Hosts union - how many hosts have issues?

Evita2
Level 2
Cook Islands

Hosts union - how many hosts have issues?

i have heard from my lawyer there are many unresolved issues between airbnb and hosts. single emails to airbnb don't give results, airbnb often listen to the guests and ignore hosts,Airbnb resolution center make deductions from payouts and give guests refunds without even checking the other party's story. i think maybe the hosts that feel badly done and unfairly dealt with should unite and demand action and re-openning cases together.

 

[Personal information hidden]

 

this is my story - let me know what you think

 

I have complained to aribnb that our guests informed us 4 days after their arrival that they are very happy with the place but they move out because they hanged their mind,m its too hot and they want airconditioning and can they get a refund.  We have a strict cancellation policy,. We offered to rent a portable airconditioning unit for them and asked them to come back informing we cannot refund but they said "They moved and won't change their mind and will give us key back once we agree to refund"

I didn't get the key back. Still A coouple of days later, still with no keys rewturned , I got email from eairbnb ?(who I already notified I expect problems with these guests and they are demanding refund and refuse tho give the key back) suddenly informing me of a new booking from the same guests, backdated but only for 4 days instead of original 2 weeks. i checked paypal but the mkoney was aolready paid to me. I contacted airbnb but they didn't come back to me with any explanation for like a month, nbever called me back. I assumed maybe it's just formality but we still keep thye full payout but there obfuscatad note on our account and payouts "future payouts" where we actually owe money to airbnb for the wrong decission they made without consulting us and against our advise and protest to refund the guests. they refunded over 1000 euro to the guests who still help on to our key, never told us want to come back but had that possibility for...the air being too hot in the summer in Cook islands. The guests are german and just came from winter in Germany so their child couldn't adjust and needed airconditioning which is fine but it's hardlyt our fault as we provided everything as agreed.

 

I have received this response from them and I responded again saying they had no legal grants nor permition from us to deduct money from our payout. They never contacted us, they just decided to refund the guest. They chanbged reservation tov 4 days even though we couldn't even check or clean the house for another week after the guests claimed they moved out as they kept thel key, they also kept using our WIFI so  they had to be back to the house

the guests said they deifinitelly moved out because they wanted air conditioning (which we clearly said we don't provide) blackmailed me with not giving key back at all until they get refund. We asked them to mnove back in and offered renting a portable air coinditioning unit but they refused.

Airbnb refunded the guests without takling to us, without emails from us explaining the situation. they said

  1. it was air temperature issues and baby couldn;t sleep and
  2. listing wasn't avaiable to the ghuests after guests moved out

The listing was avaiable. the guests however terminated their contact by sayin gthe are not returning but neither did they return they nor they were entitled to refund based on strict cancelation policy and also because we told airbnb this is one thing we do not agree to

1.how can i get airbnb to reopen the case?

2,. wev received a fyull payout but there is a note in "future trabnscations" that nobody pinted out to us saying we owe airbnb 1183 EURO!

  1. How can we foirmaly and lagally not allowed for an y deduction to be made from our account

I am still sort of hoping that airbnb will solve this issue honestly towards us. if they made a hasty decision to refund the guest they can do it from their funds but not deduct it from us which would be highly unfair and i believ illegal. I still think it's unfair to grant our dihonest guest a refund as it is supporting dishonest attitude towards hosts. Furthermore any guests can ansure that they have accomodation in a place like ours by booking on aibnnb then call few hiotels, check what is last minute deal, call airbnb ask for refund , get it despite the policy of the host6 and move out to a cheaper place which they would have never got 2 weeks earlier in the same price.

I am so upset that I am actually considering legal processing as we have a solicitor friend in the States but am hoping I don't need to go that far and this would waste so much of our time though the solicitor said he may as well get few other unhappy hosts as from his very quick  research he can see many unhappy hosts making comments online and claiming they did not get correct payouts or guests were refunded unfairly and with no proofs to base the refund on. Sofar we were hapopy if not with airbnb customer service then at least with the amount of bookings and we never even looked towards other services like Flipkey or Bookings

i always believe solving problems without burning bridges or without making destruction anywhere is the best and hope there is a way to get some justice and fair treatment from airbnb but now after this response : Antonio A, Mar 31, 01:44 CDT:

Hello, Evita!

I hope that this email finds you well today.

First of all, I would like to apologize for all the inconveniences and the late response.

Due to time zone and availability issues, your case was in the meantime handled by other agents.

Regarding the situation regarding your reservation, your guests contacted us with the urgent desire to shorten their reservation due to the issues regarding the temperature and how it was affecting the small child. Your willingness to make your guests as comfortable as possible is commendable and I would like to personally congratulate you as a host for being so accommodating and for going out of your way to solve their problem.

As you know from the interaction with the guests, once they left the listing due to the temperature issues, they wanted to return to the listing and the reservation was never cancelled by the guests; unfortunately it was not possible for them to return to the listing due to other people occupying the listing at the time they returned; due to this they reached us and since we decided to shorten the reservation to the 4 nights they stayed in the listing. In doing that, the amount that was charged to them was that of the nights they stayed in the listing (4 nights in total). The rest was refunded to them as per wish of the guests since they could not go back to the listing.

It was unfortunate that you had to go through this ordeal. I tried to contact both you and the guests but communication was unfortunately not always possible. Given the situation, we did our best to try to find a solution for both you and the guests. By shortening the reservation, you get the amount for the time the guests stayed in the listing and they get the amount for the nights not stayed in the listing. It was also done in good will due to the guests traveling with a small child.

Regarding the reviews, you wrote one, which has already been published but the guests did not leave one, so fortunately there is nothing to worry about in that regard. Your star-rating will not go down and your reputation as a host will stay intact.

I would like to personally thank you for your understanding and your involvement throughout this case and am thankful that you are part of our community and such an active and helpful host.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Antonio

the case have been closed. i tried sending this but it flipped back:

 



hi Antonio

Sorry I didn't reply earlier because we had quite a few requests for december and i did not notice your response.

  1. The guests left with the key - I have told you this and also informed you before. wre cannot control temperature in the Cook Islands and we never agreed to the refund especially when the key wasn't returned
  2. The listing was avaiable to them, we made a suggestion for them to come back on several occassions. they said they are not going to return and made already decission hence terminating the agreement with us but there was still no base for a refund
  3. Antonio, if the hotel has a strict cancellation policy, the guests may leave because they find the beach unpleasant or too many mosquitos in the area but they will still not get any refund, even if they give the key back and even if the hotel can relist or sell the room to someone else. We did not sell the place to anyone else, it wasn't even relisted. these guests used you and should have never get the refund

so there are 3 points here

  1. the guests made clear to us - and i have this conversation I think both on aribnb but certainly on facebook chat that they are not coming back. They blackmailed us with not returning the key and they didn't return the key for another week. after you shortened their stay. why would you even shorten their stay if there was no fault on our part - we really don 't control when their child get's too hot or can't sleep and they didn't give us the key back? Nobody from airbnb contacted us neither on [personal information hidden] not on email!

Even if you shorten their stay according to our agreement we have with you the guests are not entitled to any refund later then a week before arrival

  1. The guests made it clear for us they are not coming back so what is that story about listing not being available to us? When they sent us 2 messages saying they difinitely don't come back i have consulted the lawyer and he advised me that they terminated the contract but they still do not nhave right to a refund based on the conditions orf the original contract. I have therefore requested the key but got a blackmailing answer "We will give the key back when we agree to the refund" . It seems they went over our head and manipulated you to get refund from you. After this the guests  never said anything to us about changing their mind and wanting to come back. in reality I don't know if they were still using the place. I know that 5 and 6days after they moved out they were still using WIFI provided by us so how can they claim they completely moved out ?

 

 

  1. the guests could have expressed their wish to come back to the listing - do you have any proof from them that they did it?

I expect they went to another place, without waiting for our response and paid for the remaining time. There was no intention to come back

We have received the amount via Paypal and we DO NOT AGREE for you to deduct any money from us as we did not ACCEPT any changes to our reservation. any deductions would be not only very unfair but illegal. I do not believe you have any legal basis to do it. The guests stayed in the area, had the key, could have moved back in any time except that they also informed us that they have no such infection. Everything they told you was a lie and if you made your decision based on only talking to them without consulting us that was your decision, with us you still have a contract which says that when the guests arrived and did not complain within 24 h and we provided them with everything as advertised you owe us a full payout for the whole time of the reservation

Do you have any proof from the guests that they contacted us, told us they won't to come back to accommodation and we didn't allow them?

no quite opposite:

they told us they "have no intention of coming back"

they kept the key

they never said they want to come back

as you said the only reason they could shorten they stay was the heat. We really tried to help and make it better for them even though we were not required but they didn't give us a chance

these people are blackmailers and users and i do not agree for any of the amount they owe us for the original reservation to be returned to them from our payout or our futiure payouts from you

I really hope you understand that position

Hope to hear from you soon

please don't close the keys before you honestly and fairly resolve it - i will really appreciate it

If you have any proof that:
the guest informed us they want to move back and we denied this to them then you may be entitled to deduct the money from us but in any case not all and this wasn't the case so I am hoping for a positive response


Ewa

any advice. Please help guys!

 

**[Personal information removed in line with the CC Guidelines]

7 Replies 7

yes, Airbnb can deduct money from future payouts.  See the Terms of Service. 

Posting your complaint once is all that is needed.  

 

**[Post merged from duplicate thread]

thank you/. well yes maybe if we didn't keep to the conditions of the contract but we did.

Can you point me where in terms does it say they can deduct money and on what grants? Or is it their discretion which would be very worrying. So even if

1. guests said how happy they are in the house for 4 days

2. moved out , so they claim, only because it got too hot ands they decided to rent another place with airconditioning which we didn't provide and were clear about it

3. certainly did use the place afterwards - we have proof as they used the WIFI coupon we issued for them

4. had the key and said they will keep it until we agree to the refund so they could have moved back in any time

5. refused to move back in when we suggested it and said it's final so I don't know on what basis they complain when they terminated agreement with us (and this is what we were told on community pages when we inquired as soon as the guests demanded refund sadly we never heard from airbnb back

6. the place was always avaiable to them despite the info that they don't come back

7. we have strict refund rules so less then week after arrival if they are happy to accept place as is on the day of the arrival without making claim for refund they should not be refunded whever they used the place or not

 

So sayi8ng that airbnb can decut - well yes maybe they can another question is if it's legal, fair or just or justified

 

any help would be appreciated

 

**[Post merged from duplicate thread]

 

 

David126
Level 10
Como, CO

Always worrying when you see posts like this where ABB rep has gone against ABB rules, now whether there is realistically anything you can do about it is another issue, people have been succesful using the Media.

David

Hi david

Thanks for this.what do you mean by succesful? Did they get the money owed to them back? What would you suggest? I would like to resplve the issue within community and with with ABB. I jsut don't know how to have them reopen the ticket, examin the case.

Theguests had been enjoying the place for at6 least 4 days officially before they wrote to us, using it at least for 2 more days and not returing the key when we asked them. then they claimed to airbnb they couldn't move back

1. yes they could they had the key

2. place was avaiable

3 they didn't want to - to which I have proof as I asked them to move back and they refused saying decission is final

4. I never also received any info from them informing that they want to move back and never refused so what did they use for ABB to support their bogus claim?

 

why does airbnb rep not see it how wrong it is to

1. refund them

2 how wrong unfauir and illegal to deduct money from us

I have just had my hands burned by ABB for the first time and it was horrendous. They screwed me big time on a refund to a guest who lied to customs about where she was coming into the country from Canada and staying. This is the only bad guest experience I have had. I'm 5 stars across the board and my reviews are exceptional. I also lost my key to these people and ABB has totally ignored every single request. They won't even acknowledge the issue.  What people are saying about them, in my experience is absolutly true.

 

So, I own an IT firm and a sales and marketing training firm. Today I purchased a good hand full of domain names.  My intention is to build a host "collective" with as many of you as possible to foster, "fair and equitable treatment of hosts for the equal good of all involved in this "3 way relationship."  I intend to provide many useful tools, guidance and collective relationship conversations and agreements between the company and those of us from whose homes they profit. Ultimately, this should provide to hosts and guests a healthier, happier, safer and more profitable relationship.

 

Look for airbnbhostsupport....    soon 🙂

 

 

That is very good. Airbnb victimise hosts at will. Let me know the progress. Hosts unite and fight for our rights.

Ron196
Level 2
Atlanta, GA

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