Host cancelled less than 24 hours before check in

[Nick88]

I booked a room about 2 weeks ago and the pickings we're already slim then.  I've messaged the host right after booking with the usual "Hi, how ya doin?" stuff, and about a week before the reservation I asked about check in times.  The response was 6pm.  I was a little put off by the late check in time but didn't say anything and I figured we'd just find some way to kill time until then.  

Last night I went to sleep extra early (7:00PM) because I planned to get up early and finish packing so we could hit the road by 9AM.  I woke up this morning to find that I received a AirBnb cancellation message at 7:28PM that my reservation has been cancelled.  No message from the host, no appology or explanation, nothing.  

AirBnb obviously refunded my money and gave me what I think is a 10% credit.  But nearest thing available at this point is about 30-40 miles away from the booking that was already 25 miles away from where we are visting.  Now I'm suppose to accept this, or get a refund and book something else.  Booking even the cheapest hotel at the last minute is now going to cost us 2-3 times more than if we had just booked it weeks ago when we made this AirBnb reservation.

I understand that things happen, but how can I ever book with AirBnb again and have a resonable expectation that I won't waste a bunch of money planning a trip and have my accommodations yanked from under my feet at the last minute?  I'm stuck deciding between either cancelling my plans, or paying twice per night what the entire weekend would have cost me.  

This is beyond infuriating and AirBnb won't even give me the satisfaction of leaving a review because they left a "The host canceled this reservation the day before arrival. This is an automated posting." review on my behalf.

Cancellations like this are devastatingly expensive for the guest.  There should be a heavy penalty for host who do this without explanation.

[Marie8425]

I agree because the host could of had a personal emergency.  They may not want to inform a stranger, the guest.  They have decided to have a business relationship with Airbnb.  Yes, Airbnb should be informed why the service promised is cancelled. Then the response should be depending on the situation Someone suddenly offered me a free trip so I cancelled my guest is not in the same reality as my child was just admitted to the hospital.

Then maybe Airbnb could be harsher when a Host doesn't have a good reason maybe that would discourage bad behavior allowing Airbnb to offer more guest support when it is something unexpected and not controlled happens to me a guess accomodations is not a priority over my kid got hit by a car.

Airbnb mostly has agreements with Private Hosts.    Rules should reflect that business agreement not rules that are so generic they really don't focus on  who they are doing business with.  

[Ben344]

I've just had a similar experience in Cannes, France for a conference. I had booked an apartment for 12-15 March which the host now tells me (less than 24 hours in advance) isn't available for the whole stay.  I have absolutely no doubt that hosts in locations like this are using Airbnb guests as free options. They take my money and then see if they can get a better rate on other platforms. If they do, they cancel.

[David126]

@Ben344

Could you post a link to the listing, I can see how someone could do it once or twice but not long term.

[Ben344]

The listing is here:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/20952447

My experience of trying to book Cannes at this very busy time is that everyone is trading and re-trading...  I have contacted the Support Team for help because the host now hasn't cancelled my booking yet...

[David126]

@Ben344

Thanks for the link, seems many many issues with this 'Host".

No information just a name, what has that many apartments? Some sort of broker?

3 listings with no reviews

Very low response rate

A handful of reviews for another property no longer listed

Photos look like they came from a brochure.

Well you get the drift

[Linda108]

@Ben344  I do not know what type of listing you booked, but I want to balance your experience with another point of view.  Share home experiences are very personal.  I have a private couple of rooms in my house, so I share the space with guests.  I woke up one morning recently with a cold.  My guests were expected 10 hours later.  They were coming from another country and they had booked 2 different stays.  I was worried that I might give them a cold and ruin their holiday so I called Air BNB requesting assistance with cancellation and relocation.  Air BNB contacted the guest to help and also offered a 10-15% credit to help with relocation.  

I did the right thing to cancel.  Went to a doctor and found that I did not have a cold but had the flu that has been responsible for so many deaths here in the US.  I felt good about my decision to cancel and not expose this family to my illness.  The guest responded by cancelling the second reservation which was not needed due to my illness but was done due to her unhappiness with my cancelling.  I allowed a full refund.  Then she gave me a negative review solely because I cancelled.  Fortunately all the other guests' reviews are so positive, it has not affected my Super Host status.  All this cost me about $1000, but I am happy with my decision to care about the health of my guests more than the money.

My point is not all host cancellations are selfish and greedy.  Some are, but Air BNB tries to screen out those that are not for the right reasons.  Just another point of view.

[Ben344]

A quick update.  Since contacting Airbnb support (via message), I've been really impressed.

I got a call back in about an hour.

They immediately cancelled my booking (the host was still messing around)

They've offered to refund up to £125 in taxi fares given the new hitel accommodation I had to book is much further away from the conference than the Airbnb apartment.

It doesn't get back the half a day of my life that's been wasted, but it's impressively responsive and theyvet done the right thing.

[Linda108]

@Ben344  Good to hear that Air BNB was able to make you "whole", except for the half day of your life 😛

[Jessica705]

I understand, at this very moment im meant to be checking into an apartment in Rome with my mother for her 65th birthday. I had a message atjust gone 4pm last night cancelling the booking. I spoke to Airbnb on the phone to try and get an alternative apartment but everything was well over the money i initially spent and couldnt afford anything, Airbnb wouldnt share the extra cost, i am so distraught, i didnt even tell my mum till monday as it was a surprise and 24 hours later i had to tell her if wasnt happening. is it wrong to want revenge?

[Erin310]

We were also stranded the same day with three kids looking for a place in Philadelphia during the height of tourist season. Airbnb couldn't find a place that wasn't three times as expensive, so we had to find a hotel, which was actually cheaper but over twice the price. We were promised an amount to make our expense only $100 more plus the expense of parking and the loss of a travel day dealing with it. We didn't get that amount from Airbnb but ended up spending $200 more. I see they can charge the host $100, and that should have immediately come to us to help. Airbnb has to help people stranded last minute better. I have used them for years and so have my friends. We live abroad and know many expats who do. However, I am now very concerned about using them in the future or recommending them. It seems that by not helping guests in this situation, they will only lose business. This is foolish on their part, because even losing my business for one trip will cost them more than it would have cost them to pay for a replacement place and we wouldn't have had to go through so much stress or lost our day of sightseeing. 

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@Jessica705 wrote:

I understand, at this very moment im meant to be checking into an apartment in Rome with my mother for her 65th birthday. I had a message atjust gone 4pm last night cancelling the booking. I spoke to Airbnb on the phone to try and get an alternative apartment but everything was well over the money i initially spent and couldnt afford anything, Airbnb wouldnt share the extra cost, i am so distraught, i didnt even tell my mum till monday as it was a surprise and 24 hours later i had to tell her if wasnt happening. is it wrong to want revenge?

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[Erin310]

An update on the above. Airbnb has agreed to pay the difference. It was a very difficult stay, but I'm happy that they have done their best to right the situation. Erin

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@Erin310 wrote:

We were also stranded the same day with three kids looking for a place in Philadelphia during the height of tourist season. Airbnb couldn't find a place that wasn't three times as expensive, so we had to find a hotel, which was actually cheaper but over twice the price. We were promised an amount to make our expense only $100 more plus the expense of parking and the loss of a travel day dealing with it. We didn't get that amount from Airbnb but ended up spending $200 more. I see they can charge the host $100, and that should have immediately come to us to help. Airbnb has to help people stranded last minute better. I have used them for years and so have my friends. We live abroad and know many expats who do. However, I am now very concerned about using them in the future or recommending them. It seems that by not helping guests in this situation, they will only lose business. This is foolish on their part, because even losing my business for one trip will cost them more than it would have cost them to pay for a replacement place and we wouldn't have had to go through so much stress or lost our day of sightseeing. 

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@Jessica705 wrote:

I understand, at this very moment im meant to be checking into an apartment in Rome with my mother for her 65th birthday. I had a message atjust gone 4pm last night cancelling the booking. I spoke to Airbnb on the phone to try and get an alternative apartment but everything was well over the money i initially spent and couldnt afford anything, Airbnb wouldnt share the extra cost, i am so distraught, i didnt even tell my mum till monday as it was a surprise and 24 hours later i had to tell her if wasnt happening. is it wrong to want revenge?

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[Josh183]

I just had this happen to me as well - host canceled within 24 hours of my stay. I've read on other forums (and it seems like on here) that the Airbnb host is fined when this happens -- my main question, how come that fine isn't applied to the guest's future stay?

Right now, all thre places I'm looking at that are available are at least that much more, so it seems logical that they'd pass the fine to the Guest so that we can find a new place. 

[Linda108]

There is not always a fine, @Josh183 if there is a documentable extenuating circumtance for the cancellation.  I have known Air BNB to offer a 10-15% credit to an alternative listing.  Did you work with Air BNB staff to find another place?

[Nathalie630]

The the same thing happened to me. Except my host didn’t even bother to cancel. I went to the site of my listing at 6pm and realized the apartment building that was advertised didn’t even exist. I think it may have been a fake listing. I called Airbnb and they canceled my booking an hour later and gave me a 10% bonus of $23. Most bookings in the same area cost 2-3x more. I called Airbnb to complain and they told me that I was “exhausting their resources” I told them I didn’t care because I was a single woman traveling alone and just had her booking cancelled at 7pm at night. They said there were other bookings near my price range... and that I should ask hosts to lower their price for me... I told them, those listings were very far away from where I currently was and that the taxi costs would easily cost me an arm and a leg. After arguing with them, for an hour I was able to get enough money to book a place in the suburbs. I found the entire experience to be demeaning and offensive for both myself and the host who took me in. Why should the host be expected to reduce her list price just because Airbnb messed up? And how can I trust Airbnb not to make a blunder like this again? Airbnb has one job- connect guests to hosts. They make tons of money charging us guests and hosts for that service. Of all of the money I have made Airbnb... apparently, I’m not worth more than $23 to them. 

[Erin310]

We were also stranded the same day with three kids looking for a place in Philadelphia during the height of tourist season. Airbnb couldn't find a place that wasn't three times as expensive, so we had to find a hotel, which was actually cheaper but over twice the price. We were promised an amount to make our expense only $100 more plus the expense of parking and the loss of a travel day dealing with it. We didn't get that amount from Airbnb but ended up spending $200 more. I see they can charge the host $100, and that should have immediately come to us to help. Airbnb has to help people stranded last minute better. I have used them for years and so have my friends. We live abroad and know many expats who do. However, I am now very concerned about using them in the future or recommending them. It seems that by not helping guests in this situation, they will only lose business. This is foolish on their part, because even losing my business for one trip will cost them more than it would have cost them to pay for a replacement place and we wouldn't have had to go through so much stress or lost our day of sightseeing. 

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@Nathalie630 wrote:

The the same thing happened to me. Except my host didn’t even bother to cancel. I went to the site of my listing at 6pm and realized the apartment building that was advertised didn’t even exist. I think it may have been a fake listing. I called Airbnb and they canceled my booking an hour later and gave me a 10% bonus of $23. Most bookings in the same area cost 2-3x more. I called Airbnb to complain and they told me that I was “exhausting their resources” I told them I didn’t care because I was a single woman traveling alone and just had her booking cancelled at 7pm at night. They said there were other bookings near my price range... and that I should ask hosts to lower their price for me... I told them, those listings were very far away from where I currently was and that the taxi costs would easily cost me an arm and a leg. After arguing with them, for an hour I was able to get enough money to book a place in the suburbs. I found the entire experience to be demeaning and offensive for both myself and the host who took me in. Why should the host be expected to reduce her list price just because Airbnb messed up? And how can I trust Airbnb not to make a blunder like this again? Airbnb has one job- connect guests to hosts. They make tons of money charging us guests and hosts for that service. Of all of the money I have made Airbnb... apparently, I’m not worth more than $23 to them. 

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