Airbnb responsibility when a reservation is cancelled and the host & listing vanish

Paul-and-Alma0
Level 2
Manchester, United Kingdom

Airbnb responsibility when a reservation is cancelled and the host & listing vanish

I'm a host and the following situation concerns me as it will affect the trust of people travelling using Airbnb so therefore my ability to get bookings.

 

My parents made their first booking with Airbnb to stay in Paris with their grandchildren (my children). It was booked around 4 months in advance and around 6 weeks before they were due to travel the booking was cancelled, no explanation was given and no contact was possible to either host or Airbnb via the details provided (phone numbers/email). As yet no refund has been provided although as it was booked via credit card this should eventually be resolved and luckily they don't need the money to make a new booking.

 

When checked the host and listing have both disappeared from Airbnb.

 

What responsibility do people think that Airbnb have to provide accomodation in this circumstance where possible or to provide some form of compensation where alternative accomodation is not possible?

 

A couple of points to remember would be that Airbnb take money from guests and hold it until after guests arrive so the guests contract is with Airbnb rather than the hosts and also Airbnb should be responsible for ensuring hosts are reliable and won't just disappear in this manner.

26 Replies 26

I would hope that in your situation airbnb will not fine you. It seems very unfair that hosts with genuine reasons for cancelling bookings get fine but dodgy hosts whose listings disappear get away with it penalty free.

But guests who cancel at short notice (extenuating circumstances or not) lose out monetarily, so why should it be different for hosts?

UK Office of Fair Trading - Guidance on unfair terms in consumer contracts”

Making changes

6.45 Suppliers often reserve the right to make material variations to the event or activity, whether or not due to matters or circumstances beyond their control. Such terms are likely to be considered unfair unless they include a balancing right for the consumer to cancel without penalty and/or receive compensation where appropriate......

Michael3515
Level 2
Newcastle upon Tyne, GB

My concern with this aspect is how the cancellation policies stand up against new consumer protection laws (in the UK at least). I THINK Under these laws any rules applying to a customer should be equivalent to those applying to the seller. In other words if you cancel at short notice and lose say £100 of your deposit, then the same should apply to the seller (ie they cancel, they pay you £100).

Reason is I am travelling TODAY, and my host is not responding and recent reviews all mention short-notice cancellation.

Now If I cancelled today I would lose first night rental plus 50% of the next three nights. All told about £900.

I see no reason why the host should not then forfeit a similar amount to me (which may just about cover the difference between this rental and one I am forced to take at short notice.

 

Anyway, we shall see, but if my host does cancel on me on the day of arrival, I shall certianly be looking at the new laws and if it is as I assume, I shall be looking at someone to give me the £900, be that Airbnb, host or credit card company.  Watch this space.

@Michael3515 You should contact airbnb so they can help you. If they can't get in contact with the host they may help you find a new place and refund you whatever you paid.

If you ever book again one thing you can do is to book with a superhost or at least with an experienced host. One with a lot of reviews and no cancellation history. Whenever a host cancels (except if it is under the extenuating circumstances policy) it will show on the hosts review page and the host is penalized with a ticket to pay. Hosts are penalized with a fee to pay whenever they cancel. Airbnb doesn't like cancellations as it makes the platform unreliable for guests to use. 

@Michael3515 phone number to airbnb UK :

United Kingdom              

 +44 203 318 1111 

They were Superhosts when we booked........ 😞 not now.

Michael3515
Level 2
Newcastle upon Tyne, GB

Thanks Sandra, Airbnb were very helpful and responsive in sorting out alternative accommmodation. However I am now £684 wors off, and AIRbnb have offered me a paltry £150 (which is only a voucher "TO BE USED IN 30 DAYS") as an aplology.

I am very unhappy, especially as these hosts had cancelled 6 bookings in 6 months, all at short notice, and were still allowed to list despite the QAirbnb cancellation policy stating "If you cancel 3 or more reservations within a year, we may deactivate your listing".

So regardless of who my "contract" was with, this in my view makes them complicit or culpable. Watch this space.

Stephanie
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hiya @Michael3515 ,

 

Sorry to hear you're not having a good experience. I've shared your thread with the CX team so I hope you get some more feedback soon.

 

Thanks,

Stephanie

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Please follow the Community Guidelines 

Michael3515
Level 2
Newcastle upon Tyne, GB

Stephanie, I am already in "discussions" with ABNB, so no need. I assume "CX" is "customer services or some such.

Today I started my claim in the UK Small claims courts under EU rules to recover my losses from AIRBNB due to their negligence.

Hi Michael

This was my thread originally. I have alot of sympathy with what has happened to you. As a host myself and also from a travellers point of view Airbnb just do whatever suits them and seem to be accountable to nobody.

I've been a host for around 6 years (I have a property we let out in my wife's country of origin) and have cancelled once in that time due to an failed shower where I felt there was a danger of the guests being electrocuted if they tried to use it. This had been identified when the house is checked the day before arrival and would have been fixed the day after arrival but I offered the guests the choice when the problem was discovered. The guests were happy with the situation as accomodation is plentiful in the area. However airbnb were difficult to deal with and tried to keep some of the money the guest had paid, although it was eventually resolved.

I've had other situations where guests have had to cancel (well in advance so due a full refund) and have had problems getting through to airbnb to get their money back and ending up dealing with the issue myself (I really should have no involvement as Airbnb hold the money so should return it).

I've also had a situation where a long term let has been cancelled at late notice and Airbnb have decided to issue a full refund against the terms of the booking without consulting me. Now I think the guest was ill so I don't want to seem harsh but I should have been consulted on the matter by Airbnb but wasn't and really the guest should have claimed on their holiday insurance.

Sorry for the length of my reply but my main point is that Airbnb control bookings (normally acting in their own best interests), guests pay Airbnb who then hold the money until the day after check in (even when payments are made months in advance and contain what should be non-refundable deposits) so the contract is very definitely between the guest and airbnb (someone much earlier in this thread disagrees) and so Airbnb should be liable when a host disappears. 

Good luck with your claim.

Michael3515
Level 2
Newcastle upon Tyne, GB

Pleased to say that Airbnb have (eventually) settled my case against them before it reached court. This not just for my out of pocket expenses (£684 extra for alternative accommodation) but for the amount I would have lost had I cancelled at such short notice (£1018). 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/dec/21/my-airbnb-superhost-stay-turned-into-a-super-disaster