Host confirmed amendment but then declined official request

[Alison746]

HELP!!

We booked to go to NYC next month but due to government advice due to COVID-19 thought about amending the dates. 
Before amending we contacted the host and asked his advice and he agreed amending from Nov to Feb instead would be a good

idea because of the current situation. We checked via the amend function on Airbnb and selected a new date in Feb and it gave us an amend price, and also when we looked at making a new booking the dates showed as available. We changed our flights and sent the request through to the host and he declined the change saying those dates were taken! When we check before amending they were available and now suddenly 5 hours later they were not.....and we amended our flights with the airline. 
We contacted the host again upset as he didn’t mention any dates being not available in Feb and it was available to make as new booking. Putting this aside we asked the host what dates are available and gave our availability of a couple different options and the host replied a second time confirming a date which was available. So again we contact our airline and paid to amend the flights a second time based on what the host confirmed. We put the new change request through to him straight away and he declined it again saying he now changed his mind he might not want to renew his lease in January!

can anyone help with some advice?? Had the host said from the beginning no changes allowed we would have left the booking as it is but twice he confirmed via the air BnB chat available dates, the second time specifically.. how is it fair after we pay twice now to amend our flight that he can decline this for no reason? Surely he has some responsibility to accept the change request after confirming the dates are available and he knew we were changing the flights with the airline ....

[Emiel1]

@Alison746 

Changing a reservation shows the new dates available at moment of change. Between the moment you submit the change and the moment the host accepts it, the new dates can be booked by somebody else.

But it seems also this host is not taking things very serious, bringing you in trouble twice.

[Alison746]

@Emiel1 Thank you for your reply 🙂  between the host confirming the available dates and us calling the airline was just a few hours so unlikely they had new booking. He also admits in his message that ‘he and is wife changed their minds’ which I feel like they cannot do this after confirming dates for travelling. In the few hours in between giving us dates and us sending the request he could have message us saying they changed their minds but it was not until we sent through the request he then gives this other story which to us isn’t fair when he already done this once. I’m trying to understand what protection there is for travellers when a host messes you around and causes financial losses based on their confirmation to amend ... 😞

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Alison746  why don't you just cancel this reservation and book another accommodation somewhere else?

[Alison746]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  The host is also refusing to refund us. Said if he gets another booking he will consider refund but it doesn’t seem fair that he confirms to amend , we amend our flights twice based on his confirmation and now he says no knowing we have amended our flights for the new dates. If we cancel the booking ourselves we get 50% back but still stand to loose £1500 for the other half which we can appeal to air BnB ... but it all just seems very unfair for the travellers. I fully understand we entered into a contract originally for Nov but the contract was agreed to in writing to be changed and then when doing officially via the amend function he can then decline it. When the first dates we booked he said was ‘now gone’ we specially asked what dates suit and he gave them.

We would gladly amend to another apartment and even asked if he has another property we can amend to but nothing! He just keeps saying he has denied our requests... 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

did you book under strict cancellation policy?

https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies#strict-with-grace-period

[Alison746]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Thanks for replying. Yes it’s under the strict policy and trust me I know and understand I agreed to a contract for the original booking. However my main grievance is about the host confirming twice that I can amend , the second to dates specified by himself but then straight away declines it because he changed his mind.

In this instance what protection do I have as a traveller that I acted upon advice given directly by the host and specific dates. 

[Sarah977]

You don't "amend to" another apartment. You cancel the current reservation and look for another place. What is the cancellation policy on this listing? Are you still within the time period to be able to cancel and get a full refund?

The host sounds like he has been dealing with you in a very unprofessional manner. But the fact that the first dates you wanted to make a change to ended up being booked during the hours it took you to rebook your flight is just how it works-  unless the host agrees to block the dates you want for you for a certain amount of time to give you a chance to arrange the new flight (which I offered to do once for a guest) , so no one else can book them, which is what you should have asked him if he'd be willing to do, you always take the chance that the dates won't be available anymore.

A host confirming that dates are available when you ask isn't the same thing as an assurance that the host would hold those dates for you if another booking came through for them. But a host isn't obligated to hold the dates nor are they obligated to agree to a date change. However, they shouldn't lead you to believe that your request will be honored and then renege on that. And the "changed his mind" response is not okay.

@

[Alison746]

@Sarah977  hi thank you for your input! I 100% agree with you we should not have assumed the new dates would just be held which is why when it happened the first time we went back to him with different dates we were available and he confirmed back which dates suited him. We responded asking to hold those dates until we call the airline which was only a few hours and straight once done emailed the official change request. 
Again we only amended our flights a second time because he confirmed specially after the first issue the dates we could amend to. And the fact is this second time now it’s not that those dates also are now not booked it’s that he ‘changed his mind’.
Which to me is very misleading into confirming we can amend and us saying ‘we are going off to now change this with the airline’ and then him declining the request straight away. 

where do we stand with Airbnb does anyone have any experience in knowing how they would view the situation and how they would resolve the issue with the host? Does Airbnb have power to say in an instance like this you shouldn’t have mislead the travelling and a refund would be due? We have everything in writing on the AirBnB chat as proof. 

[Lisa723]

@Alison746 I'm sorry this happened to you, but I do not understand why you (twice!) made airline reservations with no confirmed reservation change or refunded cancellation.

[Alison746]

@Lisa723  Hi Lisa, thank you for your reply. I’ve used AirBnB many many times all around the world and never had an issue before now. The reason I amended the airline reservation... twice was because the host confirmed via the AirBnB message service that it was okay to do so.. so I trusted him based on his written word and also for the fact that why would someone want to mess a traveller around.. for what reason ? 
again if he didn’t want to allow changes he should have just said so when we asked his advice and we would have left it but because he confirmed we changed it. And like with any travel booking with multiple elements you have to amend one of them first and as he confirmed in writing it was okay we went ahead and amended the airfare.

its disappointing because on the main values AirBnB advertise is that they are trust worthy and I really feel like we are being taken advantage of with no protection from our point of view. What I can’t understand now is his comments about then not being sure of them ‘renewing their lease’ if he has no intention of having the property why not refund ?  I just can’t understand his game ....

[Sarah977]

Who knows what his game is, or whether he's just discombobulated. If you have all his communications documented on the Airbnb messaging, I'd give Airbnb a call or message and ask that they look at this case and cancel and refund you so you can look for another listing.

@Alison746 

[Alison746]

@Sarah977  Thanks again.. I feel this is what we will end up doing! Such a shame it had to escalate to this we love AirBnB and meeting host local to city were in and have never had an issue before 😞

[Heidi588]

@Alison746, there are some things you've said that seem...concerning? Something feels off. Let me explain. 

- You said, "I’ve used AirBnB many many times all around the world and never had an issue before now." However, your profile shows that you've been a member since 2013 but have no reviews. You mentioned in the OP "we" changed flight arrangements, so is that the person you've been traveling with, under their Airbnb profile? 

- The host agreed to new dates, and you changed the flight reservation first, then when that was confirmed, you discovered five hours later that the dates were no longer available with the host. Okay, I get that. But then the second time, you changed the flight reservation again before getting a confirmation of the host's booking? That's a scenario of "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." 

- Forgive me, I don't mean to be nitpicky, but it stood out to me right away that you keep saying, "It's not fair." You didn't say, "This person is not following Airbnb guidelines" or ask, "What are the guidelines?" You haven't mentioned how much money you're out of pocket for two flight changes, only for the cancellation of the Airbnb booking, which is a serious issue and something that would make some sense to say "it's not fair" about. It's just...usually when someone says repeatedly, "It's not fair," it's because they don't want to be responsible for something they're clearly responsible for -- for instance, making a long-term reservation without reading the cancellation penalty and then changing their minds and being out the money for the first 30 days because the host chose to not refund it. Folks often say, "But I didn't even stay there, and I canceled right after I booked. They should refund me. It's not fair."

I really don't mean to be accusatory, but does it make sense why things don't seem to line up? When someone posts "It's not fair" on any kind of a forum, not just this one, it's often that they're wanting others to respond to their emotional plea and stand behind them, then the person can say, "But look how many people agree with me! This needs to be addressed in my favor!" I'm not saying I'm unwilling to stand behind you, and not that it would likely make any difference to Airbnb anyway, but I make it a practice to not respond in favor of emotional pleas until the facts are clear and are in alignment with the plea; when they are, then I can make an informed decision about support. 

[Sarah977]

Most people of my generation stopped saying "It's not fair" by the time we were about 8 years old, because every time we said that, our parents countered with "And who ever told you that life was going to be fair?" 😜