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I woke up this morning to a text telling me that a property I booked back in June for a 10-day Christmas holiday in Honolulu has been cancelled. The Superhost will not respond to my texts and the property has subsequently been re-listed on AirBnB for the same dates as my trip at an escalated price that is a daily rate FOUR times more than what I paid. In fact, I had just made the final payment on the reservation only last week.
What can I expect in terms of help from AirBnB in terms of helping me book a property at a comparable price? And why is this Superhost allowed to re-list the property on the site with the same dates they cancelled on me with a higher rate?
So far I am not getting much help from AirBnB other than saying they are sorry this is happening to me. They told me hours ago that they will help me out, and now my support ticket has gone completely silent. I am now sitting with non-refundable tickets from Vancouver to Honolulu along with several activity and other bookings, including Covid tests, that I cannot be compensated for. The prices for hotels and other vacation properties are crazy high-- that is why I booked this AirBnB back in June. I am at a loss and don't know what I can expect next.
@Dorothy226 It's highly unusual that after cancelling, the host would be able to have the dates bookable again, except on other platforms. See below for the extensive penalties hosts face for cancelling, including the dates being permanently blocked by Airbnb.
https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/host-penalties-for-cancelling-reservations
If I were you I would report the host. Also, know that customer support at Airbnb these days is dismal, so don't expect too much. There isn't much they could do about finding you a new place at comparble rates anyway. No one at Airbnb has magic powers. I wouldn't take any more chances on another vacation rental anyway, and would try to find a hotel instead.
I hope you covered yourself with trip insurance of some sort. Very sorry this happened to you.
@Dorothy226 It's highly unusual that after cancelling, the host would be able to have the dates bookable again, except on other platforms. See below for the extensive penalties hosts face for cancelling, including the dates being permanently blocked by Airbnb.
https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/990/host-penalties-for-cancelling-reservations
If I were you I would report the host. Also, know that customer support at Airbnb these days is dismal, so don't expect too much. There isn't much they could do about finding you a new place at comparble rates anyway. No one at Airbnb has magic powers. I wouldn't take any more chances on another vacation rental anyway, and would try to find a hotel instead.
I hope you covered yourself with trip insurance of some sort. Very sorry this happened to you.
Thanks @Colleen253 for the feedback and suggestions. I have reported the host and realize that support is now giving me a run around with help. Between phone calls and texts, not one person has provided a consistent response. I think they stall with the hopes you will sort things yourself, so yeah, I have learned a big lesson here.
That's exactly what they do.
That's ALL they do now.
😩
Used to be so good.
@Colleen253 I'd suspect this is one of those listings run by property managers with scores of listings- the big earners who Airbnb seems to let get away with things regular hosts can't.
I would call Airbnb out publicly on their social media asking why a host has been allowed to cancel your long held booking shortly before Xmas and the re advertise it at 4 times the price - when the host should have been penalised including having dates blocked (link to the listing)
There's nothing Airbnb can do to help you find a place at a similar price. They can offer you a 10% credit in addition to your refund and may offer more if you push them.
What are this hosts previous reviews like? Do they host directly or use a third party management company?
Will definitely tweet about this and telling all my friends who regularly travel to Hawaii, a real hot spot for us snow birds in Vancouver.
@Dorothy226 as other hosts pointed out your host is probably a booking agency / property manager company. They can do whatever they want, small hosts with up to 5 listings can't.
Anyway, to book well in advance for a very low price in the top season usually means the host forgot to rise the price. It happened to me at the beginning of my hosting when the guest booked New years eve in August for the regular price. I honored this reservation but many hosts would cancel and rebook it for 4x higher price. My advice would be - don't book underpriced listings, it is too risky, it could be a scam listing or your stay could be canceled closer to date or the place wouldn't be as advertised.
Thanks @Branka-and-Silvia0 for the feedback and good advice. We are regular travellers to Hawaii and the rate was not crazy low when I booked for Christmas. Many unique conditions around US travel restrictions with Canada have made Honolulu incredibly pricey for this December, so the escalated price is not the norm. I probably won't book Airbnb in the future without a cancellable hotel reservation. I've never had issues with other smaller vacation rental companies over the decades we've traveled to Hawaii, so this was completely unexpected.
@Dorothy226 I'm so sorry this happened to you, and I don't understand how the host was able to reopen the dates. Did the message you got specifically say that the host canceled? Was there any hiccup or delay with your second payment? I have seen reservations canceled by Airbnb when an expired credit card or something like that caused an issue with the guest's second payment. It has come through to me as a "guest cancellation" and the guest in a couple of cases has been completely unaware that there was any problem or even that the reservation was cancelled.
Hi @Lisa723 I was sent a cancellation email with full refund of both my payments and no message from the host even after I sent repeated messages to ask what had happened. I booked this property 6 months ago with half the full payment and made the second payment earlier this month. All to say, no issues with my credit card etc.. and I received the cancellation directly from the host. So far, my support request is open, but the listing is still up with my dates and the escalated price. I just tweeted this as well and Airbnb asked me to DM. We shall see if this goes anywhere...
I was provided this response after I tweeted about the issue and they finally magically updated my support message after silence and the run around on the phone. I would love to know what these "extenuating circumstances" are and why Airbnb protects these kinds of actions.
**[Message from CS removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]
@Dorothy226 Airbnb customer support is known to basically make stuff up as they go along, as seems to be the case here. Don't necessarily believe anything they say.
Extenuating circumstances for a host are things that prevent you from being able to honor the reservation. Obviously it is a contradiction in terms for an extenuating circumstances cancellation to reopen the dates.
@Lisa723 is 100% correct. One thing I don’t believe you’ve mentioned is whether or not this listing belongs to a large VR management company, or not. It’s sounding more and more like that is the case.