For 3 months our 1 week tropical vacation to Margaritaville St. Thomas Virgin Islands was booked and fully paid for. It was booked through a host who owns a timeshare at the resort. We were to leave on the plane very early Wednesday morning. On the Friday prior, I called the resort directly to confirm our reservation. The resort stated they had no such reservation & advised me to contact the host. The host responded back to me stating "I change the reservation to your name 48-24 hours prior to check in day." I had a bad gut feeling but what was I supposed to do?
It's now Tuesday, the day before we would arrive, 12 hours before leaving on a plane. I'm at work & I call the resort again on my lunch break to confirm reservation. I was on the phone with the resort for 35 minutes. They couldn't find my reservation with my name nor the confirmation #. They kept putting me on hold, but still nothing. They advise me to contact Airbnb Support & confirm that by now the host should have transferred my information.
However, I didn't even get a chance to call Airbnb Support. The very minute my phone call ended with the resort I received a generated message from the host that our vacation had been canceled. I immediately message the host asking what is going on... the resort has no reservation for us & now it's suddenly canceled with no reasoning whatsoever??? Host was extremely unresponsive. The only response we ever got from her was "I don't know what's going on." Someone is lying.
Then I contacted Airbnb Support. No explanation was ever given. They simply just kept stating "Your host canceled." They claimed they could get us rebooked, but that was a lie. I had to leave work early in a panic to try & save our vacation. Many hours & phone calls later there was no saving our vacation.
We were fully refunded for the Airbnb room, but due to them not giving us any notice, we're out money from the airline & also an activity we made a deposit on. We bought the travel insurance for the airline, but according to United "the host canceling isn't a sufficient reason." We have attempted to recoup the missing money from Airbnb, but nobody cares.
Nobody has owned up to this, no explanation was ever given, nobody cares. Airbnb is truly a scam. We can't even leave the host a review to warn future people, so it'll happen again to somebody else. The ONLY hint I received was an email sent to me THREE days later that states "The details of your reservation at Paradise Studio for 2 USVI indicate it could lead to an unauthorized party in the home." Umm.... just as the title of the listing mentions "for 2 USVI" my husband & I booked the reservation.
Everyone involved in this is super sketchy. I find it extremely interesting how I'm on the phone with Margaritaville for 35 minutes trying to confirm a reservation, constantly putting me on hold, told there's nothing there but the minute my calls ends our vacation is suddenly canceled?? The host completely disappeared off the face of the Earth (despite her having 25 good reviews.) And Airbnb Support is a total joke as they don't do a thing to help you.
It's clear that someone messed up big time & they're all lying & pointing fingers. Margaritaville doesn't care, Airbnb doesn't care, and the host clearly never cared. It seems to us that maybe double booking occurred or someone else offered more money for the room? Who knows. Has this happened to anyone else? And if so, were you able to recoup your lost money?
