refund

[Cliff49]

Hello there

I booked for this apartment for Saturday, 18/05/19. The payment was paid on 14/05/19 and booking confirmation was received by both parties. Prior to the day of check in, no information was received from the host. I tried to check in at 1PM on 19/05/19 but there were other people on the premises. The host arrived at her place 30 minutes late. When I told the host that I'm here to check in as I have booked for her place. She looked confused and unaware of my booking. I had to resort to book my 7 friends into a hotel for the night. The host later messaged me with an excuse that the people that was her place earlier was her friends that look after the place for security reasons.

When a host charges over R5000 per night, I would expect check in and communication to run smooth.  I have reported this incident to Airbnb but I have received any resolutions. 

Please advise to how I can get my refund back from the host or AirBnb.

Thanks in advance

Cliff

[Linda108]

Since you did not stay at the place due to the host error, you should first send a communication through the Air BNB message system summarizing what happened and requiring a full refund.  Then you should contact Air BNB and also require a refund of the nightly rate and the Air BNB fee.  Here is a guide for contacting Air BNB

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

So sorry this happened to you.

[Cliff49]

Hello @Linda108 

Thank you for the reponse.

I have messaged AirBnb but they have not responded to my complaint. I am from South Africa, I don't see a number for South African's. I guess I will have to call the US / Canada number.

[Yvonne191]

Hi Cliff

Can you please clarify as you wrote that you booked for Saturday 15/05/2019 but tried to check in on Sunday 19/05/5019 at 1 Pm in the afternoon. Is this a typing error or did you go to check in on Sunday afternoon which would be after check out time?

[Cliff49]

Hello @Yvonne191 

Thank you for the response.

Sorry it was a typo from me, I booked for the Saturday, 18/05/19 but could not check in as the host was unaware of my booking.

[Yvonne191]

Sorry typo on my part you wrote you booked for the 18/05/2019. Easy to have a typo.

[Sarah977]

@Cliff49  You say you booked for the 18th, yet didn't show up for check-in until the 19th? Was that a typo or did you really expect for someone to be waiting for you and have the space ready a day after check-in?

[Cliff49]

Hello @Sarah977 

Thank you for the response.

Sorry it was a typo from me, I booked for the Saturday, 18/05/19 but could not check in as the host was unaware of my booking.

[Sarah977]

@Cliff49   You say you booked 5 days before your reservation and the host didn't send any information. Did you message the host when you booked to let them know your approx. arrival time, introduce yourself, etc? This is really important for a guest to do. (And most hosts do send a welcome and thanks for booking message with info) Not only will it give you an idea whether the host is responsive, but it's just a good idea to have a bit of contact before you show up. Had you messaged the host, to find they didn't respond, after a day or two you could have contacted Airbnb to let them know that and they would have tried to contact the host for you. If they couldn't, they would have likely found you an alternative place to stay.

There's way too many guests these days who just instant book a place and think it's okay to show up at the door on check-in day with zero communication.

Not saying you didn't try and got no answer, I have no idea, but things go a lot smoother when guest and host establish some communication pre-arrival.