Host lied and stole from me

[Tarquin3]

Hey guys,

I'm in need of help after a poor experience. Normally I am a big fan of Airbnb and have only had good experiences in the past. 

I made a request to stay from the 23-25th (2 nights). The host only sent the confirmation and check-in details on the 24th. Effectively meaning we could only stay one night.

I then requested a refund for the first night, as it was impossible for us to have stayed the first night. The details and approval had not been provided by the host. 

The host says:

"It's your fault. Someone else could have stayed the first night" which is a lie as he only sent the approval on the second day.

"We will only refund after you have provided a review" which is effectively blackmail. A good review for your money back.

I refused and said I would only give the review once the encounter is over and my money has been rightfully returned.

I escalated to Airbnb support and provided all the necessary evidence which clearly shows that I deserve to be refunded, but as the host will not approve the refund, they will not intervene.  

Extremely frustrating. I thought Airbnb would be fair in this situation.

How can I get my money back?

Thanks for any advice.

Tarquin 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Tarquin3 what time on the 23rd did you make the request and what time on the 24th did the host approve it?

Timing is the only reason I can think why Airbnb would act like this especially with time differences involved.

[Anonymous]

@Tarquin3   When you send a booking request on Airbnb, the host is only required to act on it within 24 hours, even if that makes the timing inconvenient for your arrival. But until the request has been either confirmed or declined, it blocks the dates on the listing's calendar from being booked by anyone else, so your host was not factually wrong about that.

The thing is, if you have a pending request and the host is taking too long to respond, you have to withdraw it. Had you done so, you wouldn't have been charged. That's explained here: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/90/cancel-a-trip-request

In your correspondence, both you and the host technically broke the review extortion policy, but that only comes into play if you're trying to have your reviews deleted. It doesn't create a special circumstance that would result in a refund, and as frustrating as it sounds, there doesn't appear to be any policy that entitles you to one. In the future, I don't recommend using Airbnb or any similar sites for last-minute bookings - only hotels and hostels with 24-hour desk service are properly equipped for those.

[Sarah977]

@Tarquin3  The host doesn't "send the confirmation". As Andrew says, hosts have 24 hrs to accept or decline a booking. A booking gets confirmed by Airbnb,  not the host, after it is accepted and you are charged by Airbnb.

So putting in a same-day request doesn't really work unless the host accepts it right away. As he didn't, you should have withdrawn the request and tried another place.

[Tarquin3]

Thanks everyone!