Unbelievable scenario - AirBnb cancels a reservation and gives full refund without notifying me!

[Adeline60]

Yesterday as I was about to send check-in instruction to a guest  I saw that the reservation had been cancelled with a full-refund, even though the event had happened within the 5-day window before checking in (I have a moderate cancellation policy).

What is unbelievable is that there is no email, no notification, nothing anywhere from AirBnb to warn me about this. What happened? I asked for help and was told that the guest had cancelled because of "extenuating circumstances". What are those extenuating circumstances? I don't know.

Can't possibly be related to my cabin since we have guests there now and will have more next week. Could it be related to a wildfire 50 miles away that is now 80% contained and is not responsible for any road closure in the area anymore? Maybe, but how come I don't have a say in this? 

Be aware that AirBnb can dictate cancellations as they please and give full refunds without any notification nor explanation. I just got superhost status and that's a very nice way to reward my hard work. I'm extremely disappointed to say the least. 

At least now I know that policies do not matter, and neither do superhosts.

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Rebecca0 For them being non-discriminating means you can get involved in criminal activities without being punish.I wonderful how many violent crimes have been committed on an Airbnb? It would be nice if the mods could reply to this one.

[Susan1028]

They have happened @Oomesh-Kumarsingh0 , and some have made headlines and even earned a place on the "airbnb hell" website.

[Oomesh-Kumarsingh0]

@Susan1028 I remember the CEO talking about introducing the Super Guest program.Till now i have not seen it in action.It's unfair to allow guests to decide if we can be a Super host but we cannot decide if a guest is a Super Guest.

[JoseMaria36]

As I wrote in other post:

Although it hasn´t yet happened to me by chance, I´m sure it will sooner or later. It´s a shame that Airbnb doesn´t care more about hosts. In the end of the day we are the ones that make its business possible thanks to our propperties. 

If they don´t change to a more strict refunding policy I´m going to change my channel asap.

[Stephanie365]

Actually, in the US, you have what is called a "right of rescission". Basically, the law gives you 3 days to cancel a contract should you have buyer's remorse.  

I don't know if it applies to hospitality/travel/etc., but in many contractual situations it does apply.

[Adeline60]

Here's a follow up to the initial story:

I complained to AirBnb that this was likely a "bug" in their system since we didn't get any notification at all for the cancellation. They got back to me and explained that the guest used the "extenuating circumstances" policy and that the AirBnb representative who dealt with this should have warned me but didn't.

I then explained that there is hardly any extenuating circumstance with the wildfire (far away, almost put off and Yosemite roads are reopening) and that an earlier guest that tried the same route didn't get any refund after AirBnb's decision.

That support person then decided to go ahead and give us the money that was due to us per our cancellation policy. My guess is that the guest still got a full refund and we'll get our money too so AirBnb is swallowing the small loss.

So that's good news in the end, but it's sad that we have to spend time and energy to get those cancellation policies enforced. I think AirBnb should be more supportive of its hosts than its guests. 

[Claire446]

I'm perfectly fine with AirBnB refunding people despite my cancellation policy. Provided that THEY swallow the cost. The guests and the platform are the ones violating my policy, so they're liable. In fact, I would imagine there's some legal protection regarding contractual obligations, even if there's a 'clause', because it's not reasonable to expect the company to override a clear cancellation policy to which all parties have already agreed in writing.

[Joan253]

As an novice to Airbnb I booked an Airbnb in derby uk,  for 15 nights and  received a payment confirmation printout this morning I looked for a verification response but there was nothing there, I contacted the host via Airbnb to discuss . Airbnb have  nearly £600 of my money,

any advise on how I get this back, thanks 

[Joan253]

Now I have no-where to stay in Derby, I learned this at the 11th hour, it is not good enough, now how do I get my money back?.

[John1574]

@Joan253

 Call Airbnb, tell them what happened, they will call the host, and you should get your refund. 

[Stephanie365]

Does your account show the experience was cancelled by the host?

[Christopher187]

I had this happen once.  Guest was an entitled bratty complainer type and apparently did whatever she could to get a booking cancelled direclty with Airbnb.  The guest didn't even contact me, and neither did Airbnb.  I just logged in and saw the booking amount had been changed to $0.00  

My first wretched experience with Airbnb customer service.

[Tony134]

Hi everyone !  Please check and post in the following thread. I would like to have one thread start alive that addresses all these complaints, and I think I catch most of them nicely here. You will also see at the end that my final conclusion is we need to start begging the justice department for help. Please see the following thread and weigh in, thanks.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/How-to-Start-Fixing-Airbnb-CS-and-Many-Common-Issues/m-p...

[Avishay1]

Omg!!!! It’s happened to me as well!!!!!! This is unbelievable!!!! Shocking!!!! It happened to so many hosts! We should do something. !!! 

They earn so much money from us and do not give us a bit of respect!!!!!! 

[Jean5467]

they did the same thing to me even though the guest came to see the apt before booking and loved it.  and i had a strict non refundable policy!  time for a class action lawsuit against airbnb