Host Canceled <24 hrs before Trip

[Adam1570]

Hi, thanks for sticking with me for this. I was planning a trip to Puerto Rico for 6 days for a group of 6 people and decided to book a house through Airbnb several weeks in advance. This was great until I texted my host less than 24 hours before check-in about the door key and he just said "call me" and I got a call. He claimed the previous guests were extending their stay (which shouldn't be possible) and he had to move us to a smaller further away location. This might have been ok except he refused the change the location through Airbnb making me very uncomfortable. So we called Aribnb to help.

After ~10 hours of calls, Airbnb helped force the host to cancel the reservation. Later, the same location was relisted at a higher price under a different host making us believe there was no schedule conflict, just price gouging. At this point, we were getting on a plane in 6 hours with nowhere to stay. Airbnb, not willing to pay more than the original listing, suggested locations with 1 or 2 beds (our original listing had 6), but either way, we would not be able to confirm with any hosts in time for our flight. With hotels mostly sold out, we canceled our trip forfeiting over $1k of flights. Is there anything I should have done differently here?

In talking to support afterward I learned Airbnb does not guarantee housing, only a refund, and if a host cancels last minute they are penalized but you do not see any of the penalty money. I have used Airbnb several times in the past and had great experiences, but I encourage anyone reading this to use caution and have backup plants because if things go wrong you are the one that will have to deal with it.

TLDR

- Hosts can cancel last minute with no regard for your plans

- Airbnb will refund you but is no help in finding backup housing

- Use a hotel if you want security for your trip

[Sarah977]

@Adam1570  Sounds like a pretty scammy host, or else they are just inexperienced and don't have themselves organized. 

What you could have done differently:

It isn't a good idea to wait until the last minute to communicate with a host. You should never just book and then show up weeks later, or wait until a day before to ask a host who hasn't sent you check-in info for it.

If the host has not kept in touch with you to some extent between the time you book and your check-in date, you should message them at least a week before check-in.

"Hi XX, I have a booking for XX dates and am just checking in with you to make sure all is still good for our reservation. When can I expect to receive the check-in instructions?"

This at least gives you a chance to contact Airbnb, cancel amd get a refund, and look for another place if the host is unresponsive, tries to pull a bait and switch on you, or some other unprofessional behavior. 

It isn't like booking a hotel room- you are dealing with individual hosts who can be super experienced and professional, or the opposite. (Just as hosts can get bad or scamming guests). There's often a bit of a risk, so keeping up good commmunication is really important, and if something seems off, give yourself enough time to deal with it. 

[Mark116]

@Adam1570   I'm sorry this happened.  As far as I can tell, Airbnb should have banned that host, since it sounds like either he's got a fraudulent listing [this is a known scam, where the guest reserves X place, but then at the last minute the host makes up some excuses and rehouses at a lesser property], or as you say, it's price gouging, if the host cancelled those dates should not be available again, that is part of the penalty.

We reach out to guests somwhere around 7-5 days ahead of their trip to confirm arrival times, etc.  If you use airnb in the future you should consider doing the same in reverse, contacting the  host a few days before the trip date to confirm everything, in your case it may not have prevented the host from cancelling but would have given you days instead of hours to rebook.