Complain about last cancelled reservation Karuizawa, Japan.

[Benoit258]

Dear Airbnb Team,

I would like to share with you how and what bad experience not only for myself but for my entire family who got after our trip was cancelled less the 48 hours before departure.

Train and rental car were booked already from our side to get to our final destination located in Karuizawa, Japon  but nobody from Airbnb in Japan has offered any compensation not options to keep this reservation live. What a poor Christmas Holiday experience for the entire family !

On the other hand,  your Team in Japan is experiencing difficulties to express and communicate in English as nobody talks in English and they are using Google translate which you will agree with me, is quite surprising for a company like yours, worldly known and which just debuted on US stock exchange. They also wrote they are lack of employees resources.

I am adding a sample of our last conversation where I still cannot find answers to questions I asked 3 days ago and this situation is getting ridiculous and demonstrate how your employee are not able to provide neither options nor solutions to Airbnb community. 

Please investigate and provide us solutions and clarifications on what happened,  particularly after I received reservation confirmation by email on same day as we have been told our trip was cancelled. This trip should have never been cancelled but adjusted on right dates in order to stay out of "japans go to travel cancellation " from  Japanese authority. 

Please advise and Best regards,

**

**[Private conversation with CS removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Helen3]

I would call Airbnb rather than speak to their community ambassadors @Benoit258 

it isn’t unusual for community ambassadors to only speak their home language.

[Anonymous]

@Benoit258  I don't fully understand the background of the cancellation, but under Airbnb's terms of service, you should be given a full refund if the host or Airbnb itself cancels your booking. They don't typically compensate other costs such as replacement accommodation or rental car fees, so for those you're best off approaching the rental car company.

If your booking was made directly with a host, you'd probably have to start a new booking request for replacement dates. Airbnb can not change the dates on a booking without the host's explicit approval, even if they appear as available on the listing's calendar.

[Benoit258]

Hi Helen and Gutentag Andrew and all best wishes during these holiday season !

Appreciate your detailed message  above I am unfortunately already and fully aware. 

There are 3 main reasons where I am not seeing Airbnb meeting our community and my own experience :

- Lack of anticipation : Japanese government cancelled their go to travel policy ( which includes huge discounts to  e apply by Airbnb ) 1 week before our trip.

- Poor communication from the staff here in Japan who cancelled our 10 days Christmas trip almost 24 hours before departure. Our trip was just overlapping by 2 days the start of go to travel campaign.

- Ambassadors here in Japan and Their overall team here confirmed by written they were not enough and understaff, leveraging Google translate to express themselves in English which added an extra time for their replies. 

Hole it clarifies but I am feeling really disappointed by this new freshly arrived company in US stock exchange and which in 3rd economic power country in the world...

best,

Benoit 

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Benoit258 

Agree with @Helen3 and @Anonymous that you need to talk with Airbnb CS about your cancellation, not the community or Ambassadors(?). Majority of people here at the community are simply just hosts and we don't have the authority to help or assist with cancellations - the best we can do is make suggestions (on how to approach a situation) based on our own personal experiences. 

I get the impression that you are confused about the roles and extent of responsibilities of your host, Airbnb CS, community hosts and Ambassadors(?) - which is probably part of the reason why you are finding it difficult to get help.  

And imo no hotel or host or company is able to arbitrarily *adjust* a guest's trip dates. It's up to the traveler to stay up-to-date about government policies and changes that may affect one's travel, and it is the traveler's responsibility to inquire then make changes, adjust or cancel one's own bookings/reservations in a timely manner, if necessary. You shouldn't expect someone else to do this for you. 

[Benoit258]

Thank you Jessica.

would you be able to provide and share with me global customer service email adress please ? 

As now every time I am contacting customer service line, an ambassador is getting back to me.

thanks.

Benoît 

[Helen3]

All the ways of contacting Airbnb including their phone numbers are listed in the CONTACT AIRBNB post towards the top of the Help Forum @Benoit258 

As others have pointed out community ambassadors are hosts and not likely to be able to speak multiple languages, just as say a host in France who was a community ambassador would be unlikely to speak Japanese.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Benoit258 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide-UPDATED/m-p/413245#M5...

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/170/what-happens-if-my-host-cancels-my-reservation

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1250/what-should-i-do-if-my-host-needs-to-cancel

[Marit-Anne0]

@Benoit258 try Twitter direct message @airbnbhelp

It does not come as a surprise that there are language barriers in Japan - from what I understand, the host had no choice other than cancelling due to travel restrictions.  airbnb's obligation in such cases is to refund you in full.  

If you had booked other non-refundable services in Karuisawa and non-refundable train tickets, that would be your own responsibility.  

Being up to date with changes in travel restrictions is also the responsibility of the traveller. something that can be difficult if you do not read Japanese.  airbnb would not be able to inform you of such changes.

Sudden changes causing travel distruptions are not uncommon these days.