Beware...Extenuating Circumstances Applied for "No SHOW" Without cancellation...

[Zappa0]

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. 

[Alice595]

@Thomas1033  Yvonna, I love your sentence "Ahh Airbnb I like you but I do not love you"

LOL.

[Kate640]

It is all getting a bit depressing. Is it possible to do a cheeky post of some other options regarding platforms for private rooms?

[Christine615]

That's ridiculous. Honestly, they're a booking service and although the guest pays their fee, they ultimately are only a conduit. Even if a guest has extenuating circumstances, if they don't cancel, then Airbnb should pay the refund out their own pockets. I always override my policy if it's a repeat guest and I know there are problems (for instance, bad weather here). But that's for me to decide, not Airbnb. Documentation can be faked.

[Zappa0]

If you miss a flight and call an airline after it lands to cancel with an extenuating circumstance do you get your money back?

Airbnb's own policy says a reservation IS NOT cancelled unless the guests pressed that magic button. Extenuating circumstances only applies to canceled reservations. 

Honestly, if they didnt refund me I was going to contact their legal team and get an attorney of my own. It is a blatant violation. No one is regulating airbnb and they are doing whatever they please. It needs to stop.

[Sarah977]

@Zappa0  There have been a disburbing number of similar posts here recently. They seem to upping even further their pandering to guests at hosts' expense and calling hosts to pressure them into refunding in total contravention of the host's cancellation policy. One host even had them refund a guest who made it very clear to the host that she didn't want a refund. The guest was a good and fair person and told the host that she didn't expect the host to take a financial loss on a last minute cancellation, since it was entirely the guest's responsibility that her plans had changed. But Airbnb went ahead and arbitrarily sent her a refund anyway!

[Zappa0]

These are examples of Airbnb violating it's own terms and service. They are setting themselves up for a big fat class action lawsuit. 

[Vivien73]

Just thinking of letting through Airbnb.  Thank you all for your input,  but it’s putting me off!  We left our last agent after 7 years because things were gradually getting weighted more and more in favour of the holidaymakers.  They will try it on and have nothing to loose as a result but the host is almost blackmailed to give in and looses out.  We all want happy customers and don’t want hassle so we do our best.  Why don’t abnb get this?