This has also happened to me for the first time after 3.5 years of hosting. I had a guest who wanted to cancel their reservation a week before their stay as travel had been restricted due to COVID. They were entitled to a 50% refund but wanted a full refund. I refused because I have a strict cancellation policy and could not afford to give a full refund. In addition, they had only booked a couple of weeks previously when it was deemed likely that travel would be restricted again soon. I offered for the guest to stay another time once travel is allowed within the UK again. I never heard back from them but I was contacted by Air BnB Customer Support who asked me to consider giving them a refund. I said no; Air BnB said they understood my position and thanked me for my performance as a Superhost.
The next morning I received an email from Air BnB saying:
We monitor all reservations and user interactions on Airbnb very closely. We’ve noticed this reservation doesn’t appear to be legitimate. As a result we have cancelled the reservation and refunded the payment. If you feel this was done in error, please let us know. Otherwise we hope you understand that we do this to preserve the integrity of our marketplace.
Both myself and the guest have been members of Air BnB for many years and both of us have countless positive reviews so I don’t know what couldn’t ‘appear to be legitimate’.
What a coincidence that this guest requested a full refund, complained to Air BnB when they didn’t get it, now suddenly I get this email and the guest has received a full refund. I suspect that the guest has filed a chargeback with their credit card company and, rather than Air BnB fight this, they just decided to take the money out of the host’s pocket.
I called Customer Support and was told that there was nothing they could do and all I can do is ‘give feedback’. They wouldn’t even give me a reason or explanation as to why this booking was cancelled.
I’m shocked and disgusted at the way hosts are being treated. Without hosts, Air BnB is nothing. I make a big effort to do the best I can and maintain Superhost status. I’m extremely disappointed and feel conned. As another poster said, hosts have suffered so much. We had four months with no bookings at all. I don’t know how they can treat us like this.
Air BnB promised that for bookings made after 14th March 2020, guests would not be refunded if they were unable to travel due to COVID (unless they had the virus). This promise was clearly a lie. I feel like I can’t trust Air BnB at all and am now looking into leaving and listing my property on other sites.
