Legality of contract in law

[Bea2014]

Has anyone else received a small claim summons after refusing a guest a refund ..I was under the impression that Airbnb would help but no response after 4 calls and 3 emails.. it seems there is no support and I will have to attend court or pay all the money back including the Airbnb fees .. any contract law help would be appreciated..

[Emiel1]

@Bea2014 

You can not refund Airbnb Guest service costs, as they are not paid to you..Please explain why the guest thinks he/she is entitled to receive a refund.

[Mark116]

@Bea2014  Airbnb absolutely will not assist you, but if you give some more details maybe people on the forum can offer some advice.  You will want to go through the Airbnb terms of service and details on when a refund should be issued and be very familiar with all of this, and bringing hard copies to court.  

Knowing nothing, I would still suspect that the guest won't get a refund if Airbnb didn't give them one, but  yes you will probably have to appear to tell your side and show the language of the terms of service.

[Anonymous]

@Bea2014  When I've approached the staff at the Berlin Airbnb office about a different issue, they've told me that Airbnb has a very strict internal policy forbidding employees from giving users what might be construed as legal advice. So unfortunately, this is not a topic that they're going to be supporting you on. 

Without knowing your situation, I can't possibly tell you whether you have a case. But for what it's worth, Airbnb's refund policies are global and don't always line up with every jurisdiction's consumer protection and contract laws. So if the law in your locality requires a service provider to refund the customer in the specific situation that this booking occupies, that law would supersede your cancellation policy in court. This might be an occasion where you have to weigh your payout against the cost of a lawyer.

If you do ultimately decide that refunding the room rate is the easiest decision for you, you'd only have to refund the amount you received in your payout. You aren't liable for any funds that were collected by a third party - the guest would have to sue Airbnb if they wanted their service fee back.

[Bea2014]

Hello Andrew, thank you for your reply.. much appreciated.. .. here is the story so far, guest booked July 20 for 12 guests 3 nights.. Scotland went into level 4 almost total lockdown but we could accommodate guests if they were essential workers so we stayed open. Guests cancelled if they were unable to travel as per our strict policy with Airbnb. We refused to cancel as they accepted the terms and conditions in July after the pandemic was established and Airbnb extenuating circumstances did not cover them. About a month before they were due to arrive they asked for full refund .. ie deposit 50% which I refused on grounds of contract.. we have large property not covered by furlough or government PAYE grant as we are an investment business.

Guests refused to cancel saying it would frustrate the contract so stalemate situation resulting in MP contact and citizens advice who I advised to speak to Airbnb. Now I have a small claim for £1200 including Airbnb fees. It’s not so much the money, more the principal. I’m unsure if the Airbnb contract would stand in court. Any help would be appreciated as they just don’t reply to any communication. Thank you.. Bea

[Jane563]

@Bea2014 

Not a lawyer but I see you are in the Uk.

A fellow host I know has had the same issue. When the last minute Christmas lockdown happened his guests asked him to cancel their booking which he refused to do. They then cancelled and threatened to take him to court, we are talking about 2000k here so to be fair I understand why they were so upset.

After taking legal advice my friend refunded them his part of the payment and told them to go to Airbnb for the rest. He was told he was likely to lose the case and end up paying costs.

Was this cancellation due to a Lockdown travel restriction?

[Helen3]

Hello @Bea2014 

Difficult to advise as you haven't said what the circumstances are.

If the guest cancelled because you could not host them because you were in lockdown then in line with UK legislation a round frustrated contracts you should have refunded in full regardless of your cancellation policy.

if the guest cancelled for other reasons not covered by Airbnb's EC policy or lockdown and you upheld your cancellation policy you should be fine .

you just need to fill in your defence ie you upheld the cancellation policy guest booked under  and a copy of your relevant cancellation policy which the guest signed up to when they booked.

Airbnb is a listing company why would expect them to help you with legal matters?

[Bea2014]

Hello Hellen, thank you for your reply. There were 12 guests booked after Airbnb changed their EC rules.. the house was open, we left the final decision to guests to decide if they fitted the criteria. We could accommodate essential workers and guests attending hospital. Most guests accepted our strict policy with Airbnb, however, these guests refused to cancel as this would frustrate their contract. They were all from different households, initially they accepted the terms and conditions but got really abusive and I directed them to Airbnb. . I really don’t want to waste court time, it’s a matter of principal now.. if this won’t stand then why would Airbnb not just cancel our bookings as they did at the beginning of all of this.. your help is appreciated.. regards Bea

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Helen3 Defending based on the contract would be futile. No contracts in England (or Scotland) take precedence over the law of the land.

[Anonymous]

@Bea2014   My understanding of the applicable law is that it would have been unlawful for you as the host to accommodate guests during the lockdown if they were not allowed to enter your region as tourists. If this is the case, it's not a strong defense to say that you let guests decide for themselves whether they fit the criteria, because the law obliges service providers to enforce the rules at the point of contact. That would mean that you, not the guess, are the party responsible for vetting requests and making the final decision.

The argument you made there is a Covid era version of the "but-she-said-she-was-18 defense," which doesn't tend to work out for the defendant.

Generally, if you can't honor a booking without breaking the law, the reasonable course of action would be to refund it. Whereas if your area was open to tourists at the time of the stay but the guests were unable to travel for their own reasons, your cancellation policy stands as is.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Bea2014 I would say that you will lose due to the way English (and likely Scottish) law deals with frustrated contracts. When the people booked it was legal for them to come, when Scotland locked down  it became illegal and their money should have been refunded. My frustration is that Airbnb should have an extenuating circumstances policy that is fit for purpose and they should have fully refunded the guest themselves. Sadly they didn't so you will possibly end up liable for their service fee as well as what you have been paid by Airbnb.