Airbnb Cancels Reservation on Host behalf without Host consent or approval

[A-t0]

Well, this is beyond imagination...

A company founded and living by Hosts supposed to be "transparent and neutral" between guests and hosts, is taking illegal actions and are cancelling reservations on behalf of Hosts without host approval or consent, or worst doing so even if the host prohibits them in written to do so.

Are Guests so superior to Hosts? 

We are experiencing the worst situation in 4 years with airbnb. A "claim" from a guest who cancel the reservation 10min after checkin, and an airbnb case manager named Paul who contacts us 3 days after the guests cancelled the reservation, never asks us to provide documentation or our side of the story, makes the unprecedented move and changes the cancellation from the guests side to look like it was done from the Host side, without our approval. 

The reservation publicly states that it was cancelled by us (we never did it) and he without our approval charges us the reservation amount even if the cancellation was done from the guests and we have strict cancellation policy, and above that he puts on top of that a cancellation fee of $100 which it was automatically deducted from the next payout.  IS THIS STEALING IN PLAIN SIGHT?

And this, even if in their TOS they state that the cancellation fee is waived if you have least 10 consecutive bookings without cancelling. In 4 years we (the hosts) have cancelled 0 reservations.

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/990/as-a-host-what-penalties-apply-if-i-cancel-a-reservation-f... 

We are trying to dispute what we believe is a false claim from the guest side and want our voice to be heard, but we have only received a BIG WALL in front of us and are being continuously "forwarded to the relevant team" between airbnb reps which cannot handle this hot ball.

1- Guests never asked for a solution. 

2- Airbnb didn't contacted us the same day and give us the chance to give a solution. Isn't that proper procedure?

3- Airbnb case manager Paul, never asked for documentation even if we told him that video footage was avail on how the apartment was left for the guests

4- They charged us a cancellation fee even if their TOS says otherwise

5- They have become unresponsive beside my multiple enquirers 

If anyone from Airbnb is monitoring these threads and is descend enough to inform @Catherine-Powell  the ticket number is 2020010527603

If there was one thing we as Host believed in Airbnb was the promise that You would work to make airbnb safer for Hosts.  Well, i don't feel safe, I feel Airbnb is stealing with me and is illegally acting on my behalf without my consent. 

[Colleen253]

@A-t0 You are right, what you describe is completely against procedure. I would be furious too, and fight this tooth and nail. Maybe I missed it, but I don't see a ‘host cancelled’ auto review amongst your reviews. Have you already gotten this rectified? If not perhaps @Stephanie  or @Nick could help you nudge this further, since you seem to have gotten a completely rogue CS rep causing you issues. 

As an aside, may I say, your responses to your sketchy guests reviews are ‘next level’ 👌

[A-t0]

Thank you @Colleen253 for spreading the word. I could use all the help available. We have started to see next level guests and its Airbnbs' fault for cuddling their ears. I totally understand they are customers and I always try to help them the best way I can. I'm a guest myself so would like to treat them as I want to be treated from other hosts. (like a human being).

But we have seen a sharp raise on number of guests who think of us as their servants and I'll not be the good boi I've been until now. They forget they are booking an apartment (my HOME) and think with the 27eur/night they have booked an 5* hotel at Ritz and have non-realistic demands which btw this apt (the Fire, which we had the complain) is much better than Ritz or Hilton or combine them together. 

Yeah, I don't know if that cancellation review will show when the review period has passed or smth else is being cooked behind, however their own TOS they have online, is completely different from the one they use internally... and I have evidence provided by different team members. In few words, They are a MESS. 

I made a request today to another Airbnb rep to provide me with the cancellation policy and when the cancellation fee is waived. here is his answer (btw he was a very supportive one)

This is what Hosts see Online if you want to check what penalties you have. if You cancel a reservation.

This is the internal one sent to me by the case manager who cancelled the reservation on my behalf without my consent! 

Can you spot the difference? One says the Cancellation fee will be waived if you have 10 consenquitive bookings and the other says that You may be subject to a cancellation fee if you cancel MORE THAN ONCE IN A SIX-MONTH PERIOD.  Like, these are two different things right?  

So this is the 1st issue, Do you know how many cancellations I had in the last year? 

Don't believe me believe what they are saying! btw I have only 1 cancellation in 4 years. Which one? The one that Airbnb cancelled on my behalf without my consent!  So according to their books, I cancelled the reservation, but I never did, do you want proof? 

This decision was made without asking me to provide evidence our our side of the story.  All I want is justice. If they think I'm wrong (which I don't agree), then put me all penalties but cancel it on Airbnb side, not mine! I have never authorized this, also why are you charging me a cancellation fee when I have 0 cancellations for 4 years!  even if you combine their both policies, I'm still on my right and shouldn't be charged a cancellation fee... but no, Airbnb thinks otherwise and they refuse to respond! 

So how this case was handled stinks from start to finish. 

[Colleen253]

@A-t0 It was %100 wrong that the rep made it a host cancellation with penalties. Hopefully some of the mods here can push your issue into the right hands to get this fixed. It's outrageous.

[A-t0]

@Colleen253  I don't worry about the cancellation, more than I worry about how it was cancelled. It is wrong and illegal to impersonate and take actions on someone else behalf without consent. It is called identity fraud.  

Its exactly the same thing as buying a product online using the credit card of somebody else without consent impersonating that person to gain profit or 

I do really hope this goes into the right hands and someone comes into senses on what they have really done and fix it. 

[Wade79]

I have had a VERY bad experience with Airbnb over the last 6 months. It is quickly reaching the point where the benefits of listing on the platform are outweighed by the negatives.  What you describe is exactly the kind of thing I have come to expect from them.  

I had a guest grow angry with me because I refused to refund one night of their two night stay ( I have a 2 night minimum).  They reported my listing as having a gas leak, and unsafe.  My only recourse was to have the fire department out, that night, and prove there was no gas leak.  What a waste of tax dollars. If I had not done this, Airbnb would have suspended my listing permanently.  Since then, this guest continued to harass with reports about my property as unsafe, she even went as far as claiming that my neighbor threatened her with a gun (completely untrue).  Airbnb's response to all of this was to suspend my listing, then when i finally got the report from the fire department, they refused to remove the 1 start review which resulted from the listing.  I fought that as well, and eventually it was removed.  

I still receive reports against my property, as unsafe.  And now, they have outsourced their employees to third parties, who do sub-par work. 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Wade79 it’s the game a host can’t win, no matter who is right, no matter what is written in abb tos....no matter what the outcome is at the end.... the stress and the time waisted on such guests has no price 😞

I refund everything as soon as I realize the guest is unhappy

[A-t0]

Well you will find yourself soon out of business if you refund every "smart" guest, and believe me they are multiplying like cockroaches.... Its your Home, your castle, your rules! 

Airbnb make the tough one with hosts, but in the end of the day they can't live without us, we are their bread and butter. 

[A-t0]

Do we know how can we contact the Hosts Advisory Board ? Like I think we have a chair in the table. Is there a way to contact them? Or they are just there for marketing purposes? 

[Sarah977]

@A-t0  Many of us suspect the latter. That it's just smoke and mirrors PR. I'm sure the HAB members are well-intentioned, but they are actually being paid by Airbnb, there is no process for hosts to connect with the HAB, and some of the HAB members have said they aren't at liberty to tell us what they are working on. So that doesn't sound much like they are "representing" us, does it?

What the CS rep did to you is incompetent and outrageous. I hope you can get it resolved.

And I agree with Colleen- you should write a tutorial on how to give review responses. Yours are masterful. In a few short sentences you manage to slap the offending guest upside the head, make it clear that it's a revenge review, and warn future guests that you don't tolerate bad behavior. All delivered in a breezy and slightly sarcastic manner. I love it.

[A-t0]

haha, yep exactly! Its really easy when you know what exactly has happened. I just close my eyes and get creative. Bad reviews are the best advertisement when it comes to future guests so I try to make those responses count 🙂

[Sarah977]

@A-t0  All hosts should take a lesson from your attitude towards bad reviews. Most hosts seem to take a bad review so hard and personally. They get totally stressed out about it, lose sleep over it, waste days of their time trying to get Airbnb to remove it, and are convinced that no one will ever book with them again because of it. Some even contemplate delisting and relisting, losing all the reviews on that listing, including all the good ones. 

The thing about strs is that guests soon leave, you never have to see or speak to them again. When hosts fret about the bad review, it's like the guest is still there- not physically, but residing in the host's head and emotions.

[A-t0]

Finally common sense and simple logic prevailed. I don't know what really happened but after 12 days of continues discussions and messages trying to make him understand that he cannot play with my person, my identity or my online profile and reputation as he likes and take decisions on my behalf and  put online that I did it, I'm the bad guy...(like, really?)

I got an answer.  He consulted the team (in 12 days, now he consulted the team?!) and he got "approval" to waive everything (like it never happened). 

Thanks for all the help folks. And thanks to whoever put some sense to this guy and woke him up... 

[Ghita16]

This is extremely disappointing and unjust. I am actually facing the same issue and came looking for answers in the community center. When I came across this thread. My guests didn't show up for the check-in the first day. They started harrassing me on the phone way past 9 pm (my check-in ends at 8). I called them back the next day to offer them to come in before 8pm and have a normal check-in, but I got no response. The following day I see that the reservation was canceled by me??? Nobody contacted me or asked me for anything. I had contacted Airbnb support to alert them my guests didn't show up and I'm being rewarded with a full remboursement for the guests and cancelation fees! 

Of course i have contacted airbnb but until today they have just transfered me to every team there is on airbnb.

Very disappointed...

@A-t0  I would love to have an update on your problem. Was it resolved?

[A-t0]

@Ghita16  I really understand your frustration. I won't go into details of your case, however every Cancellation on hosts behalf without host approval is a clear case of Identify impersonation and Digital Fraud.  To make things worst you will have an automatic review that YOU cancelled a reservation on your public profile for other guests to see (which you never did).  So that is false statements and damaging of your Public Image. They will try to make you think its written on their policies but i do believe its not written in any agreements between Airbnb and Hosts. I couldn't find anything related...

I was in the same situation, and calling them, won't help, its just waste of time. The only thing that i think helped, is making it public and speak outloud and keep persisting via e-mails with the representative that made the decision. I do believe there might be some moderators in the community who can escalate things internally if needed. 

I also did open a resolution request against guests and involved airbnb, as that is the only way you are able to speak to another case manager. The more people in Airbnb are aware the better.