YOU CAN CANCEL GUESTS STAY'S AT ANYTIME

[Steven1390]

Hi All!

I wanted to let you guys in on a secret that i figured out through an air  BnB i stayed at called "SeattleVacationHomes", owned by Andy and Lynne, who threatened to call the police on me during my stay and have me jailed for "tresspassing".

After dealing with Air BnB I've come to find out this is completely ok, and from the various yelp reviews, they have been doing this for a long time!

I've spoken to air BnB who has told me hosts can accept stays and cancel them at any time for any reason, even after collecting the money.

So i wanted you guys to know this, if you're ever in a financial pinch, you can just scam people and Air BnB has your back!!!

Just wanted to spread the word!

[Helen3]

Okay from @Steven1390  convoluted posts I think this is what happened.

1. Guest arrived and complained amenities weren't working 

2. Host rightly offered the guest the opportunity to cancel penalty free and find alternative accommodation and offered a refund for the missing amenities

3. Guest chose to stay as they didn't want to look for alternative accommodation in the area.

4. Now the next bit is confusing - the guest says the host said they would evict the guest @Steven1390  why would the host do this if you confirmed you would be happy to stay with the missing amenities. Was it because you brought local family members onto the listing?

5. Why didn't you call Airbnb if you were worried about the booking being cancelled, rather than sitting up all night waiting for the police?

As others have repeatedly shared with you if a host wants to cancel a guest stay they have to provide clear evidence that you have broken their house rules such as partying/guest damage/bringing pets/visitors onto the listing who are not on the booking.

So in summary you are incorrect @Steven1390 a host can't just cancel a guests booking at any time. It is very difficult for a host to do so. As you admit yourself your booking was not cancelled by Airbnb.

[Steven1390]

@Helen3 Yes you are correct.  

4. The host threatens to evict the guest because he asked for a refund on these missing amenities as well as a place to stay.  The host then replied with the threat to evict.

All of my family who were present were accepted onto the reservation. We did not break any house rules.

5. I did.  I stayed up on the phone with Air BnB until 4am.  Who advised me that the police could indeed come at any minute, but it was "unlikely" we would get arrested. 

From 4am- 10am i got the pleasure of worrying about that.

From what i'm not understanding by these posts-- is that it was an empty threat by the host, who would never have canceled, as this would have given me a refund, which was her whole reasoning behind the threat in the first place. Unfortunately as a guest i was not aware of this, and stayed up all night worrying.

It's good to know the quantity of hosts that want to create good experiences for everyone, but unfortunately a couple bad apples in this industry will ruin it for everyone.

[Sudsrung0]

@Steven1390 

I have read this a couple of times Im not fully understanding you something is missing but Im not taking sides,

I would say the VAST majority of host want you to have a good time and enjoy the place, I know we do when guest come to Phuket we do everything we can to help you have a good holiday from the minute you walk out of the airport our Luxury minivan is there waiting for you and bring you straight to our properties.

As for scamming guest, I had to ask a guest to leave only a few months back and airbnb was involved I only got paid for the nights they stayed and refunded the rest I had to agree to the refund which I did,

[Huma0]

@Steven1390 

Okay, I don't know exactly what happened because I do not know the intricate details, but I'm guessing it's something like this:

- You complained about the amenities and requested a refund.

- Host offered to refund if you if wanted to leave.

- You did not want to leave, so host got angry. Sometimes guests bring up issues in order to scam a free stay. Maybe she thought that what was your game, I don't know...

- This is the part where it gets odd. The host threatens to send the police because you are trespassing, even though neither you nor she has actually cancelled the stay, and you are still paying, so there is no trespassing happening. However, she might have assumed you were going to try to scam a free stay from her and she overreacted. If there was heated discussion involved, which you said there was, that probably didn't help.

- You stayed at the listing and therefore are not entitled to a refund. You got a partial refund from Airbnb for the missing amenities, which is not much, but you stayed there anyway for the night that you had booked, so you can't really expect a massive refund.

- You can, like I said, review the host if you like. The review will normally only be removed if you violate Airbnb's content policy.

Perhaps you somehow triggered this host, or she just flipped a switch anyway. I really do not know. However, it would take a lot for me to threaten to call the police, so I am wondering if something else happened to make her freak out so much.