Am I being taken advantage of?

Carolyn637
Level 2
Cincinnati, OH

Am I being taken advantage of?

Hello,

 

I have been using AirBnB for several years without any problems. However, I recently requested a 60+ day stay and the host contacted me and told me the listed price was incorrect. She sent me an updated offer but did not tell me that she changed the dates of the reservation from 60+ days to 30 days. I didn't notice the date change and accepted the revised offer under the assumption that I was paying for 2 months, not 1. If the host had sent an offer with my original dates and the revised price, I would have declined. The price per night has now doubled and I contacted the host, explained my mistake and asked if she could cancel the reservation without my having to forfeit my entire money paid. She said she was ok with the cancellation but she said I needed to make the cancellation myself, because there was no place on the website or app for her to cancel the reservation. Is that true? Isn't there a dashboard where hosts can cancel reservations? She then said if I wanted to rebook with her, I shouldn't use AirBnB but instead contact her directly. I am concerned that I am being taken advantage of. First, she did not honor the listed price. Second, she changed the stay dates without telling me even though her calendar was open for those days. Third, she may have lied to me about her ability to cancel the reservation. Lastly, she asked me to book outside AirBnB. I have contacted the support folks at AirBnB and I am waiting for an answer. Is this acceptable behavior from a host? I am concerned that I am being taken advantage of.

 

Thank you in advance for your replies.

10 Replies 10
Colleen253
Level 10
Alberta, Canada

@Carolyn637 Here is how the long term cancellation policy works:

 

 https://www.airbnb.ca/home/cancellation_policies#long-term

 

You may still have time to cancel without penalty. The host should have honored the listed price. If a host cancels, rather heavy penalties are incurred, which is why she doesn't want to do it. She 'can', just doesn't want to. It is against the TOS to transact off platform. Hopefully all this messaging took place on the platform to document this, as you can report the host for trying to get you to transact outside Airbnb. You may be in for a tough time getting help from CS, which is pretty much non existent these days.

@Colleen253  Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Unfortunately, more than 48 hours has past since the confirmation, so I think I may be at the end of the road with cancelling.

@Carolyn637 It sounds more like a scatterbrained and amateurish host than a con artist. But at any rate, like @Colleen253 said, the first thing you should do (really, right this minute) is check to see if your booking still falls within the grace period for free guest cancellations. This may be the case if it was confirmed in the last 48 hours.

 

If the host were to cancel the booking from her end, one of the penalties would be that the whole month would be blocked and unbookable on Airbnb. So what she told you wasn't a lie so much as an omission: she can't cancel your booking taking a massive financial loss.

 

Fortunately, back-end cancellations are one of the easier things for a customer service operator to do without having to transfer your ticket to another department. If your grace period has expired, get Airbnb on the phone. Grab a book; you might be on hold for a long time.

@Anonymous   Thank you for your response. I was worried that I was making unfair assumptions about the host's behavior, and your info about the reasons she wouldn't want to cancel the request helps me to better understand where she's coming from. I tried calling AirBnB yesterday but was unable to talk to a person because they are not handling customer service requests by phone unless the reservation begins in 72 hours or less. I tried to get around this to speak to someone but I haven't been successful. I've reached out via chat yesterday but also haven't received a response. This may turn out to be an expensive lesson that I should always double check everything about a reservation request. Thanks again.

Colleen253
Level 10
Alberta, Canada

Carolyn637
Level 2
Cincinnati, OH

@Colleen253 yes, but it says that everything is non-refundable except for $350 bc of the long term cancellation policy. Since the amount I've already paid is over 13k (again, thinking this was for 60, not 30 days), it wouldn't make sense to cancel if the refund was at that price point. I feel really foolish for not noticing the date change and this is a very expensive mistake, but I'm not sure if I have any other options.

Colleen253
Level 10
Alberta, Canada

@Carolyn637 As the host ".... said she was ok with the cancellation" you might try working something out with her directly. On her side, the most important thing is to have the booking cancelled by you asap so her calendar opens up and she has a chance to rebook it. On your side, you just want your money back. She has the option if she wants to go around her cancellation policy, to refund you. Since she played a large part in creating this mess, she should be working with you to fix it. It's a bit of a toss up how it might all work out, since she's obviously not got two feet planted squarely on the court, but worth a try perhaps.

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Carolyn637 

The quickest way out is probably:

The host (or you) can change ("change'option) the reservation to a much shorter time period  (and the  host can also lower the calculated amount).

It gives you instant refund, at least much more then when you cancel

 

But the host is at risk, because there are multiple reasons for reporting her to Airbnb by not playing by the rules.

 

Best regards,

Emiel

@Emiel1 That's good to know. I don't accept long term reservations, so I'm not super familiar with various workarounds. But here is another link @Carolyn637 :

 

https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/1361/how-do-changes-and-cancellations-work-for-longterm-reservati...

@Colleen253 @Emie2 Thank you both for your help. I really appreciate it and wish you all the best.

 

Sincerely,

Carolyn