Can I file a complaint against, or report, a host whose place we didn't stay in?

[Andrea1048]

I admit my foolishness in booking a family stay with a host that I did have a bad feeling about from the start. She had 92 nearly five-star reviews for other properties, but not this particular one. As well, she had SEVERAL (as in too many to count, pages of cancellations (I know, I know!)) "host cancelled the reservation ... days before" auto-reviews for previous properties. Going on my hunch, I did contact her to enquire about all her host cancelled circumstances and she told me that she and her husband had the opportunity to put their children in school in another country for a year and thus the cancellations at that time. She advised me that she didn't see "any reason" to have to cancel our reservation. Going on this, it reassured me enough to just relax after we booked.

Lo and behold not even two weeks later, I received a message from her advising me that her, "travel plans have changed" and that she is cancelling three months' worth of reservations and that I can cancel the reservation for a full refund. I messaged her back to advise her that the cancellation was her responsibility and she did actually promptly cancel after my message. If we had cancelled on her recommendation, we would have lost the service fee according to her cancellation details.

I can stomach our ignorance over booking with her despite my gut feeling, but I would like to report her, or at least publically review her, as a warning to other guests. According to her reasons for having to cancel, I just don't think that being an AirBnB host suits her lifestyle as it sounds like she has a lot going on  and the chances of her cancelling, even after contact is made and reassurances given, seem quite high. We are now left with finding a new place to stay and results are diminishing by the day and this cancellation has become a giant p.i.t.a., not to mention. I am wondering if there is a way to warn others before booking with her because her listings are very appealing and almost too easy to make an exception even in spite of all her cancelled reservations.

Can I review or report a host whose reservation we didn't actually stay at?

Thank you!

[Marit-Anne0]

@Andrea1048

Hosts with too many cancellations normally get suspended, so I am surprised this one is still going strong.

[Andrea1048]

@Marit-Anne0. Hi! Thanks for your reply.

11 cancellations by host... out of 92 reviews. Actually, we would be the 12th cancellation now. Is that considered too many by AirBnB standards? I wonder. There will be more as the three months she had reserved around our reservation were quite packed with other resos. I wonder if other guests will be smart enough to request she cancel despite her recommendation to cancel the reservation themselves.

[Allison2]

No, you can't. The system isn't set up for guests to review cancelled stays. How would you rate her on cleanliness, arrival, etc when you were never there? The automated notifications ARE the review which say "this isn't a committed host!".

Be assured that cancellations DO count against her. After this set of cancellations, she'll surely be paying the penalty on each one. Airbnb does take this seriously and the repercussions increase the more she cancesl- and at some threshold Airbnb will just de-list her.

While it isn't a perfect indicator that you'll have a great stay, booking with a SuperHost will at least ensure that they're committed enough to honor all reservations made with them over the past year.