Airbnb - are you embarrassed yet???

[Brenda328]

This, in part, is an AIrbnb message that I just received from a potential 'guest'.  I have removed the guest's name and location to avoid the public humiliation that they are actually due.

Hello! My name is 'First Name' 'Last Name' I’m a teacher in 'State'. My family is flying out tomorrow to Orlando. The resort that we were staying at is offering me is offering me a full refund if I want to cancel. Our other resorts house does not have a private pool. We are checking into our options. We will be staying two weeks and possibly more if there is a quarantine. Is there anyway we can get it a better deal on the price? Please let us know ASAP so that we can plan accordingly. Thank you, 'First Name' 'Last Name'

This was within less than an hour after I reduced my price over 60% to try to recoup some of my losses.  No, entitled guest, I will not offer you a better deal and since I have already fortunately turned off Instant Booking, I will not be accepting your reservation under any circumstances. 

The 'resort that you were staying at' is not offering you a full refund;  Airbnb is offering you a full refund of money that host is rightfully entitled to.  I know some other host right now will take your offer because we all have to eat, but I won't be a willing participant in shafting a host who in good faith allowed you to reserve their home months ago and now will receive $0 from you (when you are scheduled to arrive tomorrow) so that you can upgrade to a nicer home with a private pool for less money.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  Oh, no. At this point it just seems that every policy they have is being disregarded and rewritten willy-nilly in the moment and the messages they are coming up with to guests and hosts are either completely misleading, or out-and-out lies. Airbnb is blowing all of this big-time. It appears that all the adults, if there ever were any, have left the building.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977  It gets worse. I messaged the guest to ask if she had any idea what had happened. Turns out they are charging the guest accommodation fees (around 600 euros) but they have told me they are paying me none of it because they cannot collect payment from her. At the same time, they have told her that her Airbnb fees (over 200 euros) will be issued as a voucher for future bookings, not refunded. What?

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  They are taking her money, that would be due to you, and just outright keeping it? Okay, now they have devolved into common thieves. Any host who is owed money by Airbnb can at this point assume they will never see it. Airbnb is just going to keep all the funds in their coffers.

Your guest needs to go to the media with this, and I'm not talking Facebook. They can't get out of this one by quoting their TOS. This is just blatant illegal theft and lies.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, that seems to be what is happening.

My guest is just a student and in the middle of exams. She has been very cooperative, but I don't think she will go to the media. This is confusing for her too and I have tried to keep things clear and simple for her so she doesn't get blindsided in all of this. I have promised her I will try my best to sort this out. They should not be ripping her off in this way.

I, on the other hand, am going to the media. 

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I don't know if you ever saw it, but awhile back I started a post in Host Circle about an account I had read from a host on another hosting forum, where she had been trying to get paid out for months for completed stays, with Airbnb giving her the constant run-around about how their tech team is working on it, blah blah. Finally, she actually messaged all the 6 guests who had stayed, telling them that Airbnb had never paid her for the stays (all the guests had been charged, there was no issue with their payments going through) , 5 of those guests called airbnb asking what had happened to the money they paid, since the host had informed them she never had received it, and the following morning, miracle of miracles, she was paid out for all the bookings.

Airbnb has been withholding host's money for a long time, making their bank account look good, with stolen funds. And then have the gall to outright lie to hosts about why they haven't been paid.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Absolutely. I have outstanding payouts from 2018 and onwards. Several of them. The guestgs were charged but I was not paid. When I contact Airbnb, they say it was a technical glitch, they have fixed it and the payments are on the way to me.

Only they are not, they are not even processing some time later. They are still just stuck there as 'pending'.

Airbnb are finding ways to hang onto any funds they can. I suspect they know they are going down in all of this...

[Huma0]

PS This guest is an angel. It really upsets me what they have been doing to me and other hosts, but it upsets me even more that they are ripping her off too when she tried so hard to be a decent person.

[Hadrian1]

@Sarah977 Airbnb has grown too big. They treat their host like garbage. I personally have encountered many issues with the Airbnb representative that made a mistake, admitted that they made a mistake, and yet I am responsible for the cost. Airbnb rep often acts as a prosecutor and the judge. I am hoping another company will emerge and gain dominance from Airbnb.

[Valerio112]

Very simple guest have planned and saved for their vacation. It’s play money to them. They still have income and are now trying to look what to do with the extra cash.

hosts on the other hand have no income, will lose not only their job but also their home and starve from hunger. 
I also tried to cancel my reservation and only got vouchers everywhere. I have 0 income and can’t get my booked plans refunded. Why does a ceo decide to refund 100% due to complaints and now not have the ball to fund us our covid cancelations.

off with his head we the peasants are screaming fly him over in the private Airbnb jet he charters only that could pay for my yearly income and I’m only asking for my 1 month they cost me without even asking me 

[Sarah977]

@Valerio112 "Very simple guest have planned and saved for their vacation. It’s play money to them. They still have income and are now trying to look what to do with the extra cash."

That's pretty presumptuous. This pandemic has affected many people financially, in many walks of life. Many people have been laid off and have no income now either. "trying to look what to do with the extra cash" could be paying their rent or putting food on the table or having to pay for medical care. 

I agree that Airbnb has and is handling this abyssmally, but it isn't fair to portray all guests as being able to afford to lose half of their vacation accommodation money as somehow being in some sort of wealthy club where it's just play money.

Pretty much everyone's lives are being impacted by this pandemic in one way or another. Criticizing Airbnb's stance and actions is one thing, making guests out to be some sort of selfish villians is nasty and unproductive.

[Ally933]

Lots of protection for guests and little or no protection of earnings for hosts.  I hope from this terrible situation the world is in from the spread of the coronavirus that air bnb review situations God forbid if this happens again.  

[Onder17]

I will always remember you left me alone these days. Just for the records.