@Colby16 @Helen350
I've had at least a dozen hosts send me screenshots of exactly this over the past few days. In some markets, hosts' listings are being shown in searches, as normal, but when a guest tries to book the listing, Airbnb is blocking the potential reservation , and funnelling the guests towards booking hotels instead.
In none of those instances has Airbnb had the respect or regard for the nobbled hosts to inform them that guest access to their listings had been cut off, nor offered them the courtesy of an explanation as to why Airbnb would possibly be deliberately and purposely routing business àway from small local hosts, and into the hands of hotels.
In addition, the company has been very generously providing handy little coaching templates to assist guests in procuring full refunds from hosts, even where none are due. Hosts worldwide have been receiving cancellation notifications/full refund requests that all start with the following lparagraph, with exactly the same wording each time..q Unfortunately 11
"Unfortunately, we won't be able to stay at your place sfter all because of the incident affecting [host city]"
Coincidentally (or not), Airbnb acquired Hotel Tonight for a reported $400+ million in March of last year, as part of its expansion into the hotel industry, a strategy which by all accounts, has been beset by a number of "teething problems". The company also sunk $150-$200 million into OYO Hotels and Townhouses, who have run into some very serious issues in recent months, with allegations including fraud, bribery, witholding of payments from hosts/small hotel owners, corruption, breach of contract etc, being levelled against them.
Airbnb have clearly decided that their wealth Hotel Partners need any available bookings more than we do, and have apparently put several mechanisms in place to enable and facilitate to ensure they get them.
A masterclass in poacher-turned-gamekeeper hypocrisy and duplicity.
