TL;DR Aircover is inadequate and Airbnb has double booking a bug they've known about for months.
So 1.5 months after booking and less than two weeks before travel we get a note from the host that the place was accidentally double booked. They asked us to cancel which I obviously didn't do as that is on the host (or so I thought). I contacted Airbnb and they immediately told me not to cancel so that I could get refunded and that they would contact the host to have them cancel. They eventually get the host to cancel after he pleads with me to cancel instead several times.
Their Aircover guarantee doesn't mean anything substantial. It says they will help you find another place or refund you. What this means in practice is they will refund you and then ask you to find comparable places. They will not cover the difference. When I push they admit that it was a bug on their end. I thought this was just an underpaid CS rep saying this. Then I read many posts on Airbnb host boards complaining about this double booking bug due to calendar sync issues on Airbnb's end. Then I also remember my friend who is a host who found himself in this situation three months ago (luckily he figured it out within an hour of booking). This bug has been around for months! How does a tech company like airbnb allow this to persist?
Find hosts talking about it here: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Community-Cafe/Another-update-another-huge-added-risk-for-hosts-...
Anyway they offer no real help in finding new accommodations and instead offer me a coupon for 5% of my cancelled reservation price. 5 freaking percent! And to add insult to injury it expires in 30 days and can only be used on reservations of equal or greater cost!
Chat transcript a day after cancellation.
**[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]
