Booking made without my authorisation

[Suzan1]

This morning I made an enquiry to a host in Spain.  My question was simply to ask if they wld be willing to offer a reduction on a long term let.  Their response came through as a no.  However, Air BnB went ahead without my knowledge or PayPal uthorisation and booked the full period with this client, taking £390 out of my linked PayPal account.  (I am also a host hence why this is so)  I was horrified to discover this.  I have notified PayPal who are investigating.  

Gas anyone experienced this or similar?

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

As a host, you should probably be familiar with the difference between an INQUIRY and a RESERVATION REQUEST.  It sounds like you made a Reservation Request and the host accepted it, thereby confirming your reservation.  If you just had questions and were not intent on booking, you should have sent an Inquiry instead.

[Suzan1]

Even if that were the case C and C, I did NOT authorise Air BnB to take £390 out of my account.  As with each and every outgoing transaction any amount leaving an account has to first be verified by the owner of the account. This did not happen

[Suzan1]

To clarify: the money was taken from my PayPal account which has top security procedures.

[Linda108]

@Suzan1  Given your level of experience as a host, I would imagine you are dealing with one of the glitches we hear about.  What did Air BNB report to you about the booking?  Did you get a reservation confirmation?  Before you go to Air BNB if you have't as yet, I suggest you send a message to the host in Spain that the booking is in error and you are contacting Air BNB as you don't want the host's calendar to be blocked.  That way you have a message trail for Air BNB to look at and the host is motivated to support you as would imagine does not want days blocked either.  Good luck and keep us posted as to what you find.

[Suzan1]

Hi Linda

Thanks for yr contribution.  Indeed I did contact the host in Spain.  However she said she could not help me and that I had to contact Air BnB.  BUT it is impossible to contact them!!  In the end I contacted PayPal the company that holds my account and to which becasue I am already a host, my Air BnB account is linked to.  PayPal are investigating this matter as fraud.  They agreed when I checked with them that no transaction can go through without the owner of the account from which money is leaving , verifying each and every particuler transaction.

After notifying PayPal, I then went on to cancel the booking myself as I don't want that amount of money to go out of my account.  However AirBnB still holds £50.  I will wait now to hear what PayPal's investigation says.

[Colleen92]

Hi Friends,

A booking was made in our listing, with no notification to us, nor have we loaded payment details or given approval for availability.

Client is upset as cannot host them and rate was wrong as well that they were given for 4 guests? They were charged rate for 1 guest for 1 night, and were trying to book for 4 guests for 4 nights.

I cannot get any help from Air B and B support to assist in  fully refunding this client and making sure this doesnt happen again.

Thanks everyone, 🙂

Lucy

[Suzan1]

Sorry to hear that Colleen.  Indeed Air BnB are not easy to get into direct contact with.  However if you are persistent on yr site (and sorry I cannot recall the exact process now) there is a place where you can air your concerns and Air BnB will get back to you.  There is also a fone number available for them sonewhere - it may of course be different for you to I as you are based in SA.  That's not really offering you any practical help, sorry. Hope you get it sorted out. 

Kind regards

Suzan

[Linda108]

I looked at your listing, @Colleen92.  You have Instant Book turned on which means that guests can book without contacting you.  As it now stands, you are priced for the whole place including all 16 villas whethere one guest or 32 guests for the same price.  If that is not what you intend, you should snooze your listing until you get your listing set up properly.  

If you need to contact Air BNB, here is a guide for contacting Air BNB

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

[Colleen92]

Wonderful thank you ladies you have been a huge help!

We are new to the site.

Lucy