Host is not responding but support says I have wait 72 before the arrival?

[Kirill59]

Hello! I made an instant booking on AirBNB for the trip in 8 days. I waited for 24 hours to get welcoming message from the host, no luck. Then I messaged him myself but did not get any response either (more than a day passed). I contacted support immediately and they did not manage to reach out to the host either. I asked for immediate cancellation but the support says I should wait 72 hours before the checkin for the cancellation to kick in. Why should I wait 3 days before check-in if the host is already non-responsive and the communication is horrible? (zero). I'd like to plan my trip which is hard to do when I have 3 days left. When asked where the link to this 72 hour rule the support rep said that it's their internal policy and said to contact in two days. I am kind of confused about these strange rules. Can somebody give advice?

[Kate867]

@Kirill59   This does seem very strange as I am unaware of this policy as well.  Guests have 72 hours to report trip related issues but this generally applies to issues that they encounter once they have checked in.  As a guest, you can cancel your reservation any time you wish but may not get a full refund depending upon the Hosts cancellation policy which you will have agreed to when making your booking.  What is the cancellation policy for the booking you have made?   The following link shows you the different policies that hosts use.  If waiting 72 hours means that you will incur penalties then in your position I would probably cancel.  

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/475/cancellation-policies-for-your-listing

Also a link on how to make your cancellation if required.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/169/cancelling-your-reservation-for-a-stay

[Kirill59]

Hi @Kate867 !  Thanks for your message. My cancellation policy is that my reservation is not refundable already but the host did not respond at all. The support representative points to some internal rules. Like this: 

"Based on our Host Commitment guidelines, they’re still currently within the expectation timeframe. Our guidelines for a Host’s response time are as follows:

• Within 12 hours of the guest's message for ongoing reservations or reservations with a check-in within the next 72 hours.
• Within 48 hours of the guest’s message for reservations with a check-in occurring between 72 hours and a week.
• Within five days of the guest’s message for reservations with a check-in occurring more than a week in the future."

And the response about the link to ToS:

"We don't have a specific article with the 72hours timeframe it is our workflow means that is the only time we can do action to give a full refund to Guest."

So my checkin is occuring between 72 hours and a week. This is strange they don't have precise rules for this in ToS. I can't get any adequate support on it and neither do I get the phone number to call support. The free number they give in messages is unreachable. Highly appreaciate if other users or support rep can help me with this issue. 

[Kirill59]

The rep also said that : "We can only do actions if the issue was 72 hours before the check date. It means if this concern was 72 hours after the check in date and I contacted your host but did not get any response I can cancel the reservation.
But since it's still 5 days before the check in date what I can only do is contact your Host and advice you"

[Kirill59]

This seems weird at least. How am I supposed to plan my trip? The host is already non-responsive. I forgot to mention that the host's phone number does not exist. Why should I wait 72 hours before the check-in to get refunded? I don't understand

[Kate867]

@Kirill59   I can fully understand your discomfort here particularly if the phone number you have for your host is invalid.  This would be a serious red flag for me.  I suspect you are dealing with a poorly trained member of customer support.  It is my understanding that Hosts are required to respond within 24 hours and that the longer they leave it the more it will impact upon their listings response rate.  Unless you can get any answers from a different member of support staff I suspect that you will have to wait until that 72 hour window and if you still have no luck then insist on a penalty free cancellation.  Also, rather than wait for a refund which can take up to a few weeks, ask that the refund is given as a ‘travel credit’ which you can apply to another reservation.  Did you check out the reviews for this listing prior to booking and were there any warning signs there with regards to communication?

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/2414/why-are-hosts-asked-to-respond-within-24-hours

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/88/if-you-cant-get-in-touch-with-your-host?_set_bev_on_new_dom...

[Kirill59]

@Kate867  thanks. After contacting the support multiple times they cancelled this booking. They said I will receive full refund. I paid with the Payoneer card, should it be the problem for refunding because Payoneer transfers work only via Payoneer? Does somebody know?

[Huma0]

@Kate867 

From what I understand, the host gets dinged on the response rate if they do not respond to the first message enquiry/booking request within 24 hours or lets a booking request expire. I am not 100% sure how it works with instant book though. If the booking is already confirmed, does not sending a message to the guest or not responding to a subsequent message from the guest count? I am not sure it does. I wonder if any one can clarify.

When I last booked an airbnb, I sent a message to the guest to introduce myself etc. I got an automated message from the host but haven't heard anything else from them. The time before, I sent a request, with a message and the host accepted but did not message anything back. When I had a question, it took her about two weeks to answer me!

I find all of this really weird, but it seems not to be uncommon. Both the hosts above have great ratings and one is a Superhost. The other wasn't a Superhost, but not due to her ratings but rather due to the low number of bookings (this was 2021).

For sure though, if I couldn't get hold of the host on the phone and Airbnb couldn't either, I would feel very uncomfortable about the booking.