Today I am posting from the perspective of a guest rather than a host.
Before I dive into my experience, I want to ask you all a question.
Imagine you are a tenant in a long term rental. You have been in this apartment for a year now. You are in good communication with the landlord and you even wish each other well on Christmas and the New Year.
Due to a technical issue with the payment method, your last payment does not go through. New card information just needs to be provided.
How would you expect a reasonable landlord to act?
A. The landlord calls the tenant to check if everything is okay and reminds them to update their payment method.
B. The landlord immediately cancels the lease, sends a text message that the calendar is open for other guests that might book today, and refuses to reinstate the agreement.
I hope you would choose A, but unfortunately Airbnb chose B for me today.
I contacted Airbnb to amend the situation and they told me that once the reservation was cancelled by them, it cannot be revived. We need to make the reservation again and hope there will not be another guest booking in the meantime.
This level of automation is cold and unnecessary. Instead of a simple notification or a phone call asking for updated payment details, Airbnb triggered an automated cancellation. It is yet another example of how the platform is slowly eroding the trust between guests and hosts.
With no help from Airbnb, I called my host and he was understanding. He told me he would block the calendar so we can re-book properly tomorrow.
Airbnb just caused needless stress and pain. Thankfully my host is a human being.
