Air BnB Once again refused to honor our rules, even though we have been a 9 time superhost!

Julie534
Level 2
Breckenridge, CO

Air BnB Once again refused to honor our rules, even though we have been a 9 time superhost!

We have a published 6 person limit in our small 2 bedroom cabin and a guest booked over 2 months ago and just yesterday informed me they were bringing 8 people and 2 dogs. I told them that was not acceptable and to contact Air BnB to cancel as that did not follow our published rules. Air BnB sent me an email stating that I would only get a $97 payout and the guest would be refunded $253. Since I was driving I wasn't sure how many nights they had booked but was concerned at the amount they were being refunded. I called Air BnB and was told they only had a 1 night booking and we were receiving the $100 minus the $3 service fee. The $253 was their deposit - which also doesn't make sense as on my profile it says I have a $1000 deposit requirement. In any event I was satisfied with the $97 payout I was told I was receiving in both an email and by a rep on the phone.

I then I received a new email stating I would get NO payout, and the guest was refunded everything! I have gone back and forth with Air BnB they even threatened that I could lose me Superhost status because I didn't honor a guest who was clearly breaking the my house rules! My calendar now has had a Holiday night blocked for over 2 months and I get no revenue from that time. This with a home that is over 91% booked all year long! I have 222 five star reviews after only 2 years and Air BnB treats me this way? We will be moving to VRBO and joining in the class action suit against Air BnB. They are completely acting without any integrity.

32 Replies 32
Lisa723
Level 10
Quilcene, WA

@Julie534 it sounds like you canceled the reservation? Why didn't you just tell them no more than 6 would be allowed on the property (and they could cancel if that didn't suit them)?

That was exactly what I did! I did not cancel it the guest did! I set exactly what you said that if they had more than six people that they should cancel the reservation as my listing clearly said no more than six guests. Then they did cancel and now Airbnb is charging me back for it! I know NEVER to cancel a guest!

@Julie534 wow, that is inexplicable.

I know and the sad thing is is if you Google it it's happening all over Airbnb! I see a class action lawsuit coming.... Lots of hosts are missing payments too!

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Julie534 @Lisa723 

Yep. Those are the Airbnb rules. You either let the guest stay and get the money. OR your enforce your rules and protect your house and get nothing. It doesn't matter how long the guest held your calendar hostage. Totally unfair. 

 

"If a guest violates a house rule, the host and guest are encouraged to communicate and resolve the issue. Creating House Rules helps Airbnb CX mediate a disagreement; however, Airbnb CX cannot enforce House Rules. If a host asks a guest to leave because of a House Rules violation, the guest will be refunded for the nights not spent and Airbnb CX can help facilitate that. If a guest refuses to leave, then the case will be escalated and be handled on a case-by-case basis."

@Emilia42 First, I don't see how this covers this situation. The guest did not check in or break any rules. The host told the guest only six people would be allowed on the property and the guest therefore canceled. This should be a straight-ahead guest cancellation. Also, why is the host's calendar blocked for the date in question? None of this makes sense.

I don't think @Julie534's calendar is blocked, I think she means that this guest reserved the dates two months ago and now they are canceling at last minute so they will likely not rebook. That is how I read it at least. The problem is that Airbnb sees this as a mutual cancelation so Julie's cancelation policy will not apply. The guest is clearly going to break Julie's house rules so Julie says don't come. The guest calls Airbnb and says we cannot stay at Julie's anymore and Airbnb puts through the cancelation and refunds the guest.

 

This happened to me once. The guest called me in route and said they were bring 2 extra people past my max of 4. I called Airbnb. The options were a.) Let the guests (all 6) stay and receive your payout. Or b.) Airbnb finds the guests a new place to stay and I don't get paid. It didn't matter if it was within my cancelation policy and it didn't matter if the were breaking my house rules.

You are right my calendar was unblocked when they canceled but it prevented others from booking for the past 2+ months. It just makes no sense to have the strict cancellation policy, when air bnb ignores it and does whatever they choose to do. 

I haven't had this happen before but I have had other odd things happen with Airbnb in the past that I didn't really understand but they didn't cost me money! It seems it depend just  on who gets the call or who gets the email as to what they're going to do and there's no consistency throughout the Airbnb company....I would have been fine with it not getting paid if I had had time to rebook it and it had been cancelled but keeping me blocked for 2 months was ridiculous. Also I had a phone call with them stating that I would get paid for the night minus the $3 fee and an email from them saying I would get paid for the night minus the $3 fee and then the next day I get a new email saying they're not going to pay me so as I said there's no consistency between the company employees. Also, I had asked several times how many people she was bringing because she only booked for one person and she just finally said yesterday that they were bringing eight people which was two more than I allowed. I guess house rules or limits just really don't matter to air bnb.

@Julie534 @Emilia42 I see. Ugh. "The options were a.) Let the guests (all 6) stay and receive your payout. Or b.) Airbnb finds the guests a new place to stay and I don't get paid." That is just wrong. The options for guests should have been a.) stay, with 4 people max, or b) cancel and be reimbursed according to the host's cancellation policy.

 

FWIW, I took Airbnb to small claims court over an inexplicable reversal of a previous payments, and won by default, and would be inclined to do the same here. But I am pretty ornery.

@Lisa723 Exactly!

Good for you Lisa! I'm pretty ornery too!!

Lisa, will you be my new BFF, LOL.  Love the fact you won your point, and well deserved money, in small claims. 

@Lisa723 Love that you did that!  You won by default because no one from Airbnb showed up?

@Julie534  Do you have strict or moderate cancellation policy?  How in advance of the check in date did the guest advise of the additional people?  I am a little confused.