My Arbitration Experience

Gray0
Level 5
Boca Raton, FL

My Arbitration Experience

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!

25 Replies 25

It seems Airbnb is now charging us the first $200 to file. Thanks for this helpful overview. 

Ted60
Level 2
New York, NY

Hola in Sunnny Tucson!!

 

There already is a pre-existing agreement with Airbnb that you (and they) have agreed upon.

 

You need to download the consumer complaint form, fill it out, and send it to the AAA ASAP - with a $200 fee.  Then AAA will take if form there for the next few months.  Just keep on top of the e-mails.

 

For instance, within about 2 weeks of filing, you will get a "conflicts" letter requesting the details of all people - just to vet if they are personally connected to an aribtrator.

 

 

 

 

Pippi--0
Level 2
New York, NY

Hello @Gray  did you use the Commercial or Consumer form to file your arbitration with AAA? 

 

Staybitz0
Level 1
Modesto, CA

Great information. We are getting ready to file for arbitration ourselves. Thank you for your input. 

Leplubo0
Level 8
Los Angeles, CA

Getting ready for arbitration here too. I have actually three cases, the oldest being 13 months old. Can I regroup them in one? @Ted60  @Gray0 ?

Bravo!! And, thanks for this! I’ll be taking them on now!

Felipe411
Level 2
Stgo, CL

Hi, this is such a great thread. Maybe some of you might give me your opinion. I was about to host a family of 6 in my listing. The day before their arrival we requested the id's of everyone who's going to stay in our place and they said that they would actually be 9. I told the guests that it as not possible and that the listing clearly stated maximum 6 people. I called Airbnb to discuss my alternatives, and they said that they were willing to cancel the reservation without penalty for me. I was totally surprised, it was a 10 day rental and my property never gets last minute reservations. I asked about charging the guest a cancellation fee since they had lied to me.. the representative asked if that was the right way to approach the situation from a Superhost.. 

 

Long story short.. the representative rushed me into canceling the reservation since he needed to help them find a new house. He said I should talk to them afterwards to confirm the 50% fee I had requested.. and then disappeared. Airbnb "politely" compensated me with 2 of the 10 nights. I still don't understand what the right thing to do was in this case in terms of the guests. Who wants to host an angry group?? Why would they be able to get a full refund after lying about the amount of people that would come?

 

I'd appreciate your point of view. The conversations are recorded and I objectively think the agent did a terrible job, was misleading and wanted to dismiss the case fast. What am i entitled to? Is there any way in which i could claim for the hours and hours i've spent dealing with this? Opinions and thoughts are welcome.

The-Black-Lab0
Level 1
Los Angeles, CA

OMG

Nicholas451
Level 2
Kearny, NJ

Hi everyone. I'm in the middle of a nightmare with Airbnb. Can anyone point me to where I download the consumer complaint form? I can't find it.

Anyone else had success with arbitration? Airbnb made a mistake that cost me nearly $2K and I'm ready to take some action. Talk of having to put up $5K to start arbitration scares me though. I can't risk that much.

Helen350
Level 10
Whitehaven, United Kingdom

I don't know the answer to your question @Nicholas451 , but as this is an old post from March 2018, it might help you to start a NEW thread, with a new title, to ask your question. Possibly more people will see it that way....

Good luck!

I think your expense is capped at a $200 filing fee.