Hey guys-
Just wanted to share the latest extenuating circumstance drama. I'll skip the nitty gritty details of this and cut to the chase: Airbnb violated their own terms and service.
A guest never cancelled their reservation and did not stay. They then called Airbnb a few days later (after their reservation ended) to cancel based on extenuating circumstances, and Airbnb messaged me telling me they would be refunding them (when a payout for this was already sent to my account).
I argued this under the following. Per Airbnb's own terms and service, a reservation is not cancelled until the guest officially presses the cancellation button.
This then allows the host to have a shot at rebooking by clearing the calendar. The Airbnb representative kept telling me that the extenuating circumstance policy applied because they showed documentation. I kept arguing that per the extenuating circumstance to apply in airbnb's own T&C the guest has to actually cancel the reservation. Back and forth with this. I kept telling them they were violating their own T&C and that this was not a cancellation but a "No Show."
One Month Later and constant messages, I finally was reissued the payment for the nightly rate of the reservation, but they told me that the cleaning fee could only come in the form of a credit. Tried of fighting this, I finally agreed to the cleaning fee as a travel credit.
This entire issue should raise some concerns for hosts for many reasons.
1. My reservation was for one night. But what if it was a week? Two? This is a huge amount of money that Airbnb can now try and take because of a "No Show."
2. What is the time limit on this? Can guests call two months after their "no show" and claim that they had an extenuating circumstance?
I can only hope that this was an isolated incident but I have a feeling that other representatives will try to pull the same thing. Beware hosts!!
This is really bad business for Airbnb.
In other news, yesterday I had a guest who didn't want to come because it might rain (it didn't..) and try and pitch airbnb for a full refund. Airbnb messaged me a negative statement saying " I know this is an isolated case and it does not define who you are as a Host," and asked me to give them a full refund. As if sticking to my cancellation policy makes me a bad host. Good grief...this is getting to me ridiculous.