I feel like I have been betrayed by a friend

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Heather64
Level 5
Palm Coast, FL

I feel like I have been betrayed by a friend

I had a 90-day booking. The guest wanted to leave two months early. For weeks, multiple AirBnB representatives agreed with me that the guest would not be refunded. Then out of no where, Kaitlyn contacts me and tells me they are refunding him a month. I ask to speak to her supervisor. A few days later Amber called me with the same verdict. When I asked to speak to her supervisor she let me know that "she is the last line of supervision."

 

Really? I said. "Is your name Brian?"

 

To which Amber replied with a laugh "Brian doesn't get involved in these matters."

 

Brian really should get involved. 

 

I have been damaged by a guest that has a pattern of leaving early (based on previous reviews) and he is being allowed to provide a review. 

 

I have no choice now but to severe my seven year long relationship with AirBnB for all six of my properties. It's upsetting because I always travel with AirBnB. I have written op-eds in favoring of home sharing. I have testified in front of elected officials about the importance of home sharing. I have opened my home in several disaster and refugee situations. And, of course, I have enjoyed a significant income from my properties. 

 

But, like all relationships, when the trust is violated, things just aren't the same.

1 Best Answer
Adrian53
Level 2
Draper, UT

I had a similar situation happen to me. I agree with you. It's not fair to hosts. As a super host, I work hard to make sure every guest is comfortable. After a month of talking with Airbnb about the problem, I still did not get paid. The guests came to my house, after booking instantly on Airbnb, and I was told by Airbnb to wait for the payment. A month later I still did not get paid. I called several times. I asked kindly to resolve the matter. Yet, the guests received preferential treatment. They left my house. Thanked me for the service they received. And, I never got paid. More than a month passed. Still no payment. Only the same excuse. Wait. And wait some more. Thanks. 

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46 Replies 46
Gordon0
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I'm afraid Airbnb are pretty much like any other business out there, @Heather64,  and it's the paying customer who gets the thicker end of the wedge. I'm unsure why you took the booking if you knew the guest was a serial early-leaver, but it's irrelevant now.

Good luck in your Airbnb-free future.  

I didn't take him as a serial leaver until hindsight. And he was referred to us by mutual friends.

@Heather64   I'm a little confused here, because the final decision made by the last Airbnb reps you spoke to is completely consistent with the terms of the Long Term Cancellation Policy, which automatically applies to bookings of 30+ days:

 

 "Regardless of the checkout date chosen, the guest is required to pay the host for the 30 days following the cancellation date, or up to the end date of the guest’s original reservation if the remaining portion of the original reservation is less than 30 days."

 

On what basis would you be entitled to payment beyond this 30-day period?

 

 

Kira32
Level 10
Canary Islands, Spain

 

 

Thank you @Anonymous  for the information I'm going to change my limit into less than 28 nights instead of monthly.

Heather64
Level 5
Palm Coast, FL

The long-term policy does not require hosts to agree to changes post check in. 

 

The guest verbally inquired about leaving early. I offered to refund if I was able to rebook (low season). The guest rejected that offer. The first person I spoke to at AirBnB gave me the impression that hosts had no choice in "request to change" so the guest was told by AirBnB and myself that if he submitted a change request he wouldn't be charged for the final month.

 

He never submitted a change request so my calendar stayed blocked. On September 10th when his final payment was due, he renewed his demand to be reimbursed. I rejected because his delay in following directions left me little to no chance to rebook based on the season.

 

I spoke to atleast a half dozen AirBnB support team members. All of whom concurred that he was not owed a refund and any refund would be my decision because a change request after check-in must be agreed upon by both guest and host. 

 

The case was closed on Thursday or Friday with the AirBnB supervisor concluding I was owed the entire amount. 

 

Monday morning, I received a message from Kaitlyn that AirBnB had concluded that they would be refunding the guest for the last month. I spoke to Kaitlyn and asked to have the issue escalated. On Saturday morning, I spoke to Amber who agreed that the funds were being returned. I requested to speak to Amber's supervisor and was told that she is the "last line in supervision available." 

 

Thirty minutes later, I received an email from Amber closing the case. 

@Heather64 My response is based on the policy outlined here:   https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1361/

 

The host will need to approve a change if:

  • It’s before the trip, but less than 30 days before the check-in date
  • The trip has started, but it’s less than 30 days before the checkout date
  • The guest is changing the check-in date, or extending the reservation

The change will happen automatically if:

  • It’s 30 days or more before the check-in date
  • The trip has started, but it’s 30 days or more before the checkout date

Under these terms, the guest did not need your approval to change the booking at the time he initially requested it, and at that time it would have been correct for him to only be charged for the following 30 days. It was a mistake on his part not to follow the procedure correctly and submit the booking alteration in the system at the time he gave his verbal notice, so that your calendar could be opened up sooner. It sounds like the decision made by Airbnb was to honor the verbal notice - which would presumably have some record in your service ticket - as though it had been correctly entered into the system at that time. 

 

I can certainly understand your frustration with this, although the results would have been the same if Airbnb had been unable to collect funds from the guest's payment method for the 3rd month. This is one of the many reasons I don't recommend Airbnb for bookings of 28 nights or more (others include the excessive fees, inadequate deposit system, and lack of a vetting process appropriate to arrangements that can result in tenancy rights).

Paul154
Level 10
Seattle, WA

@Heather64 

So guest left early.

As I understand it, you have been paid 30 days of a vacate apartment.  During these 30 days, you could have double-dipped or do absolutely nothing and still get paid.

You are unhappy because you didn't get 60 days payment for a  vacate apartment.

Is this correct?

 

Guest/Friend?  Really?

@Paul154  According to my understanding, the friend in @Heather64's context was Airbnb because hosts are Airbnb's partners.

 

I did have betrayed feelings when Airbnb asked me to refund to a guest when I have a strict cancellation policies in a short-term rental case. The strict cancellation policy was made by Airbnb and they tried to break it in representing guests.

Heather64
Level 5
Palm Coast, FL

I don't know what you mean by "Guest / Friend? Really?"

 

Maybe you'd be okay losing 30 days of income mutually agreed upon because the guest changed his mind (rather than something out of his or her control) but I don't think it's fair. 

 

And, no, during those 30 days I couldn't have double dipped. First, my calendar was still blocked and second the home was still his as he had paid for it.

 

I

 

 

@Heather64  Airbnb could really do a better job of communicating how its Long-Term rental policy works - but if they were, people would quickly realize that this type of rental is not what Airbnb is good at.

 

Simpler version of what I said above:  a long-term rental agreement with a guest via Airbnb gives you a de facto rental contract, in which the guest has the right to terminate the rental with a paid notice period of 30 days. Therefore, it is not factually correct to say that payment for the entire period of 30 days was "mutually agreed upon" when the guest gave you notice before day 30. 

 

For legal purposes, the fact that the guest failed to confirm the notice that he supplied to you in the website is really just a technicality. If the issue at stake is that you weren't able to open your calendar, you had many possible means at your disposal to ensure that the booking alteration was registered correctly in the system - and being an expert in the system is fundamentally your job rather than your customers'. But the fact is, the guest was not contractually bound to pay anything beyond day 30 after the date when he gave you notice. That's right there in plain sight.

 

If you believe that you lost income as a result of Airbnb agents giving you incorrect advice, you can pursue that matter with Airbnb. But in this scenario, it appears that you allowed the technicalities to dangle out of an erroneous assumption that the guest couldn't get out of the final month's payment without your consent. In hindsight it would have been better to Host Up and be proactive about getting that alteration through the system right away when he gave notice.

 

The fact that you're concerned about getting replacement bookings in the low season is certainly an issue for you to deal with when it comes to how you navigate rental contracts, but it's not your former tenant's problem. 

@Anonymous I completely understand what you are saying and my problem isn't the policy. I understand the policy. My problem is how AirBnB handled it. Six people confirming that he didn't follow the proper procedures to secure a refund. And two and a half months later a message saying that AirBnB has changed their mind and will be closing the case by refunding the guest. 

 

As I titled the post...I feel betrayed by a long time business partner. 

 

I fear AirBnB has grown too big, spread itself too thin and it is losing what made it special in the beginning. 

Adrian53
Level 2
Draper, UT

I had a similar situation happen to me. I agree with you. It's not fair to hosts. As a super host, I work hard to make sure every guest is comfortable. After a month of talking with Airbnb about the problem, I still did not get paid. The guests came to my house, after booking instantly on Airbnb, and I was told by Airbnb to wait for the payment. A month later I still did not get paid. I called several times. I asked kindly to resolve the matter. Yet, the guests received preferential treatment. They left my house. Thanked me for the service they received. And, I never got paid. More than a month passed. Still no payment. Only the same excuse. Wait. And wait some more. Thanks. 

@Adrian53 "Yet, the guests received preferential treatment."

 

That's a fact, because guests who lose confidence in AirBnb weigh theavier than hosts losing confidence or being unsatisfied.

 

The customer friendliness refers primarily to the guests not to the hosts. All measures that are operated and developed are made for the guest, not for us hosts. The fact that, in addition to super host status, plus accommodations have been added further increases the pressure on hosts to compete at very high standards, even beyond what hotels offer in terms of hospitality. The questions a guest is asked after their stay imply that staying with AirBnb must have been an experience to all intents, otherwise you will lose as a host. The expectations should be even exceeded. In addition, there is a further intensification of competitive pressure as more and more people feel called to be hosts on AirBnb in order to participate from easily earned money.

 

The fact that AirBnb offers me a commission to bring more hosts into the "game" is exemplary. A recommendation from me to someone in my neigborhood would be like sawing off the branch I'm sitting on. 

Mike1034
Level 10
Mountain View, CA

@Heather64  Airbnb is not a good platform for hosting long-term guests as many hosts have found. One of the most obvious reasons is the cancellation/alteration of reservations.

 

For a standard leasing agreement, a landlord can get one month deposit and last month rent when a lease is signed by a tenant. Anytime a tenant breaks the leasing term including the early termination of the lease, the tenant will lose the security deposit and last month rent at least. In some case, the landlord could pursue the rent for un-rented days after a tenant terminates the lease early.

 

When a guest book long-term (>28 days) through Airbnb, a long-term cancellation policy applies. As @Anonymous mentioned, you could only get paid for 30 days after the cancellation date.

 

For example, your guest booked 90 days between August 1 to November 30. If he stayed between August 1 to August 31 and asked for alteration and would leave on September 1, you should not accept the alteration to end the booking on September 1. Instead you should have asked the guest to cancel on September 1. Then you would have got 30 days payment between September 1 to September 30. And your calendar would have been open since September 1. If you had accepted the alteration to end the booking on September 1, you would not have had the extra 30 days payment.

 

If your guest did not cancel or terminate and continued to stay till September 30, you would have get paid for the entire 90 days.

 

I am not clear about what you said that your guest was still staying and did not have the calendar open.