Airbnb cancelled booking due to guest not ‘following terms’ yet still not cancellation policy payout.

Sonos-Hospitality0
Level 1
London, United Kingdom

Airbnb cancelled booking due to guest not ‘following terms’ yet still not cancellation policy payout.

A few moment ago we received an email from Airbnb stating: “We’ve noticed this reservation xxx doesn’t appear to be legitimate. As a result we have canceled the reservation and refunded the payment”


I then check the reservation and the pay out is £0. Ie nothing. The booking blocked my calendar for 10 days and I would’ve definitely got a reservation for the dates.

The guest was 1 days into our moderate cancellation policy therefore I should receive a payout of over 50% of the reservation.

I spoke to Airbnb customer service and they said the booking was cancelled because the guest violated Airbnbs term. How is this our problem? Don’t we pay a service fee for Airbnb to ensure the guests are verified and if the case is the guest broke the terms and Airbnb must cancel they foot the bill?! If we cancel or the guest cancel both parties get charged. But if Airbnb cancel because a guest broke their terms, ie a dodgy guest bypassed their systems the host ultimately takes the bill and the guest gets refunded?!?!


Im honestly so frustrated by this and the non chalant  Airbnb support rep who doesn’t give a **bleep**.  We’re a super host who has NEVER cancelled a reservation and this how we get treated?

I know comments are going to come in saying I dodged a bullet etc but this is a lot of revenue lost and is unaffordable. Airbnb should foot the bill in line with my cancellation policy. Period.

9 Replies 9
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Sonos-Hospitality0 The guest may have used a stolen credit card or misbehaved in a recent stay. Airbnb can't really be held responsible for either of these so, whilst you may not want to hear it, you have probably dodged a bullet.

Hi,

 

I do understand this, but isn’t this what we pay a service fee for? To be introduced to reliable guests? 

I believe I should be compensated as it’s Airbnbs job to do these sort of checks at time of booking. Not 3 days before creating massive inconvenience and financial loss. 


 

@Sonos-Hospitality0 if Airbnb compensated in these situations then hosts could conspire with guests to accept fraudulent bookings and then be compensated.

I suspect this sort of thing is fairly uncommon thankfully.

Agreed!

Please don't rely on Airbnb to do any vetting or checks of your guest, you must do it yourself.  You are paying the service fee for tons of things, including visibility, the advertising, the platform, the review system, the payment facilities, but not for "be introduced to reliable guests"!   

Also, this situation is exactly an illustration of Airbnb doing it's job - they caught a guest who was frauding, not paying or behaving badly, and they cancelled the reservation.  Consider yourself lucky you probably dodged a bullet.

@Sonos-Hospitality0. 10 days to verify that the payment of funds was not coming from guest after all doesnt sound fair and I can understand your frustration.

 

The only solution I can think of is after say 3 working days (and payment or ID is still not confirmed), Airbnb allow other booking requests to waitlist. This is how it still works in peak season when guests often book resorts 12 months in advance so they run a waitlist.

 

Airbnb could even have a pattern across top of booking dates in calendar to notify hosts of booking payment status (eg pending, paid in full or paid 50/50).

 

 

 

 

 

Fred13
Level 10
Placencia, Belize

God only knows the real reason why they did cancel it;  but it is not within their self interest to just cancel a reservation without a very good reason. Their verification process is bare bones, the guest has a valid ID, and is who they say they are. I am not aware any other booking agency that goes beyond that.

 

You bet is frustrating, we have had a few like this and to this day have not been told why, perhaps there is a good reason why they can't say.

 

 

Stephen1004
Level 7
Los Angeles, CA

They probably didn't get paid by the guest.

Welcome to the new method Airbnb uses to refund guests(that want to cancel)in full refund against host’s policy. In two weeks airbnb canceled few reservations with same reason and no further explanation. The guests were trying to cancel the reservations with full refund against my policy but I refused.  Airbnb canceled the reservations to the exact guests that wanted to cancel and refunded them in full. In many cases the guests have relatives/family/friends or other relationship with people working for airbnb. Whatever you do they will not give you any explanation due security reasons:)  Many of the costumer service reps are giving you answers out of the airbnb staff book and even dont try to think about your case.I started conversation about same issue but no admin gives any word.