I was scammed in Airbnb by a Host

[Carolina-Alejandra3]

 I have been robbed $1,040 dollars via Airbnb platform. I booked a place in Hadera Israel ( Host) on March 5th, 2022 at 8 pm. I had an urgent situation so I was forced to book.
*host name* shared his phone details and he started contacting me via Whatssapp. I had no idea this is not allowed.
Later I found a better place, and I cancelled the booking on March 6th noon, meaning I booked the place for less than 20 hours.
I tried contacting the Host, requesting a refund. He didn't reply to me in a week.
I did contact your customer service, to try to sort out the situation, and chatted with someone. The representative said that*host name* is the only one that can process the refund as you have some policies that won't allow Airbnb. He tried to contact *host name* with no response. The representative offered me a discount.
I contacted my credit card company if there was anything I could do. They mentioned I needed to do it through Airbnb.
As actually*host name* started a conversation via WhatsApp on March 5th, I was forced to contact him yesterday via WhatsApp and phone. He actually replied and said we would do all the communication via the Airbnb chat. We did discuss the situation and*host name* insisted his hands are tided because of Airbnb policy. The representative said*host name* could refund if he wanted and*host name* says that Airbnb policies won't allow him to refund.*host name* also offered me a discount.
I later requested the representative to give me the opportunity to add a review, as Yoni simply cheated me and I want to add the review and the representative wrote it is not possible.
Some policies are in place, but the reality is that I was scammed . I want to talk to someone, do something about this as*host name* and Airbnb have been simply minimizing the problem here.
 I feel robbed and cheated and Airbnb supports this behavior with some policies set in place that make no sense.
Thanks in advance!

Carolina

*identifying personal information hidden*

[Sarah977]

@Mark116  I have a moderate policy, too. Seems reasonable to me and what I would be willing to agree to if I were a guest. I don't think I would be willing to book a place with a Strict policy. I can understand why hosts have them, but life is too uncertain for me to want to commit to such a thing. 

Moderate or flexible (which I would never choose as my policy) also cuts down on guests haranguing for refunds, which isn't something I would want to have to deal with.

Although there is always the option to get travel insurance.

[Mark116]

@Sarah977  Yes, moderate has worked pretty well for us.  I did just check our reservations, and we've had almost a dozen cancellations so far this year!  This is more, a lot more,  than we typically get in an entire year, not accounting for the first wave of covid cancellations.  We typically don't even get half a dozen cancellations, and most of those people who cancelled never bothered to send a message, that also almost never happened in the past.  

I also think that some of this 'oh no, Airbnb and hosts are scamming me' is due to Airbnb always marketing 'FREE CANCELLATION" which especially to the type of people who don't read anything, suggests, ya know, free cancellation, like a hotel.  The reality is that it's free cancellation with a lot of caveats.  

It's time for me again to say what a weird company Airbnb is, that their marketing is so touchy feely, love, we love everyone, hosts make it happen....when the truth is, they go out of their way to treat hosts and guests like cogs in the wheel.

[Sarah977]

@Tom2718  It depends- if the booking is for a date quite soon in the future, and the host has no chance of rebooking the dates, why should a guest think a refund is fair? (Many hosts will offer to refund any dates that get rebooked, which is fair)

And the bottom line is that guests have a choice as to what properties to book. No one is forcing them to book a property where the cancellation policy is not something they are willing to agree to. But if they do choose it, it's quite immature and entitled to then try to insist that that the policy in place should be waived for them.

[Laura2592]

@Tom2718 we avoid guests who don't book in advance as we have had experience with them being difficult. Last minute guests tend NOT to read listings and get upset when what they agreed to doesn't align with their needs. As such, we have not yet needed to do the strict cancelation policy, but if we did allow last minute requests I think the more draconian rules might be absolutely necessary.

[Laura2592]

@Carolina-Alejandra3 I would have responded to your request and said "Sorry. too bad." in a diplomatic way. It is annoying that your host didn't respond as soon as you wanted them to.

But I can understand why he/she might not if you led with "I have been scammed!" or seemed in any way demanding/entitled. I have worked with clients and in emotional labor/customer service situations since the age of 14 and have learned that sometimes its better not to engage at all. If the host did respond with a polite but firm no, and you escalated the conversation or demands, I too, would have failed to continue respond. Not saying you did that in this case, but trying to give an alternative perspective about why communication might break down.

Again, as you will see from the guidance here, this seems to be a case of user error and misunderstanding about how cancelation policies work. Hopefully you will do a little self reflection and understand that the way you describe your experience is not an appropriate way to use Airbnb. 

[Carolina-Alejandra3]

**[Content removed in line with - Community Center Guidelines]

[Laura2592]

@Carolina-Alejandra3 so you are saying its okay to be rude entitled and not follow rules because of a cultural bias?? Uh ok ..

As someone who has hosted a wide variety of guests over many years from many different backgrounds and parts of the world I can verily state that understanding and reading a listing before you book is a must have behavior transcending anything else. Rudeness when you realize you did not do this and demands of unreasonable resolution do not a cultural norm make. 

Sheesh.

[John5097]

@Carolina-Alejandra3 

I think you are on to something! Would you be ok if host also had the option to cancel guest reservations if another guest was willing to pay more? Kind of like Ebay! There could be a deadline say, two days before check in, highest bid wins!  

 

[Carolina-Alejandra3]

John5097,

This is already happening in Airbnb, I've heard cases of people who received cancellations from their hosts one hour before.

[John5097]

@Carolina-Alejandra3 

Airbnb has strict cancelation policy for host. 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/990/host-penalties-for-canceling-reservations

"Account suspension and deactivation

If you cancel 3 or more reservations within a year, we may suspend or deactivate your listing."

............

The reason you cited "found a better place" doesn't quality for the extenuating circumstances policy to override cancelation policy. 

 https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1320/extenuating-circumstances-policy

The ability for host to issue refund is a recent change. A lot of host were concerned that irate guest would resort to harassment, slander or whatever to get a refund. 

[Ann72]

@Carolina-Alejandra3   I haven't read all of the responses here, so forgive me if I'm repeating something someone else has already said, but - it appears you were caught in that awkward moment where the 48-hour free cancellation was superseded by the number of days or hours before check-in.  That's the problem with last-minute bookings.  Not to say you shouldn't have made a last-minute booking, because you had an urgent situation, but it's simply that the 48-hour period was overruled by the amount of time before check-in.

"Strict:  Full refund for cancellations made within 48 hours of booking, if the check-in date is at least 14 days away.  50% refund for cancellations made at least 7 days before check-in.  No refunds for cancellations made within 7 days of check-in."

[Helen3]

Another alternative is that @Carolina-Alejandra3  booked a long term booking of a month or more meaning that she would lose the first month if she cancelled.

regardless it is up to the guest to check they are happy with the cancellation policy before making a booking

[Kelly149]

Definitely plenty of scams exist on abb. However, based on what you describe @Carolina-Alejandra3 the tile of this thread should be “I made some poor choices & now I’m going to throw a fit about it.”

and@admin this kind of “everyone in this country lies, cheats & steals” surely doesn’t fit with the abb standards for hosts or guests in stays or in CC. Perhaps this thread & this guest should be removed or remediated. 

[Laura2592]

@Kelly149 suddenly her avatar changed so that you can't see her face anymore....

Maybe she is concerned that hosts might block her after this thread?

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592  Who could guess, but really really not a guest anyone should have unless changes are made.