False Advertising and Extra Payment Outside of Airbnb

[Jason1381]

Hi,

My partner and I signed up for a month long rental of a property listed on Airbnb. Before moving in the host requested an additional £260 paid directly to his account supposedly because Airbnb had calculated the monthly discount incorrectly. Upon arriving at the property we found there were many amenities missing that were listed on the advert, primarily Wifi.

We would not have taken the booking if we had known there was no Wifi as it now means I'm losing money everyday from not being able to work. The gravity of the situation was raised to the host on check in day but days later I'm no closer to finding out when Wifi will be installed. I'm now in a position where I need a refund immediately to move to a property that does have Wifi but I don't know where to start.

Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason

[Quincy]

Hi there @Jason1381, have you tried contacting Airbnb yet? https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide-UPDATED/td-p/413245 

[Jason1381]

Hi Quincy, thanks for your response. I have raised the issue to Airbnb, they have been responsive and I'm awaiting the relevant team to come back to me. I'm keen to know if there is anything else I can do to expedite the process, given both my income and my job are in jeopardy from not being able to work remotely due to the lack of Wifi.

[Quincy]

I'm glad to hear that you're in contact with the team already—let's hope for a speedy resolution!

Would you mind letting me know how everything goes?  I think this could be helpful for other members experiencing similar issues. 

[Jason1381]

Absolutely, I hope fellow members don't experience the same issue. I'm hoping for a fast resolution one way or another, if you'd like any further details let me know.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jason1381 I hope you have also reported the host for demanding extra money. This is totally unacceptable and anyone doing it should be stamped on hard.

[Jason1381]

Unfortunately we were in a bit of a fix and had to move out of our old place for the time being so ended up paying it, wish we hadn't now. We have highlighted this extra charge to Airbnb though, I imagine it's a way of not paying fees on the full amount.

[Sarah977]

@Jason1381  When you say the host requested additional money paid directly to his account, do you mean to his bank account, or it was a Request money through the Airbnb site? If the host asked for additional payment outside of Airbnb, that totally contravenes Airbnb's terms of service. 

When a guest is new to Airbnb, it's important to read through all of the articles for guests on the Airbnb site which explains how things work, what is allowed and what isn't, and would have also given you info on the procedure to follow if you arrive to a place which is inaccurately described, missing stated amenties, dirty, or otherwise unacceptable.

[Jason1381]

Money directly to his account to make himself whole after the deduction of Airbnb fees (which doesn't make any sense). Agreed, we should have turned away when we found amenities missing and being charged extra, unfortunately our options were limited at the time.

[Debra300]

@Jason1381,

In the future, if a host says they want additional money, tell them to send you a money request through Airbnb.  This way Airbnb is aware of all financial transactions related to the reservation, and they can handle a refund, if necessary.

[Sarah977]

@Jason1381  No, the reason given for the extra charge doesn't make any sense. Airbnb charges hosts a 3% fee on each booking. Hosts take this into consideration when pricing their place, it's not something a host asks the guest to reimburse. Some hosts have the option to pay all the fees themselves, so the guest doesn't see an additional service fee from Airbnb. But this is just a marketing strategy, as customers don't like to see extra fees added on when they decide to book, but the host would normally factor this into their nightly pricing as well.

[Jason1381]

Thanks, I'll make sure to do that if the situation arises again in the future.