Thankyou for raising the issue from the Guest's view. I have 4 rooms and 4 Guests affected by this issue and here is what this SuperHost has found
AirBnB's Extended Booking feature recalculates the extension by digitally tearing up previous agreements, ignoring most business and accounting standards and rewriting the truth and presenting it as "the new facts".
IN JULY 2016
1. Guest 1 NZ was booking 1 week at a time x 3 weeks. Each time, the Guest and Host negotiated the extension we agreed to the price. We were both guilty of trusting AirBnB auto-figures on the 4th extension. Instead of calcuating the additional 7 days, it backdated the entire stay as if it was a 28+ day booking in advance, THEN APPLIED THE 28 day discount. AUD$-98 to the Guest, Host down (AU$366) + ($98) = AU$464 loss to this Host on that Guest. Summary, Guest is doing the right thing, Host is doing the right thing, but AirBNB's compounding amounts without adequate detail would constitute "Failure to Disclose" provisions in an environment that is trustworthy.
2. Guest 2 Canada was booking fortnights then weeks as her job and income stabilised. On the 4th week, AirBnB Auto-figures charged her AU$14 for extra week instead of what the Guest and Host agreed to AU$339, Host down $325
3. Guest 3 Germany was a 2 month booking, that was compounded to Guests 1 and Guest 2 remittance, this means that Germany paid for NZ and Canada staying.
SEPTEMBER 2016
At this stage, still waiting for a meaningful response from AirBnB,
4. Guest 4 Australia middle years, facing a marital breakdown, relocating to city for new job, new job had 1 initial booking of 2 months to get settled and look for a flat to purchase, extended a month, marital property sale delayed, extended another 2 months immediately Host received, mental health issues with a young son with suicidal tendencies still living in the family home, Guest's own major flare up due to stress of a chronic health issue, extended another month. In the meantime, the original rental price was low Winter seasonal price and the extensions are increasingly in peak Summer season. AirBnB's auto prices have effectively charged him 4 times for the used portion of the room. On this occasion, the AirBnB Customer Service was able to explain the matter, confirm the Guest has been charged repeatedly for the same used portion of his stay, in increasing increments as the Summer Months were purchased. And offered to pass my concerns to the relevant area. Did offer to refund the Guest but botched that up, instead of returning to the Guest what they had been charged (an amount as a Host I was not privvy to at that stage) initiated a refund that shows up on the Guest's AirBnB Receitps with "Bad Date" next to it and the money is still to appear. And even if it did, it would still be wrong. What was returned was what the Host had/was due to receive, and not what the Guest has paid/will pay.
So for Guest 4, from 4 real world transactions, AirBnB's Accounting Method (not to be Confused with International Accounting Standards) has 18 line entries in the payment receipt schedule, only offered to the Guest, upon the Guest's private inquiry shared with me. While this summary does itemise the strange and unusal amounts, there is no description as to what they are, why they are but the timing of these indicate the strange and unusual amounts are "backcharged" to the earlier purchased time of the original room hire. Essentially, the advance-purhased Summer Peak Price determines already-used off-peak Winter Price. Total Guest additional, unexpected and unconciousable outlay is AU$620. Fair? AirBnb says yes.
Despite providing long emails, screen grabs, pdf files, explanations, alternative scenarios to explain that there is a problem with the extended booking system, that the evidence as it exists, as it was provided by AirBnB at the time tells the truth in the way the "current system does not", AirBnB says no.
Now, in September, AirBnB had a Victorian Hosts' Day. This matter was raised in person with a representative who had the title of "Community Liason" who promised to follow up the matter but there is no evidence that that was done. Unless one counts silence and inaction. I don't, AirBnB says yes. I lost count of the auto-emails that say words to the affect that "Most recent Customer Service hasn't done anything with this account for a while, therefore it must be resolved. Contact again to start the whole unbroken circle of suffering again." When did inactivity = resolution? AirBnB says, now.
In professional organisations, there are usually paths to escalate matters. Beyond 2 layers of polite words that result in no-thing, there is no escalation. Calling at different times of the Australia day, did discover Phillipines, Nevada and Ireland customer service staff have different levels of understanding of basic business or accounting standards, and different abilities to read customer correspondence and make meaningful responses based on what is discovered.
The matter has been emailed to Joe Gebbias after discovering his inspiring TED Talk on AirBnB's mission of making money from under-utilised space, and building relationships on Trust. Apparently though, the email he has on his private website doesn't work or is not attended because there has been no response to date.
Some weeks passed, so this matter was emailed to head of Australian AirBnb Sam McDonagh, who responded with a "will investigate", which was done by one of previous Customer Service person who's attitude was already on record, previously known to have said their decision was final and there was no point going anywhere else as they'll all just say the same thing. For the record, the common definition of "Investigation" does not mean "Retrieve old email that contains falsehoods, inaccuraries, denial of the subsequent facts, Host/Guest is still the problem. Put new date. Resolved. Send". That was 11 December 2016.
CONCLUSIONS
So that brings us all up to date.
AirBnB resisted repeated attempts through appropriate channels to get an answer or provide any detail that made sense to explain the situation. As a Host, I orginally lodged the matter in July 2016 as an Ap Fault, moved this to a billing error but due to the repeated non-evidence-based responses upgraded my request to the foregone money to be returned to Host (Guests 1-3) and Guest 4. The Host million dollar guarantee should cover losses incurred by AirBnB Transactions, right? Air BnB says no.
AirBnB's consistent responses are that its the Host's fault for offering the Long Term Discount, its the Host's fault for not overriding the AirBnB Auto Feature when they didn't know it was not be relied upon, and its the Host's fault for expecting AirBnB to conduct itself in accordance with basic business practices, accounting standards, hospitality or the airline industry. In these allied industries, this Host has repeatedly asserted that if a Guest purchased more time with a Hotel, or an extra flight with an airline, it is the usual standard that the Guest pays more money at an agreed price in advance, regardless of past history, AirBnB says no.
In any money-for-goods/services transaction, a problem with one non-related guest's account should NEVER interfere with another non-related guest's accounts, AirBnB says no.
In any trustworthy agreement, the key parties (ie, the Guest and Host) have faithfully negotiated the extensions, both have usual expectations to pay for the additional amount at a fair price, and should be able to rely on a world wide player such as AirBnB to be correct. AirBnB says no.
In any team where loyalty should be rewarded not punished, if a genuine or unintended mistake is made, the defaulting party should be able to admit the mistake and make good the situation. AirBnB says no.
At the September Hosts' event another AirBnB representative mentioned that in the month of July 2016, AirBnB facilitated 1 million bookings.
Imagine what its like to be that Host, or that Guest affected by this situation?
TO THE GUEST WHO POSTED THIS QUERY: Thankyou, it is great to hear a guest enjoyed their stay, used electricity, bedding, towelling, water, and BONUS got money back. Now, consider doing the right thing. If the Host has done the right thing, lived up to their online Offering, you were prepare to pay, know what you should be charged, why should the Host be punished? Go through the dispute centre and ask to pay more. A Guest wanting to fix an oversight, want to make the situation right and pay a fair price for goods/services delivered? It will probably crash the system. LOL
TO MY 4 GUESTS AFFECTED BY THIS SITUATON: as a Host of concious, I have endured these losses because I am now aware of the problem, official redress shows no promise of usefulness and I don't have but will make capacity to take responsibility for this situation.
TO ALL HOSTS: One AirBnB Customer Service and some hosts counselled rejecting extensions and instead have all Guests book again, meaning check-outs, reviews, ratings each time. Really wise hosts encountering the situation BUT NOT RAISING THE ALARM THEREBY GIVING PERMISSION FOR SITUATION TO CONTINUE advise taking all extensions from known guests offline to ensure reliability, consistency and restore trust between Guest and Host.
Thankyou for listening, smooth travels, safe arrivals and amazing stays, at a fair price. Have a nice day.
