Had to leave property due to the host many issues and noise and now have to pay Airbnb!

Carla1007
Level 2
Solihull, GB

Had to leave property due to the host many issues and noise and now have to pay Airbnb!

I made a long-term booking 2 months ago for 6 months, but after 20 days at the property I had to leave due to the fact that the host (who lives upstairs) was making parties and loud noise every week and me and my 8 year old daughter couldn't sleep.

 

There was also two times where the host and her party guests entered our accommodation without previous notice.

 

So I contacted Airbnb and they advised me to ask her to change my dates and leave early, which I did. She apologised and accepted to change the dates, so I did and booked a new property with Airbnb somewhere else.

 

Now Airbnb says I am owning them money. Because at the time of the booking the host did me a special price and a discount, so it seems that when I changed the dates, the price went to the normal price without the discount!

 

I can't find anywhere on Airbnb terms & conditions saying that when we change the dates of a booking with a special offer the price goes back to a normal price and I have to pay the difference. Also, no one at Airbnb customer service can explain why this happens.

 

Please notice that this wasn't a cancellation, this was a change of dates agreed by the host.

 

And also please notice that the reason I left the house wasn't because I wanted, but because of the conditions and issues caused by the host! So if anyone needs to pay, it's them for all the hassle and stress they caused me!

 

Now my Airbnb account is suspended because I haven't paid that amount, the host refuses to pay themselves and I have a claim at the resolution center.

 

I ave spoken with many people at Airbnb and no one seems to care about my situation and what happened. They just want their money and that's it.

 

Can someone advise me on this please? Thank you.

4 Replies 4
Huma0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

@Carla1007  I could be wrong, but I think I know what happened here.

 

I mostly host long term guests who automatically get a weekly or monthly discount depending on the length of their stay. I noticed a while back that when I was changing a reservation, e.g. adding an extra day or two, the system was recalculating the price without the long term discount.

 

I realised this when a guest who had booked for six months wanted to check in two days earlier. All I did was change the check in date but she was then going to be charged nearly £1,500 more for two nights! I called Airbnb, but I had to speak to three different reps before one of them told me what was happening. I have since reported this glitch numerous times, but nothing seems to be done about it. Although Airbnb are aware that this problem exists, many of the CS reps don't seem to know about it.

 

So, I don't think your host was at fault (about the pricing that is) because she probably just changed the number of nights and then the system miscalculated the price. The host could have manually adjusted the total to the price you should have paid with the discounts if you had asked her, but I don't think she can do this after a booking has ended. She can only offer you an additional refund to make up the difference. If your account has been suspended, she might not be able to do that either.

 

I think only Airbnb customer services can sort this out. I would keep at them, explaining clearly to them that it is a glitch in the Airbnb system and that you should not have to pay for that. It would be helpful if the host would back you up on this as it sounds like you were overcharged by accident.

 

In future, before you accept any alteration request on a booking, double check that the price is correct. You have the right to decline it if it is wrong and ask your host to adjust it to the correct amount.

@Carla1007 I don't know if your problem has been resolved yet. My experience in this is that we had guests who decided to leave a couple weeks early on a long stay to take a special side trip. I wanted to accommodate them, but every time I entered the change of dates it showed that my guests would end up paying hundreds more for staying fewer days due to the loss of the long-term discount. I called AirBnB a couple times and finally a clever agent told me to just give them a refund through the site and not change the reservation dates. The drawback was that the place could not be re-booked for those two weeks because they would show as already reserved on my calendar. It sounds like the host is not willing to see her part in your situation so you may have no recourse but to pay up if you every want to use AirBnB again.

@Carla1007 

 

It is absolutely right depending on host prices.

 

My monthly discount is 50%.

If the guest leaves earlier, let’s say 20 days so it is the weekly discount (20%) which is applied.

In my case, 3 weeks are more expensive than 1 month.



The new price was  written when you accepted the request for modification.

 

Emiel1
Level 10
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands

@Carla1007 

It is known the "change form" has a lot of glitches, especially when it comes to long term stays.

It is reported here many times (also by me). But to no avail.

That being said: the change of reservation was done by the host and accepted by you, but you probably did not look at the new calculated price when accepting it !

Changing a reservation whill allways calculate the new price based on what is set in the listing (not what was in the special offer). But if the host is managing the change form, the host can correct the calculated price manually (by clicking in the price field and amend it)

 

It seems to me you and the host did not communicate well about about this change.. You also did not noticed the new price when accepting the change. IMO Airbnb should instruct the host you only pay for the nights stayed, based on the original offer, also give the host a warning for the issues occurred during your stay and close the case. After all it was their advice to shorten the stay.