Hi i've been using Air BnB for while now without an issue. However i'm just back from a holiday in Atlanta, after a 5hr drive our family of 8 including 3 young children we're looking forward to relaxing in our Air BnB, check in was available from 3pm, at 4:30pm i dropped the host a message to get the code for the door only to be told the listing is temporarily suspended due to repairs and the were unable to accommodate me.
To say we were dissapointed is an understatement and still can't understand why the host didn't contact us first as even 12 hrs notice would of given us a chance to do some research and re-book. As it was we had to make some snap decisions as we had to get the children fed and into bed.
Air BnB support wasn't great, but not terrible, had the usual explain the situation to 3 different people as you were passed around. Then had to wait for Air BnB to contact the host and formally cancel the booking before things could be taken to the next stage, promised a call back within 20 minutes, an hr later nothing so called again, to be told host had cancelled now and i would get refund plus 5%, was offered 3 alternate Air BnB's 2 of which were the other side of the city and the other was pretty grim, so non suitable. Decided to book a hotel and after some negotiation with Air BnB they agreed to cover 30% of hotel cost which i was not happy with but left it there as need to check in etc.
They then badgered me for 3 days for my hotel receipt (was in the hotel for 4 nights so hadn't checked out and got my receipt), they then closed my ticket before i get chance to upload as they 'cannot be open for longer than 3 days'. I'm currently £1,700 out of pocket due to the increased cost of the hotel, parking and having to eat out every night, not to mention the inconvenience of having to live in a single room, out of suitcases and nothing to do of an evening when the kids go to sleep.
I got back in touch when i returned from my holiday hopeful that i would get my costs covered, only to be told that i wouldn't even get the 30% of the hotel costs back that they previously committed to (in writing) and the best they could do was 30% of my original booking fee. It's quite frustrating dealing with call center operators that just follow a playbook and have no authority to shift from that playbook, several times they have hinted that they will try and do better, putting me on hold to liaise with someone else, only to be told previous offer was the best they could do, when i asked what they escalation process is they don't know what i meant and when i ask to speak to someone more senior they tell they are the most senior (despite constantly going on hold to speak to others). So keen to understand what the escalation process is and if anyone has had a similar incident and what the outcome was.
