We need to make a community and a way to ensure hosts do not breach the user agreements that allow them to withhold the entire payment of a guests stay. We had to cancel within the time frame allowed, and the host refused to pay.
Context: Airbnb: Breach of contract
Seeking: $65 USD
Address to guest house: [Personal information hidden]
Name of guest house: [Personal information hidden]
Link to her site: [Personal information hidden]
I am always disappointed when I am required to write a write a message in this context. We never met the host, ***, in person, so I believe this adds to her fraudulent use of Airbnb. I use Airbnb often because of mutual trust between us as guests with the host. In this experience, I worry that Airbnb’s are not as trustworthy as I have previously experienced. In this case, the host, ***, disregarded her ‘flexible cancelation policy’ which states,
‘If the guest arrives and decides to leave early, the accommodation fees for the nights not spent 24 hours after the official cancellation are fully refunded.’
Within 5 hours of checking in on the first day, we had a required change in our travel plans. We first requested to change via text message. We then requested via the Airbnb platform. When we requested the change via Airbnb, the automated response indicated that we met the requirements to request a change based on the ‘Flexible Cancelation Policy’ set by the host, ***. *** denied this change and still charged us for a Sunday night stay although we left at 5:45 am. ***'s argument was that she could have easily gotten a new guest for the Sunday night that we had to cancel. This is purely speculative and an unfair justification to denying a refund. The host, *** would rather take something that is not hers than understand the risks of being in a hospitality business and stand up to what is right.
I have been required to change reservations before and have not had a problem. 12 years ago, I worked at a Hilton brand hotel and it was required that we not charge guests if they needed to change especially when it was within the agreed upon cancelation policy. For this host, we met the requirements, but she still insisted to steal our money.
For future possible guests considering this place to stay, be warned, *** may not follow the policy that she has set. If you need to change your reservation due to personal reasons, she might breach the contract for her own selfish gain although she did not provide the service that the guest paid for.
This review is just one step towards to ensure that this guest will not be able to steal money from other guests in the future.
