Beware Airbnb terms and conditions

[James3080]

I want to want members to know about the disgrace that is Airbnb. I booked an Airbnb in mallorca in August last year. It was accepted in August. I got an email in February saying the host is changing the booking and instead of being 100 euro per night it is 180 per night. I booked a year ahead as its school holidays so made sense to book ahead. Now I have booked flights for a family of 4 and have nowhere to stay as there is no way we can stay there with such immorality. Apparently hosts are allowed to almost double prices 6 months after booking. We are stuck, there is nowhere affordable to book now. Beware this company. I will never book again at a company that allows this. It is disgusting. Oh and Apparently they don't have a UK regulator. Do not book through Airbnb I never will again. If anyone knows legal avenues in the UK I can take this through please let me know!

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@James3080 tagging @Elaine701 so that she sees your reply

[Sarah977]

@James3080  One thing to keep in mind for the future. It's not a great idea to book a place for a date far in the future and then just assume that all will be okay. 

It's a good idea to communicate with the host long before it gets close to your check-in date or you book airline tickets, if they haven't messaged you first.

"Hi XX, We have a booking with you for March 20th, and as we are just about to book our flights, I want to confirm that all is set on your end to host us. We can't afford to have our booking cancelled last minute. If all is okay, when should we expect to receive the check-in information? "

Doing this can jog a host to look at  a booking that they haven't referred back to since it was made, and maybe catch something like a price they don't want to honor. And it also gives you an opportunity to make sure the host is responsive and your booking is hopefully safe. If the host doesn't respond in a timely way, or tries to change the agreement, you at least have time to report this to CS, ask them to cancel the booking with full refund, and look for another place. 

And consider purchasing travel insurance for your next trip- it's usually worthwhile so you don't lose non-refundable flight costs, etc. Anything can happen as far as travel disruptions, from your end as well as a host's. For instance, you could get sick, or have an accident and have to cancel everything.

[James3080]

Thank you for your feedback and time, much appreciated

[Elaine701]

@James3080 

Thanks for that. I've looked it up. 

As unfortunate as it is, it appears that something was wrong from the start. 

First, accommodation for 4 in August, for 100€ per night? In Pollença? Highly unlikely. 200€ would be more inline with the norm, and even that would be low. This might have been a mistake, but the host should have flagged it immediately, rather than waiting until February. Even then 180 is cheap. 

It crossed my mind to offer you accommodation, but like much of Mallorca, we're already booked for the summer. Even then, we couldn't even remotely consider it for 100€ per night. 

But I know some others that may be available, if you're not married to Pollença. Unfortunately, no chance for 100€ per night, but if you'd still be interested, I can make inquiries... 

Let me know, 

Elaine

[James3080]

Thanks Elaine, much appreciated. We were due to go to pollensa during August 20 but had to cancel because covid. The apartment we had there was around 550  pounds for 5 nights with balcony over sea. Same apartment is now around 1400 pounds for same number of nights which I guess is a combination of things such as owners needing to make up for all the losses over the years and hopefully increased demand (I don't know as I am not an owner), which is understandable. Even for us this was trying to do the original holiday and there were apartments around that price at that time as was really early to book. I don't really want to make much more of it I just think Airbnb should not allow it insofar as I question if it is legal. Its not like it was a decimal misplacement mistake which I would understand and probably spot myself at point of booking. I simply cannot take the risk of using Airbnb again knowing they allow price hikes 6 months after booking. Thanks again for your input and for thinking of us for your apartments, that is much appreciated. I'll have a think on what I can do next but I think it will be a case of cancelling and doing a winter break. Thanks 

[James3080]

Also I just converted the the booking fee I tk euros and was 660 euros for 5 nights so more than 100 which I appreciate is s competitive 

[Elaine701]

@James3080 

Well, ok, 2020 was a rather bad year for obvious reasons, which may explain why you were able to get a price of 660£ for 5 nights on the seafront. But the prices you're seeing now are fairly normal for that location at that time of year.

I'm a bit surprised it wasn't already booked. I suspect that if you cancel, it will be immediately booked again at the highest rate, since availability in Mallorca is now pretty limited. 

I know of an apartment in Puerto portals that might be available if you're interested, but I don't know what the price would be. It would be direct with the owner (no commission), since they aren't on Airbnb. 

Can you give me exact dates? 2 adults 2 children? Is that right? 

[James3080]

Hi Elaine, firstly thank you so much once again for being so helpful. It is really appreciated. We have decided to cancel on this occasion and try again with flight vouchers and in advance again...I like to be organised and do everything in advance and this threw me a bit. It's disappointing but there are worse things happening at the moment so I shouldn't complain too much. I think we will try for a Spring break maybe next year...will will get to Mallorca one day after a few years of trying! Your apartment looks great by the way and if you are as helpful as a host as you have been here I am sure your guests are always happy. I think I am being rubbish as would like to message this directly but can't see how so alas I am writing publicly again. Thank you  

[Colleen253]

@James3080 To be clear, it is not Airbnb policy to allow a host to arbitrarily change the price of a confirmed reservation. If one wishes to do this, they must send a request to the guest, who then is free to accept or decline. If declined, the booking goes ahead as planned and at the price paid for initially. I realize this host cancelled on you after you declined to pay the requested increase, but this is not easy either. There are heavy penalties for host cancellations. It's also unfortunate that you were advised wrongly by Airbnb CS, but the state of CS is pretty dismal these days and it happens often. 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/251/if-a-host-asks-for-more-money

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1505/changing-the-price-of-confirmed-or-pending-reservations

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/host-penalties-for-cancelling-reservations

Booking accomodation through any OTA comes with some amount of risk. There are strategies one can use to cut the risk and cover themselves. You've been given some good advice on that front by experienced hosts here. Good luck with you plans.

[James3080]

Thank you Colleen, that is also really helpful! I do appreciate the time and advice from you and the others and hope this conversation will be helpful for other also. Wishing all the best