I went through the usual use and abuse with AirBnB because of a dispute over a guest requesting to cancel. Finally I had enough abuse and went through the lengthy and tedious proceedures to arbitrate. I won, considering after months of the process, AirBnB paid almost the full amount that I lost from the canceled booking. This began in March 2017. Here is a brief synopsis.
I read and re-read all the AirBnB Terms of Service. To my surprise, the terms stated that AirBnB would bear all costs of arbitration. This turned out the be the lynch pin of my success. I found out I had to open a case with American Arbitration Association. I read and re-read all about it. I did my online due diligence about the pitfalls of individual success against mandatory arbitration. I fully expected to LOSE my case! On the other hand, I am retired with lots of time on my hands, and I wanted to jerk AirBnB around in retaliation for they way they jerked me around.
For starters, American Arbitration Association did not open my case which I had filed online and received confirmation. After a couple of months of getting jerked around by AAA, I informed them that their own rules said they had to proceed in a timely two month maximum. Until my demand to proceed, they were just not going to do anything. Probably because I was only demanding my lost rental amount of around $800. Finally AAA opened my case and sent notice to AirBnB of my Demand To Arbitrate. AAA has exorbitant charges for arbitration. Various fees for this and that, all sky high. For starters, AirBnB would have to pay the fee of $1000 to answer my demand to arbitrate. Then there would be other fees for the arbitrator, travel if necessary, more fees, etc. And, if I lost, would I have to pay those fees??? I was about to drop the case for fear of my losing and paying all the AAA fees, based on the conventional wisdom that individuals rarely prevail in arbitration, which is deemed to be rigged by the more lucrative corporate intrests.
August 2017. To my surprise, at that moment I got emails from AirBnB legal department apologizing for the mishandled circumstances and bad decisions of the case managers. So, there was a totally different level of accountability, once AirBnB would be paying $1000 to resolve my AAA case. I agreed to a settlement for most of my lost revenue and AirBnB put that amount into my Payout. Perhaps if my amount had been thousands, it would have been a different story.
FYI, the rules change, and may not be the same rules now as they were last year. Some of the exact details are getting fuzzy, I'm old.
I went from being an AirBnB evangelist to a naysayer. I took my two rentals off the site. I do still use AirBnB to book trips. That part of their business model is great, an historical game changer. But their total negligence and hostility towards hosts never going to pass the smell test. Sheer stupidity considering hosts are 1/2 of their business model.
Aribitration itself is insidious and should never be used to circumvent our legal rights to a trial. Small claims is better, except I have won small claims too and never got paid. No teeth to collect judgements. Just say NO TO ARBITRATION!