Help! Host is not replying after booking

[Hazel54]

My sister’s family and I are going Japan this November. And as early as now my sister already booked our accommodation at airbnb. A week after booking is confirmed(instant booking), and not a single message from the host, my sister got worried because it shows that the listing is no longer active. So she tried messaging the host and got no replies. We tried  messaging her for several days and now 2 weeks have passed and still haven’t heard from her. I tried messaging the host to her other listing pretending to be inquiring and to our surprise, she replied immediately. We tried reaching out to airbnb about this issue and adviced us to request the host to cancel and wait for 48 hrs. And if the host doesn’t reply we’ll get a full refund. But it’s already been 3 days since we requested for cancelation and the host haven’t responded yet. We tried asking airbnb again and said that they will message the host and we should wait for 72 hrs!! Is there anything we can do to immediately resolve this? If we cancel our booking i know that we will not get a full refund which is unfair for us. What i’am suspecting is that the host wanted us to cancel because i’ve read somewhere that if the host it the one who cancels she will be charged for a penalty or something. 

[Steve143]

Hello @Hazel54,

I'm not sure if this what you've done. When Airbnb suggested that you request a cancellation and wait 48 hours they meant the following. You must press the cancel button and then select the reason "My host needs to cancel".

To do this go to your trips and select your trip. Then click on "Change or cancel". Then click on "Next" in the "Cancel" box. Then click to select the reason "My host needs to cancel" and click on "Continue" to complete the process. Then if the host accepts or ignores the request the trip will be cancelled and you'll get a full refund. If the host declines the request the trip stays as is.

Steve.

[Hazel54]

Hi Steve!

yes, we already tried that but got redirected to the inbox instead. We’re not sure if she declined our request because our booking is not yet cancelled. I guess we’ll just have to wait for airbnb’s update regarding the issue. Thank you! 

[Susan17]

@Hazel54 Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you need to be very cautious of booking with Airbnb in Japan right now. New regulations that came into effect last month, have made it nigh on impossible for regular Homesharing hosts to continue, and most have already been wiped out. There are still a small percentage of listings left, but almost all of those are commercial enterprises and have established hotelier's licences. 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Airbnb-style-Hosting-is-Dead-in-Japan-by-July-2018/td-p/...

[Christine615]

Correct. Airbnb is the booking service and they need to fix this. They are the ones cancelling listings because of new regulations in Japan.

And it is Airbnb holding your money.

You shouldn’t have to wait 24 hours.