Artist loses over $10,000 as homeowner refuses to give her a refund after she was blocked from staying at a Palm Beach mansion because of Sydney's Covid lockdown - and even stings her $350 for CLEANING fees

An artist said she was left $10,834.30 out of pocket after holiday house operators told her to cancel her booking because of the Northern Beaches Covid outbreak, but then refused to return the cost which included a $350 cleaning fee. 

Jessie Breakwell booked a week in a Palm Beach guesthouse in Sydney, and said she was promised a 50 per cent refund if she cancelled the Stayz booking.

The guesthouse owners then failed to refund the money and refused to answer calls or emails, the Melbourne painter has claimed.

An artist said she lost $10K after holiday house operators told her to cancel her booking because of the Northern Beaches Covid outbreak, but then refused to return the cost and even charged $300 for a cleaning fee 

Jessie Breakwell booked a week in a Palm Beach guesthouse in Sydney , and said she was promised a 50 per cent refund if she cancelled the booking on Stayz 

The artist said after it was announced the Northern Beaches would go into lockdown, she was promised a 50 per cent refund if she cancelled the booking on Stayz (pictured, the home she booked)

Ms Breakwell told Daily Mail Australia she booked the holiday after a 'hard year', but didn't expect it to turn into a 'complete disaster.'  

'It was a treat, I'd had such a hard year and so had my poor family members, my partner had, we were just trying to have a nice holiday and it just turned out to be a complete disaster,' she said.  

The well-known artist claimed she was promised a 50 per cent refund if she cancelled the booking on Stayz after it was announced the Northern Beaches would go into lockdown. 

'I was listen, if you go cancel your booking we will give you 50 per back and I was pretty furious,' Ms Breakwell told Daily Mail Australia. 

'But eventually I agreed to it and I cancelled my booking and then they sort of strung me out for a bit.'  

The artist claimed the guesthouse operators, who she said live on the property, cut off communication and did not refund any money after she threatened them with legal action.

'If they cancelled the booking I would've got my funds back, so they made me cancel it and I'm just so trusting,' Ms Breakwell said, adding she contacted them '20 or 30' times. 

'It was completely illegal for me to go into the area ... so really they cancelled my booking, I didn't cancel their booking.'  

After posting her ordeal to her Facebook page, which has 19,000 followers, Ms Breakwell said she was refunded a $718.30 'HomeAway Service fee' from Stayz after paying them $1274.71 for their service 

'I gave over $30,000 worth of refunds, 100 per cent back, no questions asked ... because I know it's the right thing to do,' the painter said about her masterclasses which were cancelled because of Covid

After posting her ordeal to her Facebook page, which has 19,000 followers, Ms Breakwell was refunded a $718.30 'HomeAway Service fee' from Stayz.

The mother of a nine-year-old daughter said she paid back $30,000 to her own clients after her country-wide painting masterclasses were cancelled, which is why she was so shocked not to receive a refund.   

'I gave over $30,000 worth of refunds, 100 per cent back, no questions asked ... because I know it's the right thing to do,' she said. 

The listing has been removed from Stayz and other booking sites, but an existing advertisement on Travel City says it has three bedrooms and boasts a sauna, fireplace and is one kilometre from the beach.

'The cancellation policies on Stayz are set by individual hosts and not by Stayz,' a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'We encourage all travellers to read the cancellation policies on each property page before making a booking. Travellers are also reminded of the cancellation policy before the final booking step on the site.' 

The Daily Mail contacted the owner of the property, but they declined to comment. 

Correction: A previous version of this article stated  

'It was a treat, I'd had such a hard year and so had my poor family members, my partner had, we were just trying to have a nice holiday and it just turned out to be a complete disaster,' Ms Breakwell said about the ordeal