Hi all,
happy Easter.
just want to share my recent experience and pick some brains.
I made a booking more than 10 months ago for 3 families to stay at the mountains during the Easter long weekend in order to attend a Christian convention and to celebrate a friend’s 40th birthday.
4 days out from checking in I received a call from the host saying due to recent heavy rain in eastern part of Australia the street and the driveway to the house was flooded and would cause accessing the house a problem. She also said a half fallen tree was threatening the power lines. She was extremely concerned about our safety and would refund in full should I choose to cancel the booking.
I also received a video footage of the flooded driveway, but no time stamp.
As it had been well over a week since the rain and most parts had dried up in previously flooded areas I specifically asked if she anticipated the driveway would stay flooded, her reply was yes, because there was blockage with neighbour’s drain.
As there was virtually no alternative accommodation available at any price point during the long weekend at such tight notice I suggested that I was willing to take responsibility of the safety and would be willing to move out should the power go out. I suggested that she contact the authority to sort out the tree as a matter of urgency.
We agreed at that point that we would wait for the council’s reply before taking the next step.
24 hours later the host texted and said that the council would not deal with the tree until after the Easter long weekend and given the risk for us Is too great I’d have to either cancel or postpone the booking. She was getting pushy and asked that I cancel immediately could issue a refund and said she had legal responsibility to NOT let us stay in the house knowing it isn’t safe.
Given she is a SUPERHOST I had no reason to doubt the genuineness of the story so I agreed to cancel after stressing to her again that our planned weekend is now in tatters. She apologised repeatedly and also saying it’s out of her control.
I got a little bit annoyed when I asked her to initiate the cancellation process she said it was best if I did it and later she asked me to pursue the service fee from Airbnb myself.
I started to get suspicious when a friend pointed to me how unbelievable the story was as an unstable tree that’s threatening the safety of a house or powerlines is usually dealt with as a matter of urgency by the State Emergency Services rather than the council and anyone in the right state of mind would have had reported to the SES and the problem would not be left for 2 weeks as the host led me to believe.
After the cancellation I offered to drive up to the house check it out for her as she was stuck interstate, reply I received was “please don’t go near the house as it’s very risky”. This further raised my suspicion.
I sure did drive to the house as planned on the day I was supposed to check in even though we had only first nights accommodation booked in a motel. Upon approaching the house, no sign of flood anywhere. Inspected the powerlines, none had trees overhanging. Inspected the trees, none was unstable.
walked up to the house, housekeeper was busy cleaning after a group of guests just departed. I asked if the house was rented out the whole week, answer was yes.
I asked if more guests were expected the same day, answer was yes, and for the entire long weekend.
I asked if the driveway was flooded, answer was yes, but not for about a week.
I asked if she knew anything about a fallen tree, answer was no, accompanied by a puzzled look.
I told the house keeper I actually had reservation for the house for the weekend she suggested that I speak to the host...
the picture is now clear, I was tricked into cancelling the booking and since I was the one who did it the host didn’t need to explain the Airbnb nor she was penalised with losing her Superhost status.
I reported to Airbnb straightaway and sent screenshots of all text messages. A nice lady promised to investigate this further.
so here we go, after being lied to, forced to cancel the booking, and 3 families having to split up and find alternative accommodation on extremely short notice and paying few thousand dollars more on top of all the emotional and physical stresses, what can Airbnb actually do after investigations?
It now reads like the host obtained financial advantage by deception, can I expect any recourse?
sorry about the long rant.
Happy Easter to all
Stephen
