[ISeemToBeAVerb]

Yeah, this sounds like poor planning to me. Most of the complaints are limitations of the traveler writing the story, not AirBnB. Plus, the author admits that a tragedy was the reason the homeowner didn't reach out. That's unfortunate for all parties involved, but it does not represent how the service generally works.

[vikramgoyal]

The AirBnB service made a bad situation worse by insisting that I pay for cancellation when I had no choice but to cancel as the host wasn't there!

Again, it shows that AirBnB is risky thing to do when travelling with kids, in a foreign country... but I repeat myself.