises of the venue, now I am totally opposite. Should I have reason to go to bruny island again I certainly would not consider any properties run by Ken and Jo and should anyone ask me or even mention Bruny Island I will be relaying my experience to anyone who will listen.
I can’t help thinking that they just took advantage of the weekend and realized that with accommodation in short supply it was an opportunity to make an enormous profit, to the detriment of someone who had already booked and confirmed. Bad PR for them and the Island. Big thumbs down to this lot.