does anyone want to join me in an class action lawsuit vs airbnb?

Kai32
Level 4
New York, NY

does anyone want to join me in an class action lawsuit vs airbnb?

It appears that their penalities are quite predatory, and seems like they will offer these "helpful" suggestions to get more booking such as instant booking.  What they bank on is that the hosts forget to turn it off, despite notifying the customers right away.  Furthermore, no one at Airbnb appears they want to help and theres never seem to be supervisor around when I ask to speak with management.  This has to be a predatory practice somehow and I think we should join forces to make our voices heard.

250 Replies 250
Isabel203
Level 10
Halifax, Canada

No thanks. I am quite happy with the platform and the service I have recieved so far.

Steve143
Level 10
Limerick, Ireland

Hello @Kai32,

 

The Airbnb terms that we accept by accessing or using the Airbnb platform contain a class action waiver clause.

Each person considering starting such an action would proably first have to bring a case to have a decision on whether the clause is legal in their circumstances.

 

Steve.

 

https://www.airbnb.com/terms

 

19.11 No Class Actions or Representative Proceedings. You and Airbnb acknowledge and agree that we are each waiving the right to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class action lawsuit, class-wide arbitration, private attorney-general action, or any other representative proceeding as to all Disputes.

but if the class action fails I believe you can go to court. There's a case in California

@Steve143

 

I am not sure of the situation in Ireland, but certainly in the UK I doubt much of AirBnb's conditions would hold water, Unfair Contract Terms Act comes to mind.

 

US is another matter, Federal and State laws apply and anybodys guess.

David

Moreover,  there's an arbitration clause as well,  if no one has mentioned that yet to @Kai32?

I'm gonna reach with my statement that such a clause in their terms of [forcing the airbnb customer/client to forfeit and give up their legal right to be a member of a class action suit] as being not only legally un-enforceable or binding but utterly despicable on its face.

 

I'm not yet posting my story, however, will share my phone number and encourage any others with a valid legal claim against Airbnb to reach out to me.   Chris at Seven six zero - four 5 0 - 2 7 7 2

Isn't the agreement its self a contract with airbnb, thus we could sue for failure to preform, I had a fire at my home, about 8k in damage and did everything they asked, they say I did nothing I have all docs

Isn't the agreement its self a contract with airbnb, thus we could sue for failure to preform, I had a fire at my home, about 8k in damage and did everything they asked, they say I did nothing I have all docs

Carlo195
Level 1
Syracuse, NY

In my case, I rented a condo thru Airbnb that is in a deed restricted community and can not be rented for less than 1 year.  As a result, I had to leave and cancel my vacation.  It would appear that Airbnb doesn't check things like this out beforehand.

I believe they are not very organized and over their heads

In mine my family rented an apartment about 8 weeks in advance only to find out that there had been a renter who, in the middle of her vacation, was served an eviction notice at this place, so they cancelled that reservation (within less than 48 hours of renting too). Now the host won’t return $850 of this money (it was upwards of $3000) and airbnb won’t return the occupancy fees even though there was no occupancy. I wasn’t the renter and I’m not aware of whether this kind of thing is specified in the terms to which you agree at first, but $1200 seems like a hugely disproportionate penalty for just changing one’s mind. 

You seem to not have shared some details here,  that are critical to understanding what happened.   

Why did the guest cancel-- what were the specific circumstances?  

Kat89
Level 1
Los Angeles, CA

We love June Lake and June Mountain and we'll continue to visit. But I have to tell you about my recent experience with Patricia at Silver Pines Chalet. At 10:33am on April 26th I erroneously booked for 3 nights at SILVER PINES CHALET: my ex immediately reversed his position and wouldn't agree to the trip to I made a call to Airbnb at 10:41am, 8 MINUTES LATER to cancel. Patricia has a STRICT CANCELLATION POLICY so she never responded to my emails. But through an Airbnb case worker she told me "NO" she would not refund. Then from my phone I found that I could cancel online, but instead of giving her a cancellation fee of $71, the $71 WAS MY REFUND and she kept $555. Those 8 minutes cost me $555. So, strict cancellation policy or not, this ain't right. She's either desperate or a criminal. If I had booked a week or even 24 hours prior, then I can understand getting boned for $555 due to the strict cancellation policy. She released the rooms back to market an hour later so could have doubled her revenue from 26 - 29 April. We have not receiving anything of value for my fee of $555 after 8 minutes - which is ridiculous by any standard. If Patricia lives at the Silver Pines Chalet and does not live in San Clemente as indicated in her profile, then she's running a legit biz. However, if she is living in San Clemente both she and Airbnb may have a problem: https://monocounty.ca.gov/community-development/page/short-termtransient-rentals
 
I'm looking into more consumer protection laws and legal protections to remedy, because this just doesn't seem right.

You made a reservation and accepted the strict cancellation policy. No mistake there. Then, your ex changed his mind. Again, no mistake. None of this falls in the extenuating circumstances policies that might give you the right to a full refund. That way, only if the host is willing to give you the money back, you will have a chance to get it. So,for all i see, you and your ex are the only ones to blame, not the host, who just enforced her cancellation policy, as it is clearly depicted in the listing. Be more carefull and aware of things when making a reservation and remember: to you,it´s vacation, to them it´s a business.

 

Regards

That's exactly why one doesn't use Airbnb, if a hotel chain had this BS cancellation policy they would be out of business and so should Airbnb!!!