On Aug 22, 2020, A case manager from AirBnb, Cedrick John, cancelled a reservation two months ago ON MY BEHALF, without even consulting me or letting me know, but only sent a notice afterward. Even the notice did not allow me any chance to respond. It is a CLOSED ticket when I was NOTICED for the first time. Please see the NOTICE message as below.
I was shocked and concerned about such practice. I believe AirBnb is successful because the network it put together of hosts and guests. Both groups should have an equal chance to provide input if there is an issue. AirBnb is supposed to act a platform or coordinator under such circumstances.
However, what Cedrick did really concerned me. The power of a case manager is astonishingly massive and abused. I could not wrap my head around the fact that Cedrick can cancel on behalf of host without host's knowledge or consent, or even knowledge. This creates a huge TRUST issue with HOSTs and AirBnb. The cost of doing business is just too high if there is the uncertainty that a case mgr can go back in time and take hosts' money away without hosts' knowledge or input. Hosts will have to worry about the payout they have already "received" and have to keep an eye on backward cancellations "on behalf of hosts...without hosts' knowledge".
I feel strongly that an AirBnb case manager should not have the power to cancel on behalf of hosts to start with. It is such an one-sided power and can be easily abused in practice and destroy trust between hosts and AirBnb. If AirBnb absolutely needs to give its case manager such power, it has to be restrained and balanced. Hosts should be notified that such decision is coming and should have the chance and lead time to weigh in and share their side of the story. No "cancellation on behalf of host" decision can be made by case manager without a fair discussion with hosts.
Wondering how my fellow hosts think about this.
