Airbnb responsibility when a reservation is cancelled and the host & listing vanish

[Paul-and-Alma0]

I'm a host and the following situation concerns me as it will affect the trust of people travelling using Airbnb so therefore my ability to get bookings.

My parents made their first booking with Airbnb to stay in Paris with their grandchildren (my children). It was booked around 4 months in advance and around 6 weeks before they were due to travel the booking was cancelled, no explanation was given and no contact was possible to either host or Airbnb via the details provided (phone numbers/email). As yet no refund has been provided although as it was booked via credit card this should eventually be resolved and luckily they don't need the money to make a new booking.

When checked the host and listing have both disappeared from Airbnb.

What responsibility do people think that Airbnb have to provide accommodation in this circumstance where possible or to provide some form of compensation where alternative accommodation is not possible?

A couple of points to remember would be that Airbnb take money from guests and hold it until after guests arrive so the guests contract is with Airbnb rather than the hosts and also Airbnb should be responsible for ensuring hosts are reliable and won't just disappear in this manner.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Paul-and-Alma0

The contract is between host and guest, so the responsibility of airbnb would be to provide the refund as they facilitate payments by providing a secure payment option.  Occationally they provide a voucher towards a new booking.

Virtually all Paris short term rentals are illegal unless they are registered with the city council and can provide a licence number.  There are huge fines for not complying with the regulations and these have recently been increased.  

I suppose your host got cold feet and took the listing down.  

The airbnb payment option is outsourced, but holding the funds is one of their ways of making money on the site. 

Anyone and their uncle and list almost anything on airbnb and I believe that is part of their success.  airbnb T&C do ask hosts to comply with local rules and regulations, but it is obvious that not all hosts comply. Non-complying may result of the listing being taken down by airbnb and I suppose this is what happened in your case.  

Make sure the next booking is with a legal host with a licence number.

[Paul-and-Alma0]

Hi

Thanks for your response, what you said about short term lets in Paris makes sense, however if airbnb want a good reputation surely they should only list reliable listings?

In my view for Airbnb to maintain a good reputation if they are willing to take listings that are less well regulated they should offer either alternative accomodation or extra credit on top of a full refund in situations such as this.

[Slawomir2]

Hi,

I am host from Poland / Krakow. 

I suspect that Airbnb might be caught in some kind of financial or tax crisis. 

 In November 2019 I was sent two more “extra payments” for guest whose payment I already received and I tried to prevent two times after receiving emails from Airbnb about the payments on the way. 

I was told they work on it.... and the money was sent to my account three times !!!

After all it was deducted from my following guests’ payments causing big inconvenience for me and in the end they insisted the the next payments (after resolving the first confusion) was sent to my account in time (18th December) when this was not sent. 

I was told today that it was my Polish bank holding my payment but this bank declined this. 

Now when I am awaiting call or messages from Airbnb - as they promised to me today - no signal reply or call. 

I already informed my guests that if Airbnb doesn’t transfer the payments on behalf of my guests already I am not going to accept any guests unless they pay me in cash and demand from Airbnb their money refund. 

Airbnb is deducting the money from guests accounts months before they come and yet they delay the payments to hosts ...... . 

This is intolerable and this company should be prohibited from offering accommodation in Poland. 

In my opinion the Airbnb is about to be bankrupt worldwide ..... . 

We have to protect ourselves and ask our governments to do something about that. 

Slawomir 

[Marit-Anne0]

@Paul-and-Alma0

Maybe so, but then the commissions would be higher and more be at stake for the hosts.  There is booking.com, but when hosts cancel on booking.com, they are liable for finding alternative accomodation at whatever cost.  

airbnb and other similar listing sites have a lower threshhold for hosts, but also higher risk for guests.

Renting from a private owner with only one listing, there is always the risk of cancellations as life happens both to hosts and guests, like illness, maintenance issues and other unforeseen circumstances that could force a cancellation from either side.  Your rights as a guest is a full refund. Renting from a long term Superhost can be some sort of assurance as one criteria for becoming one is not to do host cancellations.  

But surely, being a host yourself, you know and understand all this ?

[Paul-and-Alma0]

Yeah as a host I obviously understand that there could be circumstances where you need to cancel, however if I had to cancel a reservation at my property I would contact the guest to apologise and explain why.

With my overall concern being the reputation of airbnb and its impact on my business I feel that in the circumstances I am talking about where the host and listing have disappeared then airbnb should take over the responsibility (at the very least provide a personal touch) rather than the guests just receive an automated email. Is this not a reasonable expectation?

If airbnb was mine and this situation arose I would be trying to contact the disappearing host and also contact the guest to apologise and explain what is happening and try to uphold the reputation of my company.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Paul-and-Alma0

I suppose airbnb has gotten too big for their boots and I believe there is already a decrease in popularity and that together with the ever increasing number of hosts is a concern for all of us. The market will adjust eventually, but it will take time. 

[Matthew285]

@Marit-Anne0 you are correct in that AirBnB has gotten too big for their boots,

and that the increase in number of hosts is a concern for all of us.

But there is not a decrease in popularity for AirBnB.

Their recent fiscal quarter they doubled revenue to a record $1 billion.

Arrivals have grown from 40 million in 2015 to about 80 million now.

http://fortune.com/2017/02/15/airbnb-profits/

[Fred13]

@Paul-and-Alma0keep in mind that many communities are changing the ground rules as we speak, which then affects existing bookings in their locales via Airbnb or anyone else. The more 'responsibility' (aka cost) Airbnb takes on or is forced upon them it will inevitably raise > host fees. They charge roughly a very competitive ~13% to guest and roughly ~4% to hosts, which fee do you think will go up next?

[David126]

I know Booking have this requirement, well the back charge the Host, they will find other accomodation, but I thought AirBNb do as well, assume in both cases you have to ask them?

Say you book a flight through a Travel Agent, I would expect that agent to seek out an alternate if your flight was cancelled.

[Paul-and-Alma0]

I understand that rules change, although I don't believe they've changed between the booking being made and the cancellation.

My point is really that I'd expect a better response from Airbnb in this circumstance where the host has disappeared. It also puts me off using airbnb as a traveller as this could have happened at any point before arrival, so worst case would be during or after your flight.

As problems of this nature are known to airbnb I would expect them to carry out more checks on hosts, maybe getting proof of ownership from hosts. There seems to be a sub-letting problem, I know people have tried to rent my property in order to sub-let it.

If this means host fees would need to increase then so be it. I'm sure the increased security would lead to more bookings and also keep dodgy hosts away, if the sites reputation falls people will no longer use it.

[Geraldine219]

Agree, it certainly would have made a difference I imagine to have a personal apology. As a host I would absolutely have done that (it does sound like the host was illegal and staying there might have come with all sorts of problems) but AirBnb ought to apologise too. the problem with all these 'gig economy' platforms is I suspect they are mostly run by chatbots. You can tell that when you're setting up your listing. All this 'Hey Geraldine' stuff doesn't mean there is a real person on the end. I've just started hosting and not sure what I think of it yet. In London there is a 90 day limit as we have such housing shortage. Otherwise the city would be one big AirBnb. I might go back to long term room-mates, this is just convenient for the moment.

[Marit-Anne0]

@Paul-and-Alma0

When renting on the private market, cancellations can happen to anyone at any time and for any number of reasons.  It has happened to me through HomeAway and they do require proof of ownership - sort of. It was also in Paris with some lame excuse of bursting pipes, which I believe was just to cancel on me for a longer, more lucrative booking. At least I got my money back and could book something else at twice the price.....

There will always be those creative hosts trying to bend the rules however strict.

When a listing disappears, it is for a good reason.

[Chris-And-Alistair--Chri0]

Hopefully the correct route.

I have, in the last few days suffered severe health problems. I have had to cancel one booking and been "fined" $100. My health is NOT condusieve with hosting and will be cancelling Airbnb membership, BUT, I cannot if I'm being "fined" each time. I will complete bookings already made, then finsh. Can I stop this present "fined"

[Marit-Anne0]

@Chris-And-Alistair--Chri0

Yes, you can as such cancellations usually fall under the "extenuating circumstances" clause. You would need to contact airbnb with the issue.