illegal listing in Canada

[Sally140]

I rented a home for 4 nights recently at the last minute for my husband's birthday - just one day before travelling.  We were told to meet at a nearby gas station and when the host was not there we tried to check in at the apartment  but the concierge was not happy with us.  Via email we were told to go back to the gas station.  We had to put our luggage in the host's car and were told to pretend we were family.  Upon entering the apartment car park the concierge ran out and said we were not allowed to stay in the apartment.  There were signs up saying no rentals under 31 days allowed.  This made us feel very uncomfortable and we told the host that we were not happy with the situation and cancelled that evening.  The whole scenario was very shady and unprofessional.  I offered to pay for one night.  I have not had any resolution to my request to amend the strict cancellation policy even though I cancelled within 48 hours of booking.  I am now over $900 out of pocket for this trip and had to find alternative last minute accommodation at a much higher price.  What do you think airbnb should do - should I be enforced to pay for an illegal listing?

[John1574]

@Sally140

It sounds nasty.  However . . .

Your narrative in incomplete.  You do not explain what steps you took to get a refund.  Did you call airBnB, if so, what number did you use?  Did you email AirBnB? Were all your communications with the host through the AirBnB platform?

How did AirBnB customer service respond?

How did the host respond?

Details.  The divils in the details.

[Sally140]

Thanks John.  All communications with the host were through the airbnb platform.  I contacted airbnb via email and have received confirmation of my request but no direct decision even though it says issue resolved on air bnb's message system.  Other than as for a refund for the remaining days I have had no contact with the host and that was ignored. I was more interested in whether other airbnb users feel I was right in expecting a refund in this scenario. 

[Letti0]

@Sally140   Get on AirBnB twitter and direct message to AirbnbHelp. You should be given a full refund. The host is a fraudulent host and would never agree to give you back a dime. Explain in detail what happened. You should not be responsible for even 1 night of the booking. If you do not have a Twitter account set one up or call AirBnB direct ASAP. Go to the flag on both the hosts profile and the listing and report them both to AirBnB. This is not acceptable, it makes the rest of us hosts look bad. 

 AirBnB number:

United States and Canada

+1-415-800-5959 +1-855-424-7262 (toll-free)

Here's how to sign up with Twitter:  https://help.twitter.com/en/create-twitter-account

Once your account is created log in to Twitter click on the little box on the top righthand side that says search twitter. Type in AirbnbHelp  and hit the enter key. Click on the righthand side the little tab that says follow and hit enter. Then on top will be a Messages click on that and start a conversation. Type in air and click on AirbnbHelp send a direct message with all the information you have put together in the message. Then hit send. It sounds complicated, but it's really not only about 5-10 minutes and once set up it's instant to contact them via message just by logging into your Twitter account. 

[Sally140]

Thanks Letti

[John1080]

@Sally140, I've read a few of these now. It's terribly dishonest and unfair to guests for hosts to hide this information from guests until after booking. Guests should never be put in a situation of being asked to pretend or lie and I'm sorry went through this and I would report them for sure! 

[Sally140]

 Thanks John for your support