VENT: Airbnb!!!!

Bubblegum5586 · May 2015

Has anyone used airbnb before?

We were looking for a place to stay (population summer vacation area) for a wedding the first week of August. Hotels/motels were over $200 a night so I looked at airbnb for options. What was great was I found a little apartment that was a 5 min walk to the wedding venue! Also it was a 2bedroom so now H's friends could split it with us (vs knowing they wouldn't think to book until it was too late and end up crashing on our hotel floor but now I KNOW I will get my own room!)

It was the perfect solution to everything!

Then a few weeks ago the host messaged me saying she rather do week-long rentals and asked if we were interested. I said I would love to but money nor vacation time would allow us to do that and that we had to keep it just the weekend.

THEN this weekend I get an email from airbnb that our host has canceled our reservation and they can refund the money or give us an extra $35 to book something else. This area books fast (I booked back in March) and now everything is filling up and super expensive!!! I am so mad they can do this! I am so hesitant to use airbnb again knowing the host can just cancel whenever they want!

I am looking at hotwire, orbitz and VRBO.com trying to find something but it looks like we are going to end up spending more for less....

Has anyone had this issue before?!?!

thisismynickname2 · May 2015

Ugh, how frustrating!

I do know someone that got cancelled, but they used the refund/extra cash to get something even nicer. It worked out for them, oddly enough.

In your situation, I'd leave a poor review. The landlady should not allow weekend rentals if she doesn't want weekend rentals. That's super shitty. It should be in the description of the property or programmed into the calendar to not allow weekenders. Boo!!!

Edit: OR--- go back to her with your findings and beg. Can you pull the "but it's my wedding?!" card?

esstee33 · May 2015

***Removed for TOS violation***

lyndausvi · May 2015

I haven't, but we use Airbnb for our guest house. They are really strict about us canceling. Not that I have had to, but you have to have a very good reason to cancel. I can't just click "cancel". You have to write out a long explanation and "just because" isn't good enough. They can removed you from the site for cancelling a reservation. If you cancel more than one reservation they will ban you from the site.

Not that is helps you, just letting you know Airbnb takes this very seriously. So I'm guessing the place cancelled for a good reason and you are better off not staying there anyway.

Good luck with your search.

banana468 · May 2015

I never used AirBNB but I'd pick up a phone here. The host can probably do what she wants but you should get a human on the phone to tell them that the $35 they're throwing to you is hardly touching the surface of what your added cost and frustration will be. Most companies do want to try to fix issues so I'd go to them first before leaving the bad review.

climbingsingle · May 2015

I used Airbnb for my HM and I had no issues.

thisismynickname2 · May 2015

lyndausvi said:

I haven't, but we use Airbnb for our guest house. They are really strict about us canceling. Not that I have had to, but you have to have a very good reason to cancel. I can't just click "cancel". You have to write out a long explanation and "just because" isn't good enough. They can removed you from the site for cancelling a reservation. If you cancel more than one reservation they will ban you from the site.

Not that is helps you, just letting you know Airbnb takes this very seriously. So I'm guessing the place cancelled for a good reason and you are better off not staying there anyway.

Good luck with your search.

banana468 said:

I never used AirBNB but I'd pick up a phone here. The host can probably do what she wants but you should get a human on the phone to tell them that the $35 they're throwing to you is hardly touching the surface of what your added cost and frustration will be. Most companies do want to try to fix issues so I'd go to them first before leaving the bad review.

-- pre-emptive box---

So, all this ^^ being said, do you have it in writing (e-mail) from the landlady that she'd prefer week long rentals? I wonder if she made up an excuse to cancel, if AirBNB takes cancellations that seriously. If you do pick up the phone and call the company, have that e-mail in hand......!

Kahlyla · May 2015

Yes, we (as hosts) just had to cancel a reservation unfortunately. It was our first and hopefully last ever cancellation, but it couldn't be helped. We were still a month out from the stay, offered a full refund, and actually offered them our own house as an alternative, and I was still pretty despondent over having to do it.

Lynda is right, Airbnb takes it very seriously when a host cancels; if it happens more than once the host will be charged a fee, may have their account suspended, etc. You don't actually have to identify a "good" reason, but there is a drop-down of options to select (like "property damage", "maintenance issues", "death in the family", "double booking"), and then there is space to write more - but you can also just communicate directly with the guest, which is what we did. I would never do it just because I decided I prefer long-term bookings - that's a setting the host can apply to their listing internally, not something that should be changed willy-nilly and affect an actual existing booking. I'm guessing this host got an actual inquiry for that time and decided they wanted the extra money with less work, and that's not cool.

Long story short, I don't think any one cancellation is indicative of Airbnb as a whole, because it really is not trivial to do it, and every host is different. I mean any host or hotel or owner of anything could cancel on you, at least Airbnb is incredibly strict about it, and their customer service is really top-notch and always third-party by its very nature. I don't think you can leave a review for a property you haven't stayed at, but if you look at the host's listing, there should be an automated message from Airbnb that "the host cancelled this reservation x days in advance of the booking" or something to that effect. So other potential guests will see that in any case. Sorry you have to deal with this, and hope you find something awesome!

Bubblegum5586 · May 2015

Thanks for the help everyone.

When she cancelled I got the Airbnb automated email with the extra $50 credit to help me re-book. I messaged her and she apologized and she said she rather do week long rentals, That's why I am so mad! It clearly was because she got a better offer! But I had booked in March and we had been in communication the whole time...

Anyways I called airbnb and they apolajized and offered to help by sending me listings... that I of course have already looked at. I finally flat out asked for more of a credit as everything I needed was way over the first price I rented at. So they offered me an extra $100 (plus the original $53) in credit.

I am waiting for the email confirmation now but I think I did find another place that with this credit we can afford now and is a lot nicer.... only downside is that the first place was a 5 min walk to the venue... this will be a 8 min drive... I was really hoping to not have to drive that night... but I'll look more into other options as we get closer.

It obviously left a bad taste in my mouth, but with the offer from Airbnb and all of your good comments I am willing to try again!

Thanks!

lovegood90 · May 2015

Bubblegum5586 said:

Thanks for the help everyone.

When she cancelled I got the Airbnb automated email with the extra $50 credit to help me re-book. I messaged her and she apologized and she said she rather do week long rentals, That's why I am so mad! It clearly was because she got a better offer! But I had booked in March and we had been in communication the whole time...

Anyways I called airbnb and they apolajized and offered to help by sending me listings... that I of course have already looked at. I finally flat out asked for more of a credit as everything I needed was way over the first price I rented at. So they offered me an extra $100 (plus the original $53) in credit.

I am waiting for the email confirmation now but I think I did find another place that with this credit we can afford now and is a lot nicer.... only downside is that the first place was a 5 min walk to the venue... this will be a 8 min drive... I was really hoping to not have to drive that night... but I'll look more into other options as we get closer.

It obviously left a bad taste in my mouth, but with the offer from Airbnb and all of your good comments I am willing to try again!

Thanks!

That sucks! Is she even allowed to cancel like that if it's a shit reason? Did you tell Airbnb her "reason"? Maybe she'll get a slap on the wrist from them.

(I made an Airbnb account a few years ago but never used it, so I don't actually know how it works).

Kahlyla · May 2015

Oh, I forgot! Airbnb automatically blocks the host's calendar for the date(s) in question! So I'm not sure how she thinks she's going to be able to open her place up for a week-long booking spanning that time, unless she does it all under the table or just wants the place for, like, her friends to stay at or something.

@lovegood90, the host can cancel for any reason (Airbnb can't force you to let someone stay in your property), but if the reason doesn't fall into "extenuating circumstances", the host is subject to certain penalties. Those would be the slap on the wrist, and if she were to do it again the penalties would escalate. Like I said, I would never cancel unless I absolutely had to, and I'm wondering if this host just screwed herself out of any booking at all for that time period.

https://www.airbnb.ca/support/article/166

https://www.airbnb.ca/support/article/990

Bubblegum5586 · May 2015

Kahlyla said:

Oh, I forgot! Airbnb automatically blocks the host's calendar for the date(s) in question! So I'm not sure how she thinks she's going to be able to open her place up for a week-long booking spanning that time, unless she does it all under the table or just wants the place for, like, her friends to stay at or something.

@lovegood90, the host can cancel for any reason (Airbnb can't force you to let someone stay in your property), but if the reason doesn't fall into "extenuating circumstances", the host is subject to certain penalties. Those would be the slap on the wrist, and if she were to do it again the penalties would escalate. Like I said, I would never cancel unless I absolutely had to, and I'm wondering if this host just screwed herself out of any booking at all for that time period.

https://www.airbnb.ca/support/article/166

https://www.airbnb.ca/support/article/990

Ahhh I went to take a look and I see that my weekend is grayed out... I also see she canceled 3 other bookings as well.... meanwhile those weekends looked grayed out too...

Well not my problem anymore and hearing this rule makes me feel better about airbnb even more.

lyndausvi · May 2015

Kahlyla said:

Oh, I forgot! Airbnb automatically blocks the host's calendar for the date(s) in question! So I'm not sure how she thinks she's going to be able to open her place up for a week-long booking spanning that time, unless she does it all under the table or just wants the place for, like, her friends to stay at or something.

@lovegood90, the host can cancel for any reason (Airbnb can't force you to let someone stay in your property), but if the reason doesn't fall into "extenuating circumstances", the host is subject to certain penalties. Those would be the slap on the wrist, and if she were to do it again the penalties would escalate. Like I said, I would never cancel unless I absolutely had to, and I'm wondering if this host just screwed herself out of any booking at all for that time period.

https://www.airbnb.ca/support/article/166

https://www.airbnb.ca/support/article/990

We are on airbnb (as a guest house). People can book directly from our website. My boss in the past has put out Craigslist ads. Local newspapers and magizines. There are many ways to sell a rooms outside of Airbnb.

Kahlyla · May 2015

lyndausvi said:

We are on airbnb (as a guest house). People can book directly from our website. My boss in the past has put out Craigslist ads. Local newspapers and magizines. There are many ways to sell a rooms outside of Airbnb.

*BOX*BOX*

That's true, you're right. We were listed on another site for a while as well, but it was way too hard to coordinate the two of them. I found far more people booked through Airbnb so we dropped the other one. No host should be cancelling an existing booking just to take a better offer, though.

banana468 · May 2015

I would employ the use of screen shots / snipping tool to share with AirBNB. And if the host didn't realize all of the policies of airBNB, I have to think you should consider yourself lucky.

[Deleted User] · May 2015

Hey OP, this hasn't happened to me personally, but it happened to my boss just two weeks ago when we were in LA for a work trip. The AirBnB host cancelled 2 days before he was scheduled to check in, and there were no other "appropriate" spots in the area. I say "appropriate" because he was staying with another employee as well. They ended up getting two bedrooms in a house and the bedrooms were very clearly kids' bedrooms with teeny kid beds and no shower in the bathroom (just a bathtub). The biggest issue was that he needed to stay in downtown LA AND the reason was for this huge international conference, so everything was booking like wild. I don't know why the host cancelled, but the whole 2 days before thing was a mess. He did receive credit toward the new place, but not a refund.

VENT: Airbnb!!!!

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