cancelation policy

[Jan9893]

Dear All,

Providing a platform, such as air benb, allowing to host people privately is a good service and very useful. However several times i have been disappointed about the handling of Air benb during cancelations. Last i made a reservation with a cancelling policy of full refund. However when i actually wanted to cancel, air benb informed me that the service fee would not be refunded. Checking my reservation confirmation on the e-mail, it stated clearly that a full refund would be provided. Hence i contacted AIR benb and received following feedback,

"Hi Jan,

I'm Corina P with Airbnb and I help to support our guest community—I hope you’re doing well today!
Regarding your concern, I have seen that you have an overlapping reservation and that is the reason why you cannot get back the service fee. For more information please read this article that may guide you: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/311/find-your-refund-amount"

to me it is clear that the reservation policy of my booking has been changed after i made a booking. In any country, this seams to be illegal. I wonder if my case is a single case or if other people have had similar  experiences. It seams that Air benb is using non professional criminal tactics to increase there profits at any cost. Your feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Colleen253]

@Jan9893 When you already have one booking, and go to make another one that overlaps the dates, at the confirm and pay step, when you are shown the cancellation policy, there is an explicit warning about the double booking policy also.

[Jan9893]

Dear I understand that the second booking made has this service fee charge, however it seams to be illogical that the conditions of the first booking changes.

[Jan9893]

Dear Collen,

Would you mind providing the entire message,  as the way hw it is provided parts are missing and the message is meaningless. This only underline that communication and providing of information is neither transparent nor clear. 

Thanks

[Colleen253]

@Jan9893 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Refuse-to-refund-service-fee-for-double-booking/m-p/1474662...

Halfway down the first page of the above post, you will see where @Jennifer1773 helpfully posted her experience trying to double book a listing.

Note also,

https://www.airbnb.ca/home/cancellation_policies

 "Guests won’t get a refund of the Airbnb service fee if they’ve received 3 service fee refunds in the last 12 months or if the cancelled reservation overlaps with an existing reservation.”

[Sarah977]

@Jan9893  As Colleen pointed out, this isn't a case of a cancellation policy being changed after you booked, but the policy about double bookings.

This policy is designed to prevent guests from shopping around, making multiple bookings for the same dates, holding all the hosts' calendars hostage, then cancelling all but one. But I understand this may not have been your intention.

[Jan9893]

The idea to avoid double bookings is understandable and personally I have no concern about it. The rules and principles of air bnb should be determined and clearly communicated to the users. Providing al relevant information to the user allows to determine the best and most suitable way. And such bad surprises can be avoided. Unfortunately it seams to me that the communication of the booking conditions is lucking. No double booking charges or conditions were communicated or pointed out neither during the first booking nor during the overlapping booking. Only at the point  of cancelling the booking it was shown that the refund was not fully but charges would be applicable. Also here it was not mentioned any reasoning behind. As such the information given during the booking of receiving a full refund has not been provided for whatever reason.

This way of communication and handling if very disappointing and should be improved on. For example by providing a link to the site mentioning those specific conditions already during any booking.

Providing the full information allows planning and acting accordingly. Booking anything with the  a full cancellation policy allows flexibility depending on personal situation. Different conditions lead to different action such as not booking in advance, or using a different site, as well possible cancelling the stay before booking anything else.

Due to important information missing on the time of booking, it appeals like the cancellation policy has been changed after the booking is completed. This practice clearly is unacceptable and illegal.

As the situation currently is handled, it seems to me, that the information is intentionally not communicated in order to maximise air Bnb’s profit. As it is now, the conditions appear to be specific made, not in order to avoid double bookings or overlapping bookings but rather to extract some extra cash from the customer. Unfortunately this impression is verry dissatisfying and upsetting.  

In the hope that air Bnb take the necessary action in order to improve communication and inform all parties to an appropriate level at the appropriated time,

sincerely

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jan9893 you seem unable to read/understand @Colleen253 's post so I guess you didn't read the overlapping bookings message when you made the second reservation. It is very clear in this message that cancelling the first or second booking will make you ineligible for the service fee return.

[Sarah977]

@Jan9893 "Also here it was not mentioned any reasoning behind"

Businesses do not normally give customers the reasoning behind their policies. You just have to inform yourself of the policies so you don't get blind-sided.