Airbnb’s AirCover is a Joke for Last Minute Cancellations

[Jin-Jong0]

Travel is already a stressful time, Airbnb has made it a million times worse.

AirCover is supposed to cover guests when there is a last minute cancellation - but it hardly does. When all “affordable” Airbnbs are fully booked, Airbnb will refuse to cover the difference for a new one if it is out of range from the original - even though there is no other option. My boyfriend and I ended up relocating to a city 2 hours away from the original location and paying over 2k extra in fees. 

Not to mention Airbnb customer support is appalling, we called over 15 different case managers and our issue was never resolved, it was just suddenly closed. The employees are not properly trained, each told a different story and none could not follow up with the other.

Airbnb support is not time sensitive and will leave you stranded in a foreign country to figure things out yourself, literally right before a flight because. Airbnb needs to provide better support for their customers. I no longer recommend this service to my family or friends. 

All in all, I am just super jaded as we have lost so much money and time. I no longer feel secure with booking through them anymore.

[Jin-Jong0 · Accepted solution]

Here’s the short story (b/c there’s just too much that went on):

Our host canceled on us less than 36 hrs before our flight due to plumbing issues. Okay fine - that is unfortunate but these things happen and we will get refunded with an additional coupon. Looked for another Airbnb in the city, well there were none left available, the only one left was thousands of dollars above the first one and the coupon wouldn’t cover it.

Well again that is unfortunate, but we made the hard decision to relocate to another city 2 hours away, even though we had already booked and paid for experiences in the first city. Keep in mind gas is extremely expensive these days and we have to drive back and forth between these two cities now.

We look for another Airbnb in that new city, well guess what? There are none available in the price range that the coupon will cover, or if they are available it is a super dingy and in a bad location. We called the Airbnb rep (maybe the 4th rep at this point) to see if Airbnb will cover us for the remaining cost of Airbnbs that matched the same experience as our original. We got a “no,” but she said she would help us find some other places to stay that were in the city 2 hours away because there were none in the original city.

Okay, we were like that is a bummer, the least you can do is cover us for the inconvenience of relocating, but if that's the only deal we can get we would rather take it than be homeless in a foreign country (at this point we started boarding our flights). We made her promise to us that by the time we got off our flight she would have listings for us to look at that would meet our expectations.

Well when we got off the flight to look at her listings, not only did they not meet expectations (dingy, location sucked, bad ratings), the listings provided to us weren’t even for the dates we wanted!!!

We stayed up all that night calling different Airbnb reps. Then one said he could issue more coupons for us once we booked a new place even if it is over the AirCover budget. When we asked for his explanation in writing (for written confirmation and also because he was hard to understand), he hung up on us.

At that point my bf and I said screw it and we just booked the place that we wanted, hoping Airbnb will cover the extra cost.

Well they never did. We talked to over 15 reps, when suddenly we received a message saying that our case has been resolved. The case is now closed and they won’t let us message them back there. When we tried a different support rep they just led us back to the closed case.

I think the worst part of this whole experience is that when we were telling the different Airbnb reps our situation, they were not fully reading the texts that we were sending. They would send back answers that didn’t make sense. The phone calls were brutal too because we would have to explain our story multiple times over only for us to never get a solution.

After using Airbnb for many trips and over 7 years, I will no longer use them any more.

[Scott1375]

Small claims court is the remedy. Worth it as Airbnb is the booking agent and in most jurisdictions is the responsible party for put-of-pocket losses due to breach of contract. You can even take them to court in the jurisdiction in which you live if that is where you accessed and made the booking, that’s the jurisdiction of contract.

[Pipibug0]

Hi,

I received my email from Airbnb support from Airbnb supervisor after I opened my case #2020047378640, however they closed my case without my agreements or even ask, horrible service. As a Canadian, we all know we met Rogers outage and that would cause the internet communication delay, I wish Airbnb could understand this, that also can prove how Airbnb support service rude it is. Anyway, as my case closed, I have to post my feedback here basis on its email suggests.

First, I would like to describe the case a little bit, we plan a trip to Newfoundland this summer, you know how busy Newfoundland would be for the residential specially after COVID 19 knocking down, therefore we planed and reserved our reservation in this March, unfortunately, the host cancelled reservation before 31 days because of job relocation, it is understandable, but my question is what Airbnb can do for their guest? otherwise, people will not book ahead of 31 days since host can cancelled with any excuse, then, what Airbnb can protect the early book guest right?

So, my suggestion is:

==
1. Airbnb service need improve, Aircover policy is only covering 31 days, that is not enough for guest, otherwise, plan and schedule is useless for guest, even now, I still pray my new reservation would not be cancelled since I am still 31 days ahead( we are going to be there on Aug 22) be care full, read Aircover policy carefully
2. Airbnb service need improve, they should not allow any host do the list property trade for 12 month
3. Airbnb service need improve, if the host has to be traded their property within 12 month, they need pay penalty fine, current amount is too low, host can cancel their list without any scary or cheating
4. Airbnb service need improve, even Airbnb can get fine from the host, however, the guest lost their time and cause the trouble for the guest, Airbnb should do something for the guest not only their refund since they do charge service fee
5. Airbnb service need improve, need reduce AI support volume， and get more real people feedback promptly

==

I know my effort is useless and minor and I still use Airbnb book my new residential (cost raised as so short time reservation for busy place), I wish my words can help people who are going to use Airbnb services, I wish my next generation can live better for the human being little improvement and let them understand what is called evolution.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jin-Jong0 Aircover for hosts was always a bit of a joke. I guess there is no reason to believe Aircover for guests would be any better I am afraid.

[Winona4]

@Jin-Jong0  @Mike-And-Jane0 

It's really unfortunate..I loved using Airbnb for many many years and I know there are great hosts and places to stay out there. 

But in the case of last-minute cancellations it is too big of a risk to be stranded while travelling...

I hope Airbnb refunds people the additional fees and headaches due to last minute cancellations.

[Ted307]

@Winona4 @Jin-Jong0 

As a guest, choose a "Superhost". I would loose my superhost rank if I canceled like the host you booked with. One cancelation would remove that rank for a year.

[Jin-Jong0]

@Ted307 Thank you for the suggestion! Unfortunately, this happened to us with a "Superhost."

[Ted307]

That is sad! At least you can comfort yourself with the thought that they are no longer a superhost. Personally, I have never canceled a guest's reservation. The one host I know who canceled all of her reservations, passed away not long after. Booking with a super host is one way to try to have the best trip.

All you can do is message your host when you book, and be a real human being with them. Tell them about your trip, and see how friendly they are while chatting with you before you make your reservation. This is what I do with my guests. It is a 2-way street, I prefer guests that are personable with me. I am sorry you had a bad experience, not all hosts cancel on a guest, in my experience it is rare. AirBnB has changing protocols regarding hosts & guests canceling, and having problems. Some hosts have guests who throw raging parties. Some guests get hosts who cancel. See if you can get trip insurance next time you travel.  🙂

[Winona4]

@Ted307 I think we can give benefit of the doubt to the superhosts who cancelled last minute. Plumbing issues sounds legitimate and would have been a nightmare to let the guest stay.

The problem is that Aircover is very misleading. They claim they cover guests during last minute cancellations when this in fact is not true as the guests had to pay over $2000 out of pocket. 

I believe if more people knew that Aircover doesn't actually cover them then they would be willing to get travel insurance. But to be honest at the point, that doesn't leave Airbnb to be very competitive with hotels. With hotels you don't have to worry about getting travel insurance regarding last minute cancellations.

It's unfortunate really, there are great hosts out there. Wish Airbnb would honor their policies!

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

That's what travel insurance is for

[Winona4]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 

Though getting travel insurance does not excuse poor customer service. It is very dangerous for Airbnb to leave their guests stranded - over 15 calls is insane? Being left with no place to stay in a foreign country is very scary...

Travel insurance may have covered the costs but that does not fix the lack of support that was needed for the guests. I would have expected Airbnb to provide alternative accommodations to stay instead of the guests having to figure it out themselves.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Winona4  yes, it is really inconvenient. Airbnb used to help guests in such situation and CS were calling hosts asking if they would accept last-minute bookings but it seems they don't do that anymore. I remember it wasn't very popular among hosts because many of these guests were in fact bad guests who were thrown out of the accommodation they initially booked when they broke house rules. 

Guests in such a situation don't need Airbnb CS to do that for them, everything is online